The smile

"I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous. I fumbled

[1] in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped[2]

their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those. "I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. I called out to him 'Have you got a light?' He looked at me, shrugged [3]and came over to light my cigarette. "As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.

"I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension[4] too. 'Do you have kids?' he asked. " 'Yes, here, here.' I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I'd never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too. "Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.

"My life was saved by a smile." Yes, the smile―the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people.. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn't be enemies. We couldn't have hate or envy or fear.

微 笑

“一想到自己明天就没命了，不禁陷入极端的惶恐。我翻遍了口袋，终于找到一支没被他们搜走的香烟，但我的手紧张得不停发抖，连将烟送进嘴里都成问题，而我的火柴也在搜身时被拿走了。 “我透过铁栏望着外面的警卫，他并没有注意到我在看他，我叫了他一声：‘能跟你借个火吗？’他转头望着我，耸了耸肩，然后走了过来，点燃我的香烟。 “当他帮我点火时，他的眼光无意中与我的相接触，这时我突然冲着他微笑。我不知道自己为何有这般反应，也许是过于紧张，或者是当你如此靠近另一个人，你很难不对他微笑。不管是何理由，我对他笑了。就在这一刹那，这抹微笑如同火花般，打破了我们心灵间的隔阂。受到了我的感染，他的嘴角不自觉地也现出了笑容，虽然我知道他原无此意。他点完火后并没立刻离开，两眼盯着我瞧，脸上仍带着微笑。

“我也以笑容回应，仿佛他是个朋友，而不是个守着我的警卫。他看着我的眼神也少了当初的那股凶气，‘你有小孩吗？’他开口问道。 “‘有，你看。’我拿出了皮夹，手忙脚乱地翻出了我的全家福照片。他也掏出了照片，并且开始讲述他对家人的期望与计划。这时我眼中充满了泪水，我说我害怕再也见不到家人。我害怕没机会看着孩子长大。他听了也流下两行眼泪。 “突然间，他二话不说地打开了牢门，悄悄地带我从后面的小路逃离了监狱，出了小镇，就在小镇的边上，他放了我，之后便转身往回走，不曾留下一句话。

“一个微笑居然能救自己一条命。”“是的，微笑是人与人之间最自然真挚的沟通方式。如果我们能用心灵去认识彼此，世间不会有结怨成仇的憾事；恨意、妒嫉、恐惧也会不复存在。

背景介绍：

《微笑》是法国作家安东尼·圣艾修伯里的作品，圣艾修伯里是名飞行员，二次大战对抗纳粹时被击落身亡，之前他也曾参加西班牙内战打击法西斯分子。他根据这次经验写了一篇精彩的故事――《微笑》。他的代表作《小王子》是美国人都很熟悉的童话故事。

注释：

1. fumble：我们总是能看到爱抽烟的男人在自己的身上到处摸烟的镜头，用动词fumble（乱摸、摸索）来形容他们的动作是再恰当不过了；下文中提到的nervously fumbled for the pictures也是借用fumble来形容“主人公非常紧张地在钱包搜索照片”的情景；现在如果你看到某人在“哗啦啦”地翻书寻找他想要的内容，你就可以大胆地用fumle来描述他的动作，可以说He fumbled the pages looking for the place.

2. escape是个很调皮的词汇，总是“逃离这儿，逃离那儿”， 此处的escaped their search字面上就表示出“（烟）逃离了他们的搜查”，也就是“没有被他们搜走（的烟）”； 再看看I'm afraid your name escapes me. 看起来是“你的名字逃离了我”，也就是“我恐怕想不起你的名字了”。如果你是位老师，在课堂可能就会很严肃地对那些捣蛋的学生说上一句：Nothing escaped my attention.（什么都逃不过我的注意），这下，那些学生该乖乖地听课了吧。

3. shrug表示的动作是“耸耸肩”，比如你把一个消息告诉给自己的好友时，“她听到消息后只是耸耸肩”，你就可以描绘成She shrugged her shoulders at the news. 因为我们也经常用“耸肩”的动作来表示“不感兴趣“或“无所谓”等心态，所以shrug可以引申地表示“冷漠、无所谓、不屑一顾”等意思。比如说在法庭上，法官已经对某个贪污犯进行了判决，但是此人仍然暴跳如雷地表示抗议，那么People only shruggled at his protests.看来“人们对他的抗议只是轻蔑地耸耸肩而已了”。

4. dimension：如果你已经知道dimension是用来表示“尺寸、面积、大小”的，那么你就会很疑惑此处的a new dimension是什么意思。不过你要是联想一下，既然dimension表示事物的“长、宽、高”等各因素，这也就相当于事物的“各个方面”了，所以此处的a new dimension也就相当于“一个新的方面”，联系上下文，可推断出这个“新的方面”就是jailer对“主人公”态度的转变，从最初的“凶”到现在的“友好”；如果你发现了男朋友身上的一个新特点，就可以对他说到 I found a new dimension of your personality. 我保证他一定要求你把his new dimension说出来的。