★成长的道路总是崎岖不平，然而也乐趣多多，美丽的景色是岁月的馈赠，内心的愈加强大是更加耀眼的收获。本书选取了《美丽英文》杂志温馨治愈的暖心英文故事来阐述成长这件小事，世界的每个角落都是这样走过,在家人的赞许的目光里寻找支点，在朋友的相扶相伴里寻找勇气，在恋人的不离不弃里寻找力量，这样一步一步，完成长大这个蜕变。
★长大从来都不是一个人的事情，让这本书陪学习英语的你一起经历蜕变的过程。愿长大后的你，拥有一个丰富的现在。
◆《美丽英文》超人气文章精华，收录经典名篇：精选《美丽英文》高人气文章和名家经典文章，这些文章或被认定为必读文章，或被亿万网友推荐阅读，温馨治愈，隽永深刻。◆最暖心的双语青春读物：名家文章，最温馨、最治愈的青春生活和体悟，给青少年最暖心的双语读本。◆记单词、背句子，在地道英语中提高：原汁原味的英语，至纯至美的翻译，每篇文章后面还附有生僻单词解释、翻译等。记单词、背句子，在阅读中见证双语能力的提升。◆名牌杂志《哲思》《青春美文》等联袂推荐。
《美丽英文》杂志注重原汁原味的英文故事，中英文精准对照，是最佳学生读物，同时也给英文爱好者提供了学习英语的大平台。杂志创办以来取得了良好的口碑，在青少年读者群体中大受欢迎，市场表现优秀。
I 爱是琥珀
Window of Love
情缘之窗
No Fooling
愚人节不愚人
Footsteps on My Attic
阁楼上的脚步声
Elizabeth’s Fairy Tale Dream
伊丽莎白的童话梦
The Last Jar of Jelly
最后一瓶果冻
The Wedding-Band in the Leaves
橡树里的戒指
My Daddy’s Bicycle
父亲的单车 I 爱是琥珀
Window of Love
情缘之窗
No Fooling
愚人节不愚人
Footsteps on My Attic
阁楼上的脚步声
Elizabeth’s Fairy Tale Dream
伊丽莎白的童话梦
The Last Jar of Jelly
最后一瓶果冻
The Wedding-Band in the Leaves
橡树里的戒指
My Daddy’s Bicycle
父亲的单车
Benny’s Fish
本尼的鱼
Guard
守护
Restart
再续前缘
II 前往闪亮的旧时光
The Date Father Didn’t Keep
迟到三十年的约会
You Are My Joy
你才是我的幸福
Aunt Dolly’s Hat
多莉姑姑的帽子
Sunrise
日出
Hungry for Your Love
渴望你的爱
Holding a Heart
手捧你心
The Memory Box
记忆的盒子
The Sunday School Teacher
周日学校的老师
My Very First Love
永远忘不了的初恋
III 把孤单岁月分享
From Blue to Grey
当芝士弹遇上黑比诺
The Lunch Time in Utica
尤蒂卡的午餐时光
An Unfinished Painting
一幅未完成的画
Loneliness Along Growth
成长的孤独
First Kiss Disaster
初吻之灾
Fickle in Love
花心校草
My Beauty Way
我的寻美之路
Graduation and Liberation
毕业与解放
Masks and Walls
面具和心墙
IV 此生的喧闹与悠长
The Happy Marriage
幸福的婚姻
Bite by Bite
一口一口吃掉烦恼
Dance Through Life
在生活中翩翩起舞
Tommy’s Papers
汤米的作业
The Potato Puppy
土豆小狗
The Story of an FBI Intern
在 FBI实习的日子
Psych. 1 Student Who Made the Family Crazy
导致全家崩溃的心理学新生
A Day in the Stream
溪边的一天
Thought on Youth
对青春常在的感想
Love
爱
Window of Love
Margaret was busy. She was a thirty-year-old blonde-haired and blue-eyed beauty. She ranked high among top fashion designers. She worked hard. She achieved her success by long hours of designing and creating. She loved what she did and appreciated how far she had come. She occupied a prized office in a New York City high rise building. The view from her office was to die for. It was magnificent and glorious. She cherished it.
