2006年高考英语北京卷 - 阅读理解B

I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1944, but I can remember my mother's words as if it were yesterday:" Kerrel, I don't want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him."
我9岁时我的父亲病了。那是1944年，但我记得母亲的话，就像发生在昨天一样：“克里，你不要从你父亲那里取食物，因为他患有艾滋病。在他身边时要非常小心。”

AIDS wasn't something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father's other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.
在我成长的过程中，艾滋病在我们国家并不是一个可以谈论的话题。从那时起，我知道这将是一个家庭秘密。我的父母分开了，父亲独自生活。有一段时间，他可以照顾好自己。不过在我12岁时，他的病情恶化了。父亲的其他孩子住在很远的地方，所以由我来照顾他。

We couldn't afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher's words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage. I did not share my burden with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
我们负担不起父亲所有必需的药物，而且因为父亲不能工作，我没有钱买学习用品，甚至经常吃不起晚餐。我坐在教室里，完全不知所措，当我尽力想知道如何应对时，完全没法听清楚老师说的话。我不想别人替我分担，我看到过人们对艾滋病的反应。孩子们嘲笑父母患有艾滋病的同学，甚至成年人也同样残忍。当我父亲被送去医院时，护士们会把他的食物放在床头柜上，尽管他太虚弱了，没法自己吃饭。

I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of keeping his condition a secret. I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless. I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.
不过在一直对他的病情保密了多年以后，我知道他快要死了。他临终时，我完全没有准备，悲伤和绝望。我给非营利组织国家艾滋病支持中心的一位女士打了电话。那天，我们通了几个小时的电话。我很幸运能找到关心我的人。她拯救了我。

I was 15 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn't want to call attention to AIDS. I do.
父亲去世时我15岁。他带走了他的秘密，从来没有和任何人谈过艾滋病，包括我。他不想引起人们对艾滋病的关注，我想。

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