We Believe Only What We Want To我们只相信我们想去相信的

The silvery-grey sky grumbled1 relentlessly2. Dark clouds hid the sun. Thesound of emptiness was disrupted3 by the loud boom of thunder. Puddles4 beganemitting5 a loud sound as the rainfall became heavier. The roofs of the carsbounced6 loudly with spray7. The cold， icy rain fell on Geeta’shead， but she ran across the slippery8 path. The harsh rainobliterated9 the crystal10 reflection of the sky and turned itinto chaos.

银灰色的天空无情地轰隆着。乌云遮住了太阳。空旷的声音被隆隆的雷声打断了。随着雨越来越大，水坑开始发出巨大的声音。汽车的车顶被溅起的水撞得砰砰作响。冰冷的雨落在吉塔的头上，但她还是跑过了湿滑的小路。瓢泼大雨摧毁了天空清澈的倒影，搅得一片混沌。

Geeta ran into the restaurant and silently thanked heavens when she realizedthat a table in the corner was empty. The restaurant was full. Geeta looked around atthe busy tables. An old couple was eating side by side， bent over their meals. Agroup of young women in their thirties were collapsing11 with helpless giggles as awoman dining alone nearby looked on and frowned12. Businessmen in their grey suitswere discussing what seemed to be a confidential13 matter. A family and theirteenage children were laughing and talking with each other. The noise level was high.The lighting was dim14 and the air was thick with the pleasant smells of so manydifferent foods. She was starting to feel claustrophobic15， but the hunger was toooverpowering and so， she remained seated.

吉塔跑进餐厅，发现角落里的一张桌子空着，便默默地感谢上帝。餐厅已经客满了。吉塔环顾四周繁忙的餐桌。一对老年夫妇并排坐着，弯腰吃饭。一群三十多岁的年轻女性正无奈地笑得前仰后合，旁边一位独自用餐的女士看着她们，皱起了眉头。穿着灰色西装的商业人士正在讨论一件似乎是机密的事情。有一家人和他们十几岁的孩子们在一起有说有笑。噪音指数很高。灯光昏暗，空气中弥漫着许多不同食物的香味。她开始感到幽闭恐惧，但饥饿感太强了，所以她还是一直坐着。

She sat in one of the two chairs and ordered a pasta and cookies. An oldshabbily16 dressed woman， looking a little lost， asked her whether she could sit inthe chair opposite hers as it was the only empty one. Geeta nodded. While waitingfor the food to arrive， Geeta noticed that the old woman was only drinking waterand did not order anything else. She found it strange， but did not say anything. Inabout two minutes， a waiter arrived with the food and set it down on the table.Geeta who was too hungry started eating the pasta immediately.She was almost done with it， when she noticed the old womaneating a cookie. She was annoyed， but considered the fact thatwoman was old and ignored it. However， the old woman didn’tseem to be finished with the cookies. She ate cookie aftercookie and infuriated17 at this， Geeta grabbed the paper bagand ate the last two cookies. The old woman then smiled atGeeta and started reaching towards the coffee slowly.

她坐在两张椅子中的一张上，点了一份意大利面和饼干。一位衣着寒酸的老妇人看起来有点失落，问她是否可以坐在她对面的椅子上，因为这是唯一的空椅子。吉塔点了点头。在等待食物到来时，吉塔注意到老妇人只喝水，没有点任何其他东西。她觉得这很奇怪，但什么也没有说。大约两分钟后，一名服务员端来了食物，并把它放在桌子上。饿极了的吉塔立刻开始吃意大利面。快吃完的时候，她注意到老妇人在嚼饼干。她很生气，但考虑到这个妇人年事已高，便没有理会。然而，这位老妇人吃起饼干来似乎没完没了。她吃了一块又一块的饼干。吉塔被激怒了，她抓起纸袋吃掉了最后两块饼干。然后老妇人对吉塔笑了笑，开始慢慢把手伸向咖啡。

Geeta jerked18 the woman’s hand away， gulping19 the coffee in one sip20， andwent to the counter to pay the bill. The restaurant staff told her， “Ma’am， we areterribly sorry for the delay in your order. It will take two more minutes. There arecustomers who have ordered before you and we have to serve them first.”Confused，Geeta said， “No， the order already arrived at my table. It is table 20.”The waitresssaid， “Ma’am， but that was for the old woman. She ordered a long time back. Twokids wanted to sit together， so she asked them to sit at her table and instead sat atyours.”Geeta was embarrassed， frozen to the spot. She felt upset. She couldn’tbelieve it had happened. She rushed to the table to apologize， but the woman was notthere. Apparently， she had gone outside with her daughter. Geeta walked out of therestaurant and into the rain. As she scanned21 the crowd， she suddenly realized thatshe could see no sign of her. She started to move， her eyes darting22 more wildlywith each passing second， hoping to find the woman. Then when she realized thatthere wasn’t a single way to find the old woman and seek her forgiveness， she wasextremely disappointed.

吉塔猛地推开妇人的手，一口气灌下了咖啡，然后走到柜台结账。餐厅工作人员告诉她：“女士，我们对您的订单延误感到非常抱歉。您的餐点还需要两分钟时间。有些顾客在您之前点了菜，我们必须先为他们服务。”吉塔困惑地说：“不，我点的餐已经到了我的桌子上。是20 号桌。”女服务员说，“女士，但那是给那位老妇人的。她早就点好了。有两个孩子想坐在一起，所以她让他们坐在她的桌子那儿，而她自己则坐到您这桌。”吉塔很尴尬，愣在了原地。她很沮丧。她简直不敢相信竟然发生了这样的事情。她冲到桌子前道歉，但那个妇人已经不在那儿了。显然，她和女儿离开了。吉塔走出餐厅，走进雨中。当她扫视人群时，她突然意识到自己看不到她的身影。她开始动起来，眼睛一秒比一秒疯狂地扫视着，希望能找到那个妇人。然后，当她意识到没有任何方法可以找到这位老妇人并寻求她的原谅时，她感到无比失望。

She walked back into the restaurant and sat down at the table. Her food arrived.She took a long look at it. And this time， she thought to herself， “For just a fewcookies， I got angry and irritated23 the old woman. But such was her patience thatinstead of scolding24 me， she simply smiled and bore with me. If only， I had not beenso short-tempered and instead politely asked her for an explanation then I would haverealized that it wasn’t my order. Instead， I started judging her and came to theconclusion that she was an irritating old woman who was ruining25 my day. But shewasn’t anything like me. She had probably realized that I was hungry and let me eatthe food， she had paid for. Oh！ How all of us see and believeonly what we want to.”

她走回餐厅，在餐桌旁坐了下来。她的食物到了。她盯了它很久。这一次，她心想：“就为了几块饼干，我就生气了，还惹恼了老妇人。但她如此有耐心，不但没有责备我，反而微笑着忍受我。如果我没有那么暴躁，而是礼貌地请她解释一下，我就会意识到这不是我点的餐。然而，我开始对她评头论足，得出的结论是，她是一个烦人的老妇人，毁了我的一天。但她一点也不像我。她可能意识到我饿了，就让我吃她付钱买的食物。哦！我们所有人怎么都只看到和相信我们想看到和相信的。”

（英语原文选自：kidsworldfun.com）