地圖愛好者的特殊生日會(huì)

謝鈺洪

Turning 12 amid home isolation orders is hardly any tweens idea of an exciting birthday， but one Houston boys socially-distanced celebration is turned out to be more memorable than anyone could have expected.

在居家隔離令中度過12歲生日絕不是一個(gè)十一二歲孩子理想中的生日，但在保持社交距離的同時(shí)，休斯敦的一個(gè)男孩的生日慶?；顒?dòng)卻比任何人期待的都要難忘。

Jody Smith was eager to find an alternative to help his son， Brandon， celebrate his April 11 birthday while still obeying stay-at-home orders， and turned to Twitter for a simple request： Reply to a picture of Brandon holding his hand-drawn map of the world and tell him where they are so the cartographically-inclined 12-year-old could mark it down.

史密斯喬迪·史密斯克希望找到另一個(gè)辦法，在仍然遵守居家隔離令的同時(shí)來幫助他的兒子布蘭登慶祝4月11日的生日。他選擇在Twitter上發(fā)出了一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的請(qǐng)求：回復(fù)布蘭登手持他手繪的世界地圖的照片，告訴他你的具體位置，這樣，愛好地圖的12歲的布蘭登就可以把你的地理位置在地圖上標(biāo)記出來。

“I thought it would be fun to get 50 - maybe 100 - people to reply from around the world， and most would be in the U.S.，” Smith told The Washington Post by phone Saturday. “Thats really what my expectations were.”

史密斯在周六的電話中對(duì)《華盛頓郵報(bào)》說：“我覺得如果能讓全世界50人，也許100人回復(fù)的話，那就會(huì)非常有意思了，而且我猜想大多數(shù)回復(fù)的人都會(huì)是在美國(guó)?！?/p>

Instead， responses to Smiths request came in by the thousands： Pictures of oceanside views from Trinidad and Tobago， shots of downtown Sao Paolo in Brazil， and nighttime scenes from Istanbul. Even accounts like BMW in Germany sent Brandon a birthday greeting from Munich.

出乎意料的是成千上萬的人在史密斯的推文下留言：有特立尼達(dá)和多巴哥的海景照片，巴西圣保羅市中心的照片，以及伊斯坦布爾的夜景。甚至德國(guó)的寶馬（BMW）等推特號(hào)也從慕尼黑給布蘭登送來了生日祝福。

At one point， “Brandon” was Twitters number-one trending topic.

“布蘭登”一度成了Twitter的頭號(hào)熱搜。

Asked about how Brandon was taking the overwhelming response， Smith said he was busy dutifully adding dots to his map. “Hes having a blast，” he said.

當(dāng)布蘭登被問及對(duì)大家的熱烈反響的感受時(shí)，史密斯說他正忙著盡職盡責(zé)地在地圖上一一標(biāo)出大家的地理位置，他特別地開心。

Celebrations in the age of coronavirus have forced people to tap into their creativity to keep the party going： Parents have turned garages into comically exclusive bars for their newly-minted 21-year-olds; friends organize socially-distanced birthday parades and any number of candles are blown out as family members look on - from Zoom.

受新型冠狀病毒的影響，人們無法正常舉行各種慶?；顒?dòng)，但是人們卻發(fā)揮著自己的創(chuàng)造力，讓歡樂繼續(xù)：有父母把車庫變成了他們21歲孩子的專屬趣味酒吧;朋友們組織保持社交距離的生日游行，家人們通過Zoom在線云視頻會(huì)議見證一根一根蠟燭被吹滅。

But a socially distanced birthday didnt disrupt Brandons plans quite the way it might for other kids， Smith said.

但史密斯說，保持社交距離的生日并沒有像對(duì)其他孩子那樣打亂布蘭登的計(jì)劃。

“Brandon is on the autism spectrum， so he doesnt relate to people the same way; doing a birthday party didnt really resonate with him，” Smith told The Post. Ideally， Brandon would spend his birthday doing things he likes， like playing mini-golf.

