那一年，我們十二歲 (翻譯練習)

那一年，我們十二歲，我們的父親們平均壽命是六十四歲，母親們是六十九歲。

鄉下孩子的世界單純而美好。學校外面有野溪，被濃密的熱帶植物沿岸覆蓋，莓果的香甜氣息混在空氣裡，令人充滿莫名的幸福感。溪水清澈如許，赤足其中，低頭便可見透明的細蝦和黑油油的蝌蚪在石頭間遊走。

(龍應台, 三少四壯集1964)

We were twelve in 1964. It was a time that our fathers had a life span of sixty-four on average; and our mothers, sixty-nine.

We, rural children then, lived in a lovely world of purity and simplicity. Near our school, there was a brook passing by. The bank was thickly covered with tropical plants, and the sweet, blissful fragrances of berries were mixed in the air. The water was limpid. So limpid that, if you stood barefoot in it and looked down, you could see transparent shrimps and black tadpoles swimming between stones in the water.