KA CLANG! KA CLANG! KA CLANG!
哐啷！哐啷！哐啷！

The old bell was ringing calling us to breakfast at the camp.
夏令营的营地里，一只老旧的摇铃响个不停，招呼我们该吃早饭了。

Several of us, however, weren't paying attention.
可是，我们中的好几个人根本不去理会。

It was the last day of camp and we were engaging in a tradition passed down for years.
这是夏令营的最后一天，我们正在举行一场数年来沿袭下来的传统仪式。

We were supposed to have stripped the sheets off of our beds in our cabins, stuff them into our pillow cases, and return them to the office before breakfast.
我们本应把宿舍里床上的床单扯下来，把他们塞进枕套里，在早餐之前把他们归还到办公室去。

Pillow cases filled with heavy sheets, though, were far better than pillows for an end of the week pillow fight.
可是，塞进厚床单的枕套比枕头要好得多，很适合来一场宿营最后一天的枕头大战。

A dozen or more of us then were going at it when the bell started to ring.
铃声响起的时候，包括我在内的十几个学员正在激烈对战。

We were knocking each other over the beds and swinging our loaded down pillow cases with all of our might.
我们把对方从床上打到地上去，用我们全身的力气挥舞着手中塞得满满的枕套。

A hit to the head stung like crazy but we didn't mind.
脑袋被砸得生疼，简直让人发疯，但我们毫不在意。

We were having a rough housing good time.
我们正在享受这番大闹宿舍的好时光。

Soon the pillow fight spilled out into the hallway of the second story of our cabin.
很快枕头大战的战场就扩散到了二楼大厅。

A friend of mine and I were getting the worst of it.
我和我的一个朋友打得最凶。

Several of the other boys had decided to gang up against us.
几个其他的男孩决定联合起来对付我们。

I swung at one of them and missed and then saw another pillow case coming straight at my head.
我朝他们中的一个发起攻击，没有打中，接着就看到一个枕套径直朝我的脑袋飞过来。

I ducked and it caught my friend full in the chest.
我躲开了，我的朋友却正好被砸中了胸口。

Unfortunately, he was standing at the edge of the narrow stairway that led to the second floor.
不幸的是，他正好站在通往二楼的狭窄楼梯的拐角处。

I looked around and saw that he was airborne, going backwards down the steps.
我转过头去，发现他四脚腾空，朝楼梯下面倒去。

He seemed about to crack his head wide open on the wooden steps when someone stripping their sheets on the first floor let their mattress fall on the bottom of the steps.
眼看他就要在木头阶梯上摔个脑袋开花，突然，一个正在一楼拆床单的人把床垫放在楼梯底部。

My friend landed on the mattress and rolled safely off of it.
我的朋友摔进了床垫里，打了个滚，安全无恙。

The pillow fight stopped cold as we all gazed in amazement.
我们目瞪口呆的看着这一切，枕头大战戛然而止。

 "Whoa!," someone said. "What a lucky break!"
“哇！”有人叫到，“真是太走运啦！”

Looking back on that moment now I know that it wasn't just a lucky break.
 现在再回想那个时刻，我知道这不单单是运气。

So many of us these days focus on the times when something bad happens to us.
如今我们中许多人只会去注意那些坏事情真的降临的时候。

We fail to see all of the times when something bad could have happened to us and miraculously didn't.
我们没有发现，那么多次，某件坏事本会发生，却奇迹般的没有发生。

I know that there are no coincidences in this life.
我知道生命中本没有纯粹的巧合。

We are all watched over. We are all guided. We are all loved.
我们都被他人照看着。我们都被保护着。我们都被爱着。

Use your "lucky breaks" here well then.
当你“走运”时，好好珍惜吧！

Don't waste a second of this precious time you are given.
生命给予我们的时间是珍贵的，不要浪费一分一秒！

Live! Learn! Love! This life here is gift to you. Make how you live it your gift to others.
认真生活，学习新知，关爱他人吧！让你认真生活的态度成为对他人的礼物！

 

（翻译：小木）