史密斯在接受《華盛頓郵報(bào)》采訪時(shí)說：“布蘭登屬于自閉癥患者，所以他與人的關(guān)系不同尋常;辦生日派對(duì)并不會(huì)真正引起他的共鳴?！蓖ǔＧ闆r下，布蘭登會(huì)在生日期間做他喜歡的事情，比如打迷你高爾夫。

“Hes had a tendency to be almost about obsessive about things that interest him for a few weeks or months at a time，” Smith said. Golf is one of the two things that Brandon continues to love; the other is maps.

史密斯說：“他會(huì)對(duì)自己感興趣的事情癡迷好幾個(gè)星期或好幾個(gè)月?！备郀柗蚴遣继m登的兩大興趣愛好之一，另一個(gè)是地圖。

Whenever a new birthday greeting pinged on Smiths phone， Brandon added a dot - usually without having to look at his iPad for reference.

每當(dāng)史密斯的手機(jī)上響起一個(gè)新的生日祝福，布蘭登就在地圖上加一個(gè)點(diǎn)——通常都不需要參考他的iPad。

“Hes studied maps so well， so he knows where Helsinki is，” Smith said.

史密斯說：“他對(duì)世界地圖非常了解，所以他知道赫爾辛基在哪里?！?/p>

By midday， Brandons map was already covered in clusters from the U.S. and Europe; most of Asia was still asleep when Smith first put his request on Twitter， but he still got middle-of-the night replies from Australia and Hong Kong.

中午時(shí)分，布蘭登的地圖上美國(guó)和歐洲部分幾乎都被做滿了記號(hào);當(dāng)史密斯發(fā)推文時(shí)，亞洲大部分地區(qū)還是深夜，但他仍然收到了來自澳大利亞和中國(guó)香港的祝?；貜?fù)。

“I think he was happy to see someone from Tasmania，” Smith said， who was still in disbelief that “a little tweet from a football writer guy would go crazy enough to reach the middle of the Atlantic” - a birthday greeting from Ascension Island， the tiny landmass halfway between South America and Africa.

史密斯說：“我想他很高興收到來自塔斯馬尼亞陌生朋友的祝福，”在收到來自阿森松島朋友的生日問候后，史密斯仍然覺得難以置信，“一個(gè)足球作家的一條推文竟然足以到達(dá)大西洋中部?！币腊⑸蓫u是南美洲和非洲之間的一塊小陸地。

The outpouring of well-wishes has been a welcome break from the hit of anxiety-inducing news about the coronavirus outbreak， Smith said. He was grateful for the response - and that people were being kind （something he knows， as a writer， is not always the case with Twitter replies）.

史密斯說，表達(dá)良好祝愿是一個(gè)可喜的突破，讓人們可以從有關(guān)冠狀病毒暴發(fā)這個(gè)令人焦慮的消息中解脫出來。他很感激大家的回應(yīng)——感激大家那么友善（作為一個(gè)作家，他知道Twitter的回復(fù)并不總是這樣）。

“These are pretty trying times and its so great to see people rallying around a warm story. And its made him feel so special，” Smith said of Brandon. “Appreciation to all the people taking time out of their day to make a 12-year-old boy feel good.”

“現(xiàn)在是非常艱難的時(shí)期，看到人們集體促成一個(gè)溫暖的故事真是太好了。這讓他覺得很特別，”史密斯談到布蘭登時(shí)說，“感謝所有抽出時(shí)間讓一個(gè)12歲的男孩快樂開心的人們?！?/p>

In the meantime， Smith has an entire year to plan for Brandons 13th birthday， but added， “this will be hard for me to top.”

與此同時(shí)，史密斯有整整一年的時(shí)間來策劃布蘭登的13歲生日，但他補(bǔ)充道：“這對(duì)我來說很難突破?！?/p>

（本文摘自美國(guó)《猶太世界評(píng)論》：http：//www.jewishworldreview.com/0420/global_birthday_party.php3 ）

