Marguerite's Piano Notes

這是我們去年聖誕節去雷諾太浩湖渡假，回來後兒子寫的遊記。原文如下，中譯隨附。

A SNOWY VACATION AT RENO, NEVADA

雷諾雪中遊

The snow chains rattled as the car backed up and rolled in, trying to drive through the slippery snow. With 1 huge effort, my dad(who drove the car) accelerated hard enough to slide through the snow. When there was less snow on the road, we were able to take the snow chins off because it caused the car to be bumpy. When we got out of the car we pulled on our jackets because the icy-cold weather could give you goose bumps. Even in our warm jackets the cold still made us shiver and our teeth chatter. We entered our hotel, the Grand Sierra Resort.

嘎吱嘎吱響的雪鏈隨著倒退的車子滾動，企圖走過滑溜的冰雪地。使勁一踩，我爸終於加速開過雪地（註一）。路上的積雪變少時，我們就可以把雪鍊除下了──上了雪鍊的車子顛簸得很厲害。一下車我們就穿上夾克，因為這個冰冷的天氣會讓你起雞皮疙瘩。即使穿著厚夾克我們還是凍得發抖，牙齒直打顫。接著我們走進旅館， the Grand Sierra Resort.

In the center of the entrance room was a large statue of a man riding a horse. Behind that was a casino. We waited there for approximately ten minutes and then my mom went to check in. When my mom came back, I asked, “Can we check in yet?” “Yes,” answered my mom. “Great,” my sister Annie said. “I want to see what our rooms looks like.”

接待大廳中央是一座男人騎著馬的雕像。後面是賭場大廳。等了十分鐘後，我媽去櫃檯登記。她回來後我問：「我們可以進去了嗎？」「可以了。」我媽回答。「太好了，」我姊姊安說，「我想看看我們房間是什麼樣子。」

We found the elevator and pressed Level 7. When we found our rooms, we left our luggage there. It was about seven o’clock, our regular lunch time. We went to the Lodge, a restaurant down at the lobby. The lodge’s food was delicious --- from Italian pasta to Spanish rice. There was also mouth-watering mini-potatoes and crab.

我們找到電梯，按下七樓。到了房間後，把行李留在那裏。當時大約七點，也就是我們平常吃午餐的時候（註二）。我們去大廳其中一家餐廳the Lodge。the Lodge的食物非常美味──從義大利麵到西班牙海鮮飯。還有教人直流口水的迷你馬鈴薯和螃蟹。

The next day I woke up at eight o’clock a.m. After eating breakfast at eight thirty, my sister and I packed up for skiing. We had to pack ski jacket, pants, boots, gloves, hat and goggles. It was a two to three hour long drive, so we had a junk food lunch at eleven o’clock. After we reached the parking lot and parked we took a shuttle toward the ski resort. We didn’t have to go to ski school because we still remembered the lessons we had twelve years ago. “Where are we going to get our ski stuff?” I asked. “Over there,” answered Annie, pointing toward a big gray shop. We went into the crowded shop to fit on new boots and skis. Luckily, my first pair of boots fit perfectly. After that a man gave me my size skis. As soon as my sister was done fitting her boots and skis, we went outside to the rigid cold air and the splendid white snow. Then we trample up a small mound of snow where we practiced skiing and stopping using the Pizza, where you stop by folding your skis to a point. After my sister and I were very good at doing the Pizza, we side-stepped up to a belt that carried us up to the top of a hill. After that we skied down the hill and rode the belt back up again.