After many hours spent leaning over her desk busily drawing,erasing, and drawing again, she treasured her break time by gazing out of her large office window. She always kept the blinds up. One day, the sun was shining brightly and the sky was actually visible. She happily sighed and returned to her drawing. After an hour, she put down her pencil and returned to gazing out of her office window. There he was. Wow! It was always the same man.He had bright blue eyes, brown hair and he was gorgeous, tall and slim. Way too good-looking to be a window washer. And he appeared to be her personal window washer.
They had established a pattern. He came by on Friday afternoons, washing and giving her quite a nice view, of him. Along with the stunning city view, of course.She remembered how it all started. He nodded to her one day and she smiled and waved back.That action became routine. Just little things and making gestures made her smile. They were laughing together without saying a word. Margaret stayed busy. She had no time for men, family or much else except work. That kept her ahead of the competition but,it made for some very lonely nights.
The window washer did a low bow to her and she giggled.He was so cute and funny, too. She was sometimes afraid that he would topple over and fall to his death. He appeared to love heights and had good balance. He had captured her imagination and her attention long ago. Soon, she felt her heart skip a beat when they shared exchanges of humor through the glass. She often wondered if he had a girlfriend or wife. He was not wearing a wedding ring but,that does not mean much sometimes.
She heard a tap on the window. That startled her. He had never done that before. She looked up. He was holding a sign, a piece of white cardboard with a phone number. Under the phone number was the name Jim. Underneath the name “Call me?” was written.She gasped. Should she? She really didn’t know him, except six months of flirting through a window. Still, he seemed nice. She wrote down the number and nodded. He waved, smiled and rode off to wash another window. She was still in shock when Jessica walked into her office.
Jessica was her boss. She was also one of Margaret’s closest friends. Margaret told Jessica what had just happened.
Jessica told Margaret that she knew Jim from her church. He was a regular member. Jessica said that Jim was indeed not married and that he always attended church services alone. Margaret smiled. She asked Jessica if she believed in fate and told her that she kept being drawn to that particular window. Jessica laughed. She said,“Honey, this is your window of love and it just opened for you!”
