练习:

　　Mrs. Chambers sits comfortably in her armchair, enjoying a cup of coffee. She has had athe right to relax. She has had a long and very busy life.

　　Mrs. Chambers has retired now to a small house in Bangor, a popular seaside town not far from Belfast. But for most of her life she lived in the country. Her husband’s farm was on an island in the middle of Strangford Lake. There, Mrs. Chambers baked bread twice a week, made jam every summer, and put her husband’s dinner on the table at twelve 0’clock exactly every day. The island farm had been owned by the Chambers family for may years, passing on from father to son. It was a quiet and beautiful place to live. They grew potatoes and vegetables, and kept hens and cows. When Mr. Chambers died, his son took on the farm, Mrs. Chambers moved away.

　　She takes another sip of coffee, and smiles as she remembers people from the past. “The old lady down the road thought she had a ghost in the house,” she says, “but it was only old Tom MaAleer, frightening her for fun.” The memories come fast. “Twenty men, they had, only tem years ago, to bring in the potato crop. Young Hugh has a machine now. He only needs five.”

　　It’s time for the news on TV. Mrs. Chambers wants to see the racing results. She won quite a lot of money last week. Next month she’s going down to Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland. The horse-racing there is wonderful. She finds it hard to stay away. But before the racing results there’s another item of news. A bomb has exploded in Belfast. Several people have been killed. Mrs. Chambers shakes her head. “They’re all crazy,” she says. “It’s just a few who make all the trouble. The rest of us want to live in peace. We’ve all got life long friends from both sides. And most of the time we never talk about the trouble.”

　　The racing results come on. She leans forward to watch. For her, ordinary everyday life is the most important thing.

　　参考译文:

　　乔柏斯太太舒服地坐在扶手椅里，享受着一杯咖啡。她有权利放松，她已经过了很长时间的忙碌生活了。

　　现在乔柏斯太太已经退休了，住在班戈区的一所小房子里。班戈区是贝尔法斯特附近一个广受喜爱的海边小城。但是在生命中的大部分时间里，她都住在农村。她丈夫在斯福德湖中间的一座岛上有一个农场。乔柏斯太太每周都烤两次面包，每个夏天都要做果酱，每天12点准时把丈夫的午饭摆在桌上。岛上的那个农场属于乔柏斯家族已经很多年了，是从父辈传下来的。那是个安静美丽的地方。他们自己种土豆和蔬菜，还养母鸡和奶牛。乔柏斯先生去世后，他的儿子接管了农场，乔柏斯太太搬离了那里。

　　她喝了口咖啡。想起以前那些人的时候，她笑了。“住在路尽头的那个老太太以为自己房子里有鬼，”她说，“其实那只是老汤姆.麦艾里尔唬她逗她玩的。”记忆被快速的唤醒。“仅仅在十年前，他们请了二十个人来挖土豆。年轻的休现在有了自己的机器，他只需要五个人。”

　　现在到电视新闻时间了。乔柏斯太太想看看跑马比赛的结果。她上个礼拜赢了一大笔钱。她下个月要去爱尔兰的蒂帕雷里，那里的跑马比赛很精彩，她发现自己很难不参与进去。但是在比赛结果公布之前还有另外一则新闻：贝尔法斯特发生一起爆炸，几个人被炸死了。乔柏斯太太摇了摇头。“他们疯了”她说，“制造麻烦的只是少数人，我们其余的人都想过平静的生活。我们都有来自双方的终身朋友(双方指天主教徒和新教徒)，多数时候我们从不谈论烦心事。”

　　比赛结果出来了。她倾着身子去看。对她来说，普通平凡的日常生活才是最重要的。