第二天我八點起床。八點半吃完早餐，姊姊和我就打包滑雪裝備。我們要帶雪衣、雪褲、靴子、手套、帽子和護目鏡。車程大約兩三小時，所以我們十一點左右吃垃圾食物當午餐（註三）。到了停車場，我們搭遊客巴士去滑雪中心。我們不用再上滑雪課，因為我們十二年前就上過了（註四）。「我們要去哪裡租滑雪用具？」我問。「那裏，」安回答，指著一間灰色大商店。我們到擠滿人潮的店裡試穿滑雪靴。幸運的是，我試穿的第一雙靴子就剛剛好。然後店員就給我合適尺寸的滑雪板。等我姊姊一試好，我們就跑到外面凍僵的空氣和皚皚白雪裡。然後我們沉重地一歩歩爬上練習台，在那裏練習用「披薩」煞停──就是把兩支滑雪板尖端指向同一點，做成「披薩」形狀。等姊姊和我都很會「做披薩」後，我們蟹行上運送帶，讓它送我們上丘頂。然後滑下來，再坐輸送帶上去。

On my first time I accidentally crashed into a snow boarder. I was ready to go down the hill on my first time. As I skied down the hill for the first time, I thought to myself, it shouldn’t be hard to ski while sitting. It wasn’t hard, so I dragged my bottom and my poles to a stop. I used this kind of stop until I mastered the Pizza on the hill. It was harder to do the Pizza on the slopes because the snow was much more soft and slippery than the mound we practiced on.

第一次滑下來的時候我不小心撞上玩雪地滑板的人。我第一次試，就準備好了要一路滑到底。當我第一次滑下來的時候，我坐在那裏想，滑雪沒那麼難。的確不難，所以我還是拖著屁股撐著滑雪杖爬起來。我就這樣不斷地練習煞停，直到我會在山坡上「做披薩」。在山坡上「做披薩」比較難，因為坡上的雪比練習台上的更軟更滑溜。

After two or three more tries on the slopes I became really tired and the skis that I carried became heavy. “Can we turn in our ski stuff back into the rental shop yet?” I asked mu mom. “If you want to,” she replied. So we into the rental shop. It was quite empty in the store, except for the shopkeepers. After we turned in our boots, skis, and poles we waited for the shuttle and rode it to the parking lot. After drove back to Reno, Nevada(2 hour drive) we ate dinner at seven o’clock and went back into our room.

在山坡上下來個兩三次之後，我覺得很疲倦，滑雪板也變得愈來愈重。「我們可以把雪具還回店裡了嗎？」「如果你真的想的話。」於是我們回到店裡。店裡空蕩蕩的，除了店員沒有別人。我們把雪靴、滑雪板、雪杖都還了以後，等了一下遊客巴士，然後搭巴士回到停車場。開車回到雷諾以後，我們七點吃晚餐，然後回自己房間。

The next day we were going home, but first we were going to play at the snow part with my aunt, uncle, and my two cousins Jeffrey and Jeremy. When they arrived, my uncle got a huge blue snow sled from the trunk. After we changed into our ski stuff we trampled in the snow. “Whoa!” Jeffrey cried. His feet had sunk 2 feet into the snow! “The snow’s really soft,” I said. My uncle soon found a trail of harder snow so we could step on it. The trail led us to a steep hill of hard snow. “Perfect place for sledding,” my sister Annie said. We took turns sliding down the hill. When Jeffrey and Jeremy got on the big blue sled, my sister and I snuck up some snowballs. As Jeffrey and Jeremy sled down the hill, Annie and I took our hardest snow balls and pelted them. “Argghhhhhhhhh!” Jeffrey yelled as my snowball struck him on the shoulder.　

次日我們回家。可是回家前要先去雪地公園和阿姨姨丈表兄弟Jeffrey 和 Jeremy玩。他們到了之後，姨丈從車廂裡拿出一支藍色的大雪橇。換好滑雪裝之後，我們一歩歩跋涉過雪地。「嘩！」Jeffrey喊道。他的腳陷進雪裡兩尺深了！「這個雪真的很軟」我說。姨丈找到一條積雪比較堅硬，可以走的小徑。這道雪徑通到一道陡峭的小丘。丘上的積雪也蠻硬的。「玩雪橇正好！」我姊安說。我們輪流坐雪橇滑下來。Jeffrey 和 Jeremy坐上藍色雪橇要滑下來時，我姊和我偷抓幾把雪球。等這兩人一滑下來，安和我就拼命丟雪球砸他們。「吆ㄠㄠㄠㄠㄠㄠ！」Jeffrey狂喊，因為我丟的雪球打中他的肩膀了。

