雙語散文:鋪路用的金子
【英文原文】
Things Brought to Heaven
有時候最放不下的東西，反而是最多餘的。
There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved1 because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray2 that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.
An angel hears his plea and appears to him.3 "Sorry, but you.can't take your wealth with you." The man begs the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules.4 The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him.
The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.5
Soon afterward the man dies and shows up6 at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter7.
Seeing the suitcase, St. Peter says, "Hold on8, you can't bring that in here!"
But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord.9
Sure enough10, St. Peter checks it out and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through.11"
St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "Oh, you brought pavement?!!!"12
【重點講解】
1. grieved: 傷心的。
2. pray: 祈禱。
3. 一位天使聽到了他的懇求，出現在他面前。plea: 懇求，請求。
4. 他請求天使找上帝說說，看他老人家能不能通融一下。He: 指God，上帝；bend: <俚>使違法，這裏指破例。
5. 他大喜過望，挑出自己最大的一隻箱子，裝滿金條，然後把它擺在了牀邊。overjoyed: 萬分高興的；
gather: 挑選。
6. show up: <口>來到，露面。
7. St. Peter: 聖彼得，即Peter，原名Simon, 基督教《聖經》故事人物，耶酥十二使徒之一，耶穌死後，爲衆使徒之首，在羅馬殉教。文中他已進入天堂做了天使。
8. hold on: <口>停住，等一下。
9. 但這個男人向聖彼得解釋說他已得到了許可，請他和上帝覈實一下情況。Lord: 指上帝；verify: 覈實，查對。
10. sure enough: 毫無疑問。
11. 你可以隨身攜帶一個包，但在放行之前我有必要檢查一下里面的東西。suppose: ［常用被動語態］認爲必須，認爲應該；carry-on: 可隨身攜帶的。
12. 聖彼得打開箱子，檢查了那個男人寶貝得難以捨棄的人間俗物，吃驚地說：“天哪，你把鋪路的東西都帶來了！”worldly: 塵世的，人世間的； leave behind: 留下，放棄；pavement: 路面，鋪路材料。
