Hungry for Your Love

By Herman and Roma Rosenblat

(As told to Barbara De Angelis, Ph. D.) 

    1  It is cold, so bitter cold, on this dark, winter day in 1942. But it is no different from any other day in this Nazi concentration camp. I stand shivering in my thin rags, still in disbelief that this nightmare is happening. I am just a young boy. I should be playing with friends; I should be going to school; I should be looking forward to a future, to growing up and marrying, and having a family of my own. But those dreams are for the living, and I am no longer one of them. Instead, I am almost dead, surviving from day to day, from hour to hour, ever since I was taken from my home and brought here with tens of thousands of other Jews. Will I still be alive tomorrow? Will I be taken to the gas chamber tonight?

    2  Back and forth I walk next to the barbed wire fence, trying to keep my body warm. I am hungry, but I have been hungry for longer than I want to remember. I am always hungry. Edible food seems like a dream. Each day, as more of us disappear, the happy past seems like a mere dream, and I sink deeper and deeper into despair.

    3  Suddenly, I notice a young girl walking past on the other side of the barbed wire. She stops and looks at me with sad eyes, eyes that seem to say that she understands, that she, too, cannot figure out why I am here. I want to look away, oddly ashamed for this stranger to see me like this, but I cannot tear my eyes from hers.

    4  Then she reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a red apple. A beautiful, shiny red apple. Oh, how long has it been since I saw one! She looks cautiously to the left and to the right, and then with a smile of triumph, quickly throws the apple over the fence. I run to pick it up, holding it in my trembling, frozen fingers. In my world of death, this apple is an expression of life, of love. I glance up in time to see the girl disappearing into the distance. 

    5  The next day, I cannot help myself — I am drawn at the same time to that spot near the fence. Am I crazy for hoping she will come again? Of course. But in here, I cling to any tiny scrap of hope. She has given me hope and I must hold tightly to it. 

    6  And again, she comes. And again, she brings me an apple, flinging it over the fence with that same sweet smile.

    7  This time I catch it, and hold it up for her to see. Her eyes twinkle. Does she pity me? Perhaps. I do not care, though. I am just too happy to gaze at her. And for the first time in so long, I feel my heart move with emotion.

    8  For seven months, we meet like this. Sometimes we exchange a few words. Sometimes, just an apple. But she is feeding more than my belly, this angel from heaven. She is feeding my soul. And somehow, I know I am feeding hers as well.

    9  One day, I hear frightening news: we are being shipped to another camp. This could mean the end for me. And it definitely means the end for me and my friend.

    10  The next day when I greet her, my heart is breaking, and I can barely speak as I say what must be said: “Do not bring me an apple tomorrow,” I tell her. “I am being sent to another camp. We will never see each other again.” Turning before I lose all control, I run away from the fence. I cannot bear to look back. If I did, I know she would see me standing there, with tears streaming down my face.

    11  Months pass and the nightmare continues. But the memory of this girl sustains me through the terror, the pain, the hopelessness. Over and over in my mind, I see her face, her kind eyes, I hear her gentle words, I taste those apples.

    12  And then one day, just like that, the nightmare is over. The war has ended. Those of us who are still alive are freed. I have lost everything that was precious to me, including my family. But I still have the memory of this girl, a memory I carry in my heart for it gives me the will to go on as I move to America to start a new life. 

(758 words) (To be continued in Ex. 14 )

1. I should be looking forward to a future, to growing up and marrying, and having a family of my own. 

我应该在憧憬未来——长大，结婚，拥有自己的家庭。

第二个介词 to 承前省略了 looking forward ，它的后面有三个宾语，即 growing up, marrying 和having a family of my own 。

2. She stops and looks at me with sad eyes, eyes that seem to say that she understands, that she, too, cannot figure out why I am here. 

她停下脚步，用哀伤的眼神望着我。那种眼神仿佛是在说她能理解我的感受，而她也弄不明白我为什么在这儿。

3. But I still have the memory of this girl, a memory I carry in my heart for it gives me the will to go on as I move to America to start a new life. 

但我仍然记得这个女孩。这记忆我一直珍藏在心中，因为当我移居美国开始新的生活时，它给了我生活下去的毅力。