姐弟亲情故事：我会永远原谅你

我会永远原谅你

How many times must I forgive my brother? the disciple Peter had asked Jesus. "Seven times?" Lisa's Sunday school teacher had read Jesus' surprising answer to the class, "Seventy times seven."

“我到底要原谅我弟弟多少次？”门徒彼得曾求教于耶稣。“是7次吗？”莉萨在主日学校的老师向全班朗读了耶稣令人吃惊的回答：“是70乘以7次。”

Lisa had leaned over to her brother Brent as the teacher continued reading. "How many times is that?" she whispered. Brent, though two years younger, was smarter than she was.

老师继续朗读，莉萨倾身靠近弟弟布伦特。“那是多少次啊？”她低声问道。布伦特虽然比她小两岁，却比她聪明。

Four hundred and ninety, Brent wrote on the corner of his Sunday school paper. Lisa saw the message, nodded, and sat back in her chair. Brent was small for his age, with narrow shoulders and short arms. His glasses were too large for his face, and his hair always matted in swirls .He bordered on being a nerd , but his incredible skills at everything, especially music, made him popular with his classmates.

“490次。”布伦特在主日学校的稿纸一角上写道。莉萨看见了这个答案，点点头，永远也不会原谅她了。她辜负了她的家人，如今除了离开家之外别无选择。莉萨在午夜时分把行李装上了她的小卡车。

Two days later she got a job as a waitress in Boston.

两天后，她在波士顿找到了一个做服务生的工作。

It's too late, she wrote them once. "I've ruined Brent's life, and I'm not coming back."

她给他们写过一次信，信中写道：“太晚了，我已经毁掉了布伦特的一生，我不会回家。”

Lisa did not think she would ever see home again. But one day in the restaurant where she worked she saw a face she knew. "Lisa!" said Mrs. Nelson, looking up from her plate, "What a surprise."

莉萨以为她再也不会回家了。但是有一天，她在饭馆上班时看到了一张熟悉的面孔。“莉萨！”纳尔逊夫人从她的餐盘上方抬起头来说，“多么出乎意料啊！”

The woman was a friend of Lisa's family from back home. "I was so sorry to hear about your brother," Mrs. Nelson said softly, "Such a terrible accident. But we can be thankful that he died quickly. He didn't suffer." Lisa stared at the woman in shock.

这位夫人是莉萨家的一位朋友。“我很抱歉听到你弟弟的遭遇，”纳尔逊夫人轻声说，“真是一个可怕的意外。但欣慰的是他很快就去了，并没有遭受痛苦。”莉萨目瞪口呆地盯着那位夫人。

Wh-hat? she finally stammered.

“什……什么？”她终于结结巴巴地说。

It couldn't be! Her brother? Dead? The woman quickly saw that Lisa did not know about the accident. She told the girl the sad story of the speeding car, the rush to the hospital, the doctors working over Brent. But all they could do was not enough to save him.

这不可能！她的弟弟？死了？这位夫人很快看出了莉萨并不知道这场意外。她给这个女孩讲述了悲惨的经过，先是汽车超速，而后是紧急送医，然后是医生们抢救布伦特。但是尽管他们用尽了一切办 法，还是没能保住他的性命。

Lisa returned home that afternoon. Now she found herself in her room thinking about her brother as she held the small box that held some of her memories of him. Sadly, she opened the box and peered inside. It was as she remembered, except for one item—Brent's chart. It was not there. In its place, at the bottom of the box, was an envelope. Her hands shook as she tore it open and removed a letter. The first page read:

莉萨那天下午回到家，然后她发觉自己在房间里想着她的弟弟，手里拿着存有一些关于他的回忆的小盒子。她悲伤地打开盒子，看了看里面。一切如初，都和她记忆中的一样，除了一样东西——布伦特原谅她的表格。那张表格不在盒子里。在它原来的地方——盒子的最下面，躺着一个信封。她双手颤抖着打开了信封，从里面拿出一封 信。信的第一页写着：

Dear Lisa,

亲爱的莉萨：

It was you who kept count, not me. But if you're stubborn enough to keep count, use the new chart I've made for you.

是你在坚持计算原谅的次数，而不是我。但是如果你这么固执，还要坚持计算的话，就用我为你做的这张新表格吧。

Love, Brent

爱你的布伦特

Lisa turned to the second page where she found a chart just like the one she had made as a child, but on this one the lines were drawn in perfect precision. And unlike the chart she had kept, there was but one check mark in the upper left-hand corner. Written in red felt-tip pen over the entire page were the words: "Number 491. Forgiven, forever."

莉萨翻到第二页，发现一张和她小时候做的一样的表格，但是这张表格上的线条画得非常精致。与她保存的那张表格不同之处在于，这张表格只在左上角画了一个勾。在整页纸上用红色标签笔写着：“第491次。永远原谅你。”

(By Joni Eareckson Tada)