本文作者是美國人南希?J?里格，選自于Los Angeles Times，屬于典型的文學(xué)作品，特別是對于景物和心理的描寫居多，所以在翻譯時(shí)需要體現(xiàn)詞匯的用法，很多地方用到意譯的翻譯方法。

It's raining, again.

又下雨了。

As I lie awake in bed, listening to the sound of those razor-sharp drops pounding on the pavement, my mind goes reeling down dark corridors teeming with agonizing flashbacks, and a chill from within fills me with dread.

我躺在床上，睡不著，聽著雨點(diǎn)兒落在路面上啪啪作響。我思緒萬千，恍恍惚惚進(jìn)入了一條條幽暗的通道，回想起許多痛苦的往事，心里一陣冰涼，不禁感到毛骨悚然。

It does this every year in Southern California; at least that's what they told me last year when I marveled at the relentless determination of the rain.

加利福尼亞南部，年年如此;去年，雨無情地下個不停，我表示驚異，人們就是這樣對我說的。

There seem to be two seasons here.

這里似乎只有兩個季節(jié)。

During the rainy season, sometimes the storms drench the area nonstop for days.

在雨季，狂風(fēng)暴雨有時(shí)一連幾天不停。

Sometimes the storm come and go.

有時(shí)一會兒就雨過天晴。

Often property damage and disrupted lives result.

結(jié)果往往是財(cái)產(chǎn)遭損失，生活受影響。

It's hard to predict the intensity of the patterns from year to year.

嚴(yán)重程度如何，年年不同，難以預(yù)料。

Then there is the fire season.

再就是火季。

That takes care of the property that managed to survive the deluge, again disrupting lives.

大雨過后勉強(qiáng)剩下的財(cái)物就落到它的手里，人們的生活再次受到影響。

The days connecting these seasons are monotonous, with some sun, some smog and some more sun.

這兩個季節(jié)之間的日子是非常單調(diào)的，有時(shí)見一點(diǎn)兒陽光，有時(shí)煙霧彌漫，過后再見一點(diǎn)兒陽光。

This is nothing like back home in Colorado.

這跟家鄉(xiāng)科羅拉多的情況迥然不同。

We have rains there, too.

科羅拉多也下雨。

Thunderstorms in spring and summer often come with intensity great enough to cause flash-flooding.

春夏兩季雷雨交加，猛烈異常，往往頃刻之間暴雨成災(zāi)。

Every child raised in the West knows about these dangers.

在西部長大的孩子都知道洪水的厲害。

At least that's what I used to think. I’m not so sure anymore.

至少我過去是這樣想的，現(xiàn)在就不敢說了。

In second grade they showed us a terrifying film about flash-flooding.

我上二年級的時(shí)候，給我們演過一場暴雨成災(zāi)的電影，非?？膳?。