After that, everybody pelted snowballs at anybody who was riding the sled. After a while we grew bored of the sledding. “Let’s start a snowball fight!” my sister exclaimed. “Yeah,” my uncle said, “But no aiming at the face.” “Sure,” I said. We had a moment to collect snow balls. The fight was kids vs. adults. “Let’s start!” I cried after 5 min. of collecting snow balls. We started first. Some of us hid behind trees so we wouldn’t get hit. When it was safe we went out of the trees to attack. The rest of us collected snowballs, since the others were using them so fast. The snowballs were starting to melt. We grabbed all that was left and threw. When the snowball fight was over, we had won.

那之後，每個人都對著坐雪橇滑下來的人砸雪球。過一陣子，我們玩膩了滑雪橇，我姊就喊：「我們來打雪仗！」：「好耶！」姨丈說，「可是不准打臉！」「沒問題。」我回道。我們先蒐集雪球。這場仗是小孩對大人。五分鐘後我喊：「開打囉！」我們先攻。我們小孩子一部份（註五）躲在樹後面，免得被打到。情況一安全，我們就從樹後現身攻擊。另一部份負責做雪球補給，因為雪球消耗得很快。雪球漸漸融化。我們抓了最後一批存貨拼命砸。戰爭結束，我們小孩子贏了。

After that we made snow angels, and took some pictures. As soon as we were all done we packed our ski stuff and made ready to go home. There was still a long drive (2 hours because we were going to visit my cousin’s house).

然後我們做雪天使，照了些像。玩完後，我們就換衣服打包，準備回家。回程還是開很久的車（要兩小時，因為我們要去Jeffrey家）。

註一：開車的是姨丈。我們兩家同一車去。寫成自己爸爸開車顯然是因為「政治正確」。同學的遊記都是爸爸開車啊。

註二：我們家平常七點吃午餐嗎？兒子啊，你會看時間嗎？

註三：事實是我們去吃吧費（buffet）早餐，吃了兩個多小時。十點多才離開旅館。車程40分鐘。加上弄雪鏈，找路，正午時分才抵達滑雪山莊。大家都不餓，就在滑雪休息時分隨便吃些零食，晚上又去吃吧費。

註四：兒子，十二年前你在哪裡啊？你姊姊都還在吃奶說。兒子聳聳肩說，這只是作文常見的誇張寫法，沒什麼。

註五：此次同行有五車六家人，小孩統統算起來有九個人。

補充說明：滑雪場在太浩湖附近，名曰Donner Hills的地方。人比較少，適合初學者。因為賭場的住宿比較便宜，我們多半住到雷諾，再開個40分鐘上山滑雪。此次下榻的旅館名曰Grand Sierra Resort，前身是希爾頓。轉手後重新整修開幕大優待：一晚$39美金一間，買一晚送一晚。加送$25任一餐廳抵用餐券，$25賭金籌碼，兩天兩人免費早餐吧費。我在訂房時當機立斷，訂了兩間。結果我們一家四口$87（要加稅）住了兩晚相連的套房：一間King，小朋友那間則有兩張 Queen尺寸大床；吃了兩頓早餐，一頓午餐，一頓晚餐，玩吃角子老虎賺回$42。因為非周末，又碰巧遇到吧費大優待，所以才有辦法餐券$50讓四人吃兩頓。這是我們有史以來最划算的住宿條件了，還是四顆星的旅館呢，簡直是賠本打廣告。這個優惠專案並沒有公開，而是電子郵件傳來的。我在旅館大廳漫步的時候，給一名白人遊客攔下來，問我是不是中國人？為什麼這麼多的中國人在這裡？是不是有什麼特殊活動？我心裡偷笑，沒有啦，廣告傳單轉一遭，呼朋引伴，旅館就都給華人包了，不是只有我們這幾家而已。

雪地公園玩雪橇

打雪仗

這位爸爸好慘啊