Margaret said, “Maybe so.” Later that night, she picked up the phone and started dialing. Jim answered.
Margaret and Jim had been happily dating for six months.Once again Margaret heard a tap on her office window. She looked up. Jim was dressed in a black tux and he held a sign. This one said “Marry me?” Margaret grabbed a sheet of paper, writing quickly and held it up. “Yes!” Then, she walked to the window and pressed her lips to it. Jim did the same. A red lipstick stain is still on Margaret’s window of love to this very day.
情缘之窗
玛格丽特是个大忙人。年近三十的她是个金发碧眼的美女，同时，她也是一名顶级时装设计师。她工作勤奋努力，通过夜以继日的设计和创作终于取得今日的成就。她热爱自己的工作，珍惜自己所取得的成绩。她所拥有的办公室处在纽约市的一栋高层建筑中，从办公室能看到的景色宏伟壮观 , 令人艳羡。她珍爱这一切。
她总是长时间伏在桌边反复涂画修改，闲暇时，她喜欢透过办公室巨大的窗玻璃向外远眺，因此她总将窗帘拉开。这一天，阳光明媚，碧空如洗，她愉快地叹了口气，继续绘图。一个小时后，她放下手中的铅笔站在窗边眺望。哇哦！他在那儿。每次都是那个人，他有一双明亮的蓝眼睛，一头棕色的头发，他帅气、高大、修长，竟有如此好看的窗户清洁工。他仿佛就是她专属的窗户清洁工。
他们甚至建立起一种默契。他每周五下午会从窗户旁经过，将玻璃清洗干净，让她有一个清晰美好的视野，这样就可以更清楚地看到他，当然还有城市的美景。她还记得这一切是如何开始的：那天他朝她点了点头，而她微笑着招手示意。这样的动作成了两人例行不变的问候方式。一些很小的举动甚至一个手势都能让她开心不已。他们心意相通，隔窗相视而笑。玛格丽特工作忙碌，她没有时间谈朋友，没有时间照顾家庭，她的时间都花在了工作上。虽然在激烈的竞争中，她脱颖而出，遥遥领先，可是，一个人的夜里，她难免有时会感到孤单。
这时，窗户清洁工对她深深鞠了一躬，逗得她咯咯直笑。他真的太可爱了，而且还这么风趣。有时候她担心他会掉下去摔死，不过他似乎很喜欢处在高处，并且他的平衡感也极好。她不禁对他浮想联翩，脑海中时常浮现出他的样子。又过了不久，她发现每当他们透过窗户分享各自的愉悦心情，自己的心就会扑通扑通地狂跳。她很想知道他有没有女朋友或妻子，虽然他没有戴婚戒，但是有时候那并不代表什么，不是吗？
这时响起了一阵敲窗声，她吓了一跳，要知道他以前可从没这么干过。她抬起头看到他正拿着一块白色牌子，上面写着一串电话号码，电话号码下署名“吉姆”，名字下还写着“可以打给我吗？”。她深吸一口气，心想这样可以吗，除了这六个月时间里隔着窗户的暧昧，她根本就对他一无所知。不过他看起来人不错，于是，她记下电话号码，点点头表示同意。他挥挥手，喜笑颜开地去清洁另一扇窗户了。直到杰西卡走进她的办公室，她依然心潮澎湃。
杰西卡既是玛格丽特的老板，也是她的闺密。玛格丽特告诉杰西卡刚刚发生的一切后，杰西卡便告诉玛格丽特，她在她常去的教堂见过吉姆，他是那儿的教徒，而且他还没结婚，常常一个人去那里做礼拜。玛格丽特莞尔一笑，问杰西卡是否相信缘分，并告诉杰西卡这扇特别的窗户仿佛有魔力一般吸引着她。杰西卡笑了起来：“亲爱的，这是你的情缘之窗，而且这扇窗只为你而开。 ” 玛格丽特应和着：“或许是吧。”那天晚上她拿起电话拨号过去，吉姆接了电话。
玛格丽特和吉姆约会了六个月，这段时间他们过得十分开心。一天，玛格丽特又听到了一阵敲窗声。她抬起头，只见吉姆穿着一身黑色晚礼服并举着一块牌子，上面写着“嫁给我吧！”玛格丽特拿起一张纸飞快地写下“我愿意！”并将其举在手上。接着她走到窗前将嘴唇贴在窗上，吉姆也将嘴唇贴了上来。直到现在，玛格丽特的情缘之窗上还留着一个红红的嘴唇印。
单词注解
◆ to die for
【释义】[ 美国俚语] 惹人喜爱的，很美的
◆ flirt [flt]
【释义】vi . 调情，打情骂俏
◆ tux [tks]
【释义】n . 男士无尾半正式晚礼服
◆ appreciate ['priet]
【释义】vi . 增值；涨价 vt. 欣赏；感激；领会；鉴别
【短语】highly appreciate 充分肯定
◆ magnificent [mɡ'nfsnt]
【释义】adj . 高尚的；壮丽的；华丽的；宏伟的
◆ cherish ['ter]
【释义】vt . 珍爱 vt . 怀有（感情等）；抱有（希望等）
◆ treasure ['tre]
【释义】n . 财富，财宝；珍品 vt. 珍爱；珍藏
【短语】buried treasure 藏宝 , 宝藏 , 埋藏的珍宝
◆ cute [kjut]
【释义】adj . 可爱的；漂亮的；聪明的，伶俐的
◆ height [hat]
【释义】n . 高地；高度；高处
◆ gasp [gɑsp]
【释义】n . 喘气 vi. 喘气；渴望 vt. 气喘吁吁地说；喘着气说话
【短语】gasp out 喘着气说出
◆ indeed [n'did]
【释义】adv . 的确；真正地；甚至 int. 真的（表示惊讶、怀疑、讽刺等）
【短语】indeed so 确实如此
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