前言： 昨天女儿参加了一个91岁二战退伍军人的生日聚会。 我建议她记下来，并承诺会翻译分享。 结果她用了30分钟写完，我却用了近两个小时翻译。 二次世界大战，美军在战胜德国法西斯和日本军国主义都起到了关键的作用，改变了人类历史的进程。 作为一个中国人，我对这些老兵们也怀有敬意。下面是我的译文和女儿的原作。-----------------------------

英  雄

邓湉 （十年级）

 

我们的车子向位于退伍军人医院内的英雄之家（疗养院）驶近，放眼看去，周围几乎空无一人。建筑物前的庭院烤肉架上三块牛排正在被烧烤着，收音机里传出久远过去的音乐。 我和我的朋友罗伯特走下车，立刻就强烈感受到了萦绕在空气中的肉香和音乐。

 

我们走向前门，看到了一个写有“这不是疗养院的入口”标志。 箭头将我们指向了另一角的大门。 进入疗养院的餐厅，我一路的紧张、焦虑和惶惶不安刹那间放松了下来。 餐厅里，有两位坐在轮椅上的老退伍兵在一张桌子旁很投入地谈论着什么，几分钟后，他们一边笑着，一边把手伸向彼此，紧紧相握。 另两个老人坐在餐厅的电视前，电视机上的历史频道正播放着二战的纪录片。一个老人微笑着迎上前来，一边打招呼一边和我们握手。 他自我介绍说他叫戈登 伯格森, 也是一个退伍军人，还是我妈妈以前的一个病人。 他非常热情和真诚地感谢我们来参加他朋友费尔 拿德勒的91岁生日聚会。

 

拿德勒是一名退役的空军老兵。他参加过二次世界大战并荣获过两枚紫心勋章。 我曾经在洛杉矶时报上看到过专栏作家斯蒂文 路佩兹所写的有关拿德勒的文章，对他充满了尊敬。 放眼餐厅，我谦卑地意识到此刻我置身于这么多的英雄中间。  很多年以前，这些英雄们为了这个国家，英勇地战斗在打击法西斯的二战战场上。我们课堂上所学的历史的一部分就是这些人当年亲身经历和创造的。

 

我和罗伯特一起把带来的“生日快乐”桌布铺上了桌子，然后把我们带来的食物摆上去。 罗伯特做了巧克力小蛋糕，这些蛋糕如此漂亮简直就像是直接出自于烹饪学校，他还做了M&M饼干。 我也摆上了我制作的苹果肉桂蛋糕。 其他人也带来了食物，英雄之家的牧师自制了布朗尼和爆玉米花； 一个护士拿来了三味冰激凌。。。桌子上很快就挤满了食品，最前面放着一个嵌满草莓的大起司生日蛋糕。

 

来自临近老年中心的四人合唱团表演了爱国歌曲如“美丽的美利坚”，“哦，苏珊娜” 和“军礼曲”。  在演唱“军礼曲”时，合唱团主唱，一个穿着亮蓝色衬衫的女士，邀请在座的十几个退伍军人为他们各自曾经服役过的军种欢呼。  于是歌声中，他们呼喊出“陆军，海军陆战队，海军，空军。。。” 罗伯特一边录像一边和我会心一笑，难以置信我们就站在这些英勇的英雄身边。

 

坐在轮椅上的费尔 拿德勒在合唱团表演前就被护士推到了餐厅，他的旁边带着氧气瓶。 费尔微笑着向他的朋友们挥手。  一个第十一区的议员给他颁发了洛杉矶市给他的贺寿证书，上面印着“祝你生日快乐，  费尔 拿德勒律师”。  在歌声“祝你生日快乐”唱响时，我妈妈点燃了蛋糕上的蜡烛，我把蛋糕端到了费尔面前。

 

“我不觉得他有力气自己把蜡烛吹灭”，一个护士对她的同事说。

 

深吸一口气，拿德勒先生吹灭了蜡烛。 那个护士不能相信自己。

“你是不是帮了他”？ 她问我。

“没有，我没有”，我回答道，这是事实。  她似乎仍然不相信，随她去吧。

 

我和罗伯特戴上了一次性的手套和帽子，开始为大家分餐。 人群中一个老兵只剩下一条腿，一个戴着眼罩, 一个基本丧失语言能力，还有另一个也戴着氧气管。看着他们，我再一次感受到他们的伟大。 如果没有他们的牺牲，今天的我很可能就不会站在这里。

 

聚会即将结束，我，罗伯特和拿德勒先生，伯尼 图门太太 （图门是拿德勒先生七十年前的战友，几年前去世）一起合影。 临别我们再次祝愿拿德勒先生生日快乐，他愉快地感谢我们。 他清醒的思维和清晰的发音给我们大家留下了深刻的印象。

 

在我和罗伯特收拾桌子时，伯格森先生递给我们每人一个信封，感谢我们的参与和贡献。 路上我们打开信封，惊喜地看到里面有一张费尔 拿德勒本人，伯格森先生和护士们签名的感谢卡，以及50美元的购物卡。我决定回家后把感谢卡放在我的床头柜上以时刻提醒我这快乐的一天，以及这一天对我的影响。购物卡会用于购买我下次探访退伍兵医院时所需的食品。

