自由的代價

FREEDOM’S PRICE

It was early morning and Mama had a box filled with flowers she had just gathered from our backyard. She had placed them in tall juice bottles. I was too young to know very much about flowers, but I did recognize the irises as Grandma called them. Daddy put the huge box full of flowers into the car. We all got into the car and drove down the road to pick up Grandma. If she was well enough, she always went with us every year on Memorial Day.

We arrived at Linville Cemetery, a beautiful place with huge old oak trees with branches that seemed to protect the inhabitants of the cemetery. We had relatives buried at Linville and we all got out of the car and walked the short distance to the grave sites.

Everyone was quiet and Mama reminded us to be respectful because we were there to honour those buried in the cemetery. Mama placed some of the flowers on the graves and she and Daddy spoke about some of the relatives and told us children a little about each one. There were many small American flags at the grave sites across the cemetery. Daddy and Mama talked about how those flags were placed there by veteran organizations to honour the soldiers who had served our country, many of them giving their lives to keep our country free.

It is important for us to teach our children and grandchildren the meaning of Memorial Day, so they will know the price that has been paid for their freedom. It only takes one generation of neglect to forget valuable teachings of the past.

【助讀詞匯】

◇iris n. 鳶尾屬植物

◇Memorial Day 陣亡將士紀念日

◇cemetery n. 墓地，公墓

◇inhabitant n. 居民，居住者

◇veteran n. 老兵，富有經驗的人，老手

【參考譯文】

自由的代價

清晨的時候，媽媽從后院摘了一箱子鮮花。她把花插在修長的果汁瓶子里。我太小，認識的花還不多，但是我卻認得那是鳶尾花，因為奶奶那樣叫它們。爸爸把這箱花放進車里。我們全上了車，然后順著馬路開車去接奶奶。如果她身體好，每一年的將士陣亡紀念日她都會和我們一起去。

我們到達林威爾公墓，這是個美麗的地方，樹立著魁梧的老橡樹，它們的樹枝仿佛在保護墓地里的安息者。我們有幾位親戚埋在林威爾，所以我們都下了車，徑直走向墓地。

每個人都很安靜，媽媽提醒我們要恭敬，因為我們是來向墓地里的人致敬的。媽媽把一些花擺在墳墓上，和爸爸談起其中幾位親戚，告訴我們一些關于他們的事。公墓里的很多墳墓上都插著小小的美國國旗。爸爸媽媽告訴我們，老兵組織把這些國旗擺放在這，向那些曾經為國效力的戰士們致敬，許多人為了祖國的獨立獻出了生命。

讓我們的孩子以及孫子知道將士陣亡紀念日的意義很重要，因為這樣他們才知道他們的自由是用什么代價換來的。只要有一代人不小心忽略了，那歷史的教訓就永遠被忘記了。

【人生啟迪】

愛國是非常高尚的情操，而最主要的體現就是在對自己祖國歷史的熟識。一個否認或忘記自己國家歷史的人，實際上就否認了自己。我們不僅要了解祖國的歷史，還要從中吸取教訓，避免重蹈覆轍。