My Korean name
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2009-11-04 06:07 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

My grandfather left Korea to live with us in New York when he was almost eighty years old. My parents fixed1 up the attic2(阁楼) so that he had his own room. He wore traditional Korean clothes: shiny vests(背心) with gold buttons, and puffy(肥大的) pants that made his legs look fat even though he was really very skinny. He chewed on small dried fish snacks(快餐,小吃) that smelled up everything. He coughed a lot.

My grandfather spoke3 only Korean, so I never understood what he was saying. He scared me. I had never seen anyone so old so close.

“Take this tea up to your halabogee,” my mother told me soon after he had moved in.

“I don’t want to,” I said.

“He’s your grandfather,” she scolded. “Be nice to him.”

I brought up the steaming cup of tea, hearing him cough once, twice, and again. I peeked4(偷看,窥视) around the corner and said, “Here’s your tea.” He looked up at me, chewing his dried fish snack, and smiled. He began speaking Korean to me, but I didn’t understand him. He waved me over and continued talking.

“What? What? I don't understand Korean,” I said. “I never learned.”

"Aigoo," he said, which was like “Oh my!” in Korean. My mother said that word to me all the time. He waved his finger at me and said, “Korean important. Yes?”

“I guess so,” I said, surprised. So he did speak a little English.

He smiled and nodded and sipped5 his tea loudly. He began speaking to me in Korean again. He talked for a long time, and I didn't understand a single word. I said, “Grandpa, I told you I can't understand you!”

But he just smiled and nodded and kept on talking. After a while, I just listened. I liked the sound of his raspy(刺耳的,粗糙的) voice filling the warm attic. My mother gave my grandfather a colorful shiny hand fan that he used to keep himself cool during the hot afternoons. My father gave him a small transistor6(晶体管) radio, which my grandfather listened to late at night, tuned7 to the Korean Gospel station. My mother also gave him a goat-hair brush, rice paper, an ink stick, and an inkstone to practice his calligraphy8(书法), a special kind of writing.

One day I was watching him draw lines on the paper. He looked up and said,

“You.” I was surprised. Another English word.

“Me,” I said.

He smiled, his face wrinkling.

“You,” he said again. “Won Chul.”

“Me,” I said. “Won Chul is my middle name.”

He nodded and dipped his brush in the inkstone, shaking off some of the extra ink. “You,” he said. “Won Chul.”

“I know my middle name,” I said, getting annoyed.

He talked to me in Korean again for a long time, then motioned for me to come closer.

I walked to him. He smelled like mothballs(卫生球) and fish.

He drew some stick figures overlapping9(相互重叠的) each other, swirling10(打旋) his brush easily, quickly. “Won,” he said, pointing.

He drew another figure, this time going slowly. The brush made a swish(嗖嗖) sound on the thin rice paper. He pointed11 to this second figure and said, “Chul.” Bringing me nearer so that I could study the picture, he said, “Won Chul. You.”

“That’s my name?”

He nodded. “Won Chul.”

“That looks neat,” I said.

He pushed it toward me.

“For me?” I asked.

“For Won Chul,” he said.

My mother later told me that this was hanja(韩文汉字), a special Korean way of writing using the Chinese alphabet. This was the hanja version of my Korean name. She said, “Your grandfather was once a famous artist. All the people in his town wanted him to draw their names.”

“Wow,” I said, holding the rice paper carefully.

“You know what your name means, don’t you?” she said. “It means ‘Wise One.’ Do you remember?”

“I remember,” I said. I held up my Korean name to the light, the paper so thin it glowed.

Not too long after that my grandfather went to a nursing home, and during the next summer he died while I was away at camp. My father turned the attic into a storage room. Now it's filled with dusty boxes of old clothes and shoes and old furniture.

I still have the drawing of my Korean name. My mother had it framed for me, and it hangs in my room right now. I wonder what my grandfather used to tell me those afternoons when he spoke in Korean, going on and on in this strange language that I never learned. Maybe he was telling me stories. Maybe he was telling me about his life in Korea.

Sometimes, if I go up into the attic and listen very carefully, I can almost hear his voice rising and falling, telling me stories I don't understand. I can almost see him in the corner, hunched12(弯腰驼背) over, listening to his radio and fanning himself. I can see him swishing his brush over the rice paper, and then pointing to me, telling me my own name.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
2 attic Hv4zZ     
n.顶楼,屋顶室
参考例句:
  • Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
  • What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理?
3 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
4 peeked c7b2fdc08abef3a4f4992d9023ed9bb8     
v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 );偷看;窥视;微露出
参考例句:
  • She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句
5 sipped 22d1585d494ccee63c7bff47191289f6     
v.小口喝,呷,抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
  • I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句
6 transistor WnFwS     
n.晶体管,晶体管收音机
参考例句:
  • This make of transistor radio is small and beautifully designed.这半导体收音机小巧玲珑。
  • Every transistor has at least three electrodes.每个晶体管至少有三个电极。
7 tuned b40b43fd5af2db4fbfeb4e83856e4876     
adj.调谐的,已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 );调整;(给收音机、电视等)调谐;使协调
参考例句:
  • The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味,老少皆宜。
  • The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 calligraphy BsRzP     
n.书法
参考例句:
  • At the calligraphy competition,people asked him to write a few characters.书法比赛会上,人们请他留字。
  • His calligraphy is vigorous and forceful.他的书法苍劲有力。
9 overlapping Gmqz4t     
adj./n.交迭(的)
参考例句:
  • There is no overlapping question between the two courses. 这两门课程之间不存在重叠的问题。
  • A trimetrogon strip is composed of three rows of overlapping. 三镜头摄影航线为三排重迭的象片所组成。
10 swirling Ngazzr     
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着,旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句
11 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
12 hunched 532924f1646c4c5850b7c607069be416     
(常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦)耸肩弓身的,伏首前倾的
参考例句:
  • He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
  • Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。
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