Words from the Heart

說出心里話

Most people need to hear those "three little words" I love you. Once in a while, they hear them just in time.

大多數人需要聽到那“三個小字”——我愛你。有時他們就會在最需要的時候聽到。

I met Connie the day she was admitted to the hospice ward, where I worked as a volunteer. Her husband, Bill, stood nervously nearby as she was transferred from the gurney to the hospital bed. Although Connie was in the final stages of her fight against cancer, she was alert and cheerful. We got her settled in. I finished marking her name on all the hospital supplies she would be using, then asked if she needed anything.

我在康尼住進收容所病房的那天見到了她。我在那兒當義工。把她從輪床抬上病床時，她的丈夫比爾焦慮不安地站在旁邊。雖然康尼處于和癌癥搏斗的晚期，但她仍然神智清醒，精神愉快。我們把她安頓好。我在醫院提供給她使用的所有用品上標上她的名字，然后問她是否需要什么。

"Oh, yes," she said, "would you please show me how to use the TV? I enjoy the soaps so much and I don't want to get behind on what's happening." Connie was a romantic. She loved soap operas, romance novels and movies with a good love story. As we became acquainted, she confided how frustrating it was to be married 32 years to a man who often called her "a silly woman."

“啊，是的，”她說，“請告訴我怎么用電視好嗎?我非常喜歡肥皂劇，想隨時跟上進展情況。”康尼是個浪漫的人。她酷愛肥皂劇、浪漫小說和講述美好愛情故事的電影。隨著我們越來越熟，她向我吐露說，跟一個經常叫她“傻女人”的男人生活了32年有多么沮喪。

"Oh, I know Bill loves me," she said, "but he has never been one to say he loves me, or send cards to me." She sighed and looked out the window at the trees in the courtyard. "I'd give anything if he'd say 'I love you,' but it's just not in his nature."

“唉，我知道比爾愛我，”她說道，“可是他從來不說他愛我，也不給我寄賀卡。”她嘆了口氣，朝窗外庭院里的樹望去。“如果他說聲‘我愛你’，我愿意付出一切，可這根本不是他的性格。”

Bill visited Connie every day. In the beginning, he sat next to the bed while she watched the soaps. Later, when she began sleeping more, he paced up and down the hallway outside her room. Soon, when she no longer watched television and had fewer waking moments, I began spending more of my volunteer time with Bill.

比爾每天都來探望康尼。一開始，康尼看肥皂劇，他就坐在床旁。后來，她睡的時候多了，比爾就在屋外走廊里踱來踱去。不久，康尼不再看電視了，醒的時候也少了，我開始花更多的義工時間和比爾在一起。