 

当我们走出英雄之家的大门时，那个单腿老兵摇着他的轮椅驶向我们，他一边向我们告别一边叨叨着说他在稍早时候播放的老歌。

 

罗伯特说“看来那三块烤牛排是他的”。

 

“是啊，我想也是”。 我回头瞥了一眼，脑子里依然充满了拿德勒先生和疗养院里的快乐幸福。 “我想也是”。

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Heroes

(By Melissa Deng, 10th Grade)

 

As our car approaches the VA Medical Center’s Home for Heroes (Nursing home), I look around and see seemingly no one in sight. There are three steaks being expertly grilled in a patio area and old tunes playing on a radio, and the scent hits me immediately after both my friend Robert and I get out of the car.

We walk up to the door before realizing that it says “this is not an entrance to the nursing home,” and then proceed to the main entrance just around the corner.  I initially feel anxious, worried that we’ll look out of place, but my fears are quelled once we enter the dining area of the nursing home. Two veterans have their wheelchairs pulled up to a table and are discussing something thoroughly, and a few minutes later they shake hands and laugh. Two are seated in front of the TV, which is playing a documentary about World War II on the History Channel. A man immediately sees us and smiles, greeting both Robert and me and shaking our hands. He introduces himself as Gordon Bergelson, a veteran and one of my mom’s former patients, and enthusiastically thanks us for coming to Phil Nadler’s 91st birthday party.

Nadler is an Air Force veteran who fought in World War II and won two Purple Hearts. I had heard highly of him from reading Steve Lopez’s (Los Angeles Times columnist) articles. I began feeling humbled to be in the presence of so many heroes who had fought valiantly for this country years ago, some during World War II, against Fascist。

Robert and I begin setting up the food up one of the tables as soon as the tablecloth lined with “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” is laid out on the table. He had baked chocolate cupcakes that seemed straight out of culinary school and M&M cookies, while I had baked apple cinnamon cake. Other people, like the chaplain of the Home for Heroes who happened to be the rabbi at the VA, baked brownies and brought popcorn. One of the nurses brings out three flavors of Dreyer's’ ice cream, and the table seems well-stocked, if not over-stocked. In the front of the table sits a cheesecake lined with strawberries, which is devoured in a few short minutes after the birthday song and a few other songs performed by four harmonicists from the Culver City Senior Center.

They play patriotic songs such as “America the Beautiful,” “Oh Susanna,” and the “Military Salute.” During the “Military Salute,” the lead singer and harmonicist, an older woman wearing a bright blue shirt, asks the audience comprised of at least fifteen veterans to cheer for their individual branch as the song progresses. There are cheers for the Army, cheers for the Marines, Navy, Air Force, you name it. Robert, who is videotaping the performance, glances at me and we both smile. It’s almost overwhelming to be in the presence of such courageous heroes.

Phil Nadler is wheeled in before the performance with a ventilator by his side, waving to his friends and smiling. A councilman from the 11th district presents him with an official certificate stating that the City of Los Angeles sends birthday wishes to Phil Nadler, Esq. at the end of the performance, and everyone cheers. While everyone sings happy birthday, my mom lights the candles on the cheesecake and I bring the cake over to the table where Phil is seated by.

“I’m not sure if he can blow out the candles himself,” one of the nurses remarks, looking around at her colleagues.

Lo and behold, Mr. Nadler blows out the candles with strength, and the nurse looks at me, bewildered.

“Did you help him?” she asks, surprised.

“No, not at all.” I reply, which is the truth. She looks like she doesn’t believe me, but that’s okay.

Robert and I don gloves and hairnets and start serving the food. There is a man with an amputated leg, one with an eyepatch, one who can barely speak and one who additionally has a ventilator. I feel humbled in their presence and am grateful, knowing that without people like them who have sacrificed so much, I probably wouldn’t even be here today in the United States.

As the party winds down, Robert and I take a picture with Mr. Nadler and Estella, the wife of Bernie Tuvman, Nadler’s roommate who passed away several years ago. We wish Mr. Nadler a happy birthday and he responds without missing a beat; his eloquence and clarity in speech impresses everyone around him.

Robert and I lean up the table and begin packing everything away; at this point, Mr. Bergelson hands us each two envelopes and thanks us for our contributions. We later open these in the car and are shocked to find two individual cards with the signatures of the nurses, Mr. Bergelson, and Phil Nadler himself along with a $50 Visa gift card each. I decide that I want to put the card on my nightstand when I get home so I can remember this happy day and the impact it had on me.  The gift card will be used to purchase more foods for my next VA hospital visit.

As we walk out the front door of the Home for Heroes, I see the man with the amputated leg speedily wheeling toward us. We say goodbye and he mentions that he was playing some old tunes on a radio on the patio. When we walk past the patio area, we notice that the grill is now closed and there is no more music.

“I guess those were his steaks,” Robert remarks.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I say, glancing behind me at the front entrance and still thinking about Mr. Nadler and the happiness inside that nursing home. “I guess so.”

（首发：医桥健道。 邓湉写，邓乔健译）