閱讀文章后，也嘗試找找以下問題的答案吧！

1. What can be inferred according to Paragraph 1 &2？ （ ）

A. Brandon has never had a wonderful birthday party.

B. Brandon cant walk a long distance.

C. Jody has a good knowledge of the world map.

D. Jody often asked for help on Twitter.

2. From the passage， we can know that________.

A. Brandon has recovered from autism after his birthday.

B. Brandon dreams to be a professional golfer.

C. Brandon often referred to the iPad to identify places.

D. Brandon is lucky to have a fantastic 12-year-old birthday celebration.

3. What does the underlined phrase “rallying around” in the last but one paragraph mean？ （ ）

A. helping with. ? B. passing down.

C. taking up. ? D. going around.

4. Which of the following best describes Jody Smith？ （ ）

A. Humorous. B. Positive. C. Caring. D. Demanding.

【參考答案】

1. C。推理判斷題。從第二段最后一句話“Reply to a picture of Brandon…12-year-old could mark it down”可知，Brandon能夠手繪世界地圖，并且能夠準(zhǔn)確在地圖上找到具體的地方，可知他對(duì)世界地圖非常了解，所以答案為C項(xiàng)。第一段只談到疫情居家隔離期間過生日不是孩子們心中理想的生日，并沒有說Brandon從來沒有一個(gè)快樂的生日，故A項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤;social-distanced是抗擊疫情的策略，并不代表Brandon無法走路，故B項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤;第二段只說Jody為了慶祝兒子12歲生日向推特求助，并沒有說他經(jīng)常去求助，故D項(xiàng)也不正確。

2. D。推理判斷題。根據(jù)整篇文章可知，因?yàn)楦赣HJody的努力，世界各地的人們發(fā)來推特祝福，慶祝Brandon的十二歲生日。所以Brandon幸運(yùn)地?fù)碛辛艘粋€(gè)極好的生日。故答案為D項(xiàng)。

3. A。詞義猜測(cè)題。從倒數(shù)第二段最后一句“Appreciation to all the people taking time out of their day to make a 12-year-old boy feel good”可知，Jody非常感謝所有抽出時(shí)間讓一個(gè)12歲的男孩快樂開心的人們。感謝來自世界各地的人們幫助促成了這樣一個(gè)溫暖的事情，所以答案為A項(xiàng)，help with意為“幫助”。B項(xiàng)pass down ，意為“傳遞，前進(jìn)，把……一代傳一代（使流傳）”;C項(xiàng)take up，意為“拿起，占據(jù)，開始從事”;D項(xiàng)go around，意為“四處閑逛”。

4. C。推理判斷題。本文主要內(nèi)容為Jody Smith為慶祝疫情期間即將年滿12歲的兒子Brandon的生日，在Twitter上發(fā)出請(qǐng)求，請(qǐng)大家配合愛好地圖的兒子，給他送上生日祝福并且留下具體地理位置，讓Brandon在自己手繪世界地圖上標(biāo)注每一個(gè)發(fā)來祝福的人的位置，以表達(dá)各自美好的祝福。所以Jody是一個(gè)非常體貼的父親，答案為C項(xiàng)。

【長(zhǎng)難句分析】

Turning 12 amid home isolation orders is hardly any tweens idea of an exciting birthday， but one Houston boys socially-distanced celebration is turned out to be more memorable than anyone could have expected. （第一段）

譯文：在居家隔離令中度過12歲生日絕不是一個(gè)十一二歲孩子理想中的生日，但在保持社交距離的同時(shí)，休斯敦一個(gè)男孩的生日慶?；顒?dòng)卻比任何人期待的都要難忘。。

分析：這是一個(gè)并列句，由but連接轉(zhuǎn)折并列句，并列句中又有比較狀語從句than anyone could have expected;Turning 12 amid home isolation orders是動(dòng)名詞短語（現(xiàn)在分詞）做主語。Hardly any相當(dāng)于not any，類似于never。Tween指十至十二歲之間的少年。Social-distancing為西方國(guó)家為應(yīng)對(duì)新冠疫情采取的社交策略。

【詞匯積累】

exclusive ?n. 排外的，獨(dú)有的，高級(jí)的;newly-minted ?adj. 新生產(chǎn)的

home isolation orders / stay-at-home orders 居家隔離令;

trending topic 熱搜，熱點(diǎn)話題;rally around 團(tuán)結(jié)支持， 集體聲援

【熟詞生意】

top ?vt.

①數(shù)量高于，超過

Eg. Imports topped $ 10 billion last month.

② 居……之首

Eg.top the list for imported vehicles 占據(jù)進(jìn)口車排行首位

③ 勝過，優(yōu)于前人所做

Eg. Im afraid the other company has topped your offer. 很抱歉，另一家公司出價(jià)比你們高。