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[1]Recently I gave a dinner party for some close friends. To add a touch of elegance to the evening, I brought out the good stuff--my white Royal Crown Derby china with the fine blue-and-gold border. When we were seated, one of the guests noticed the beat-up gravy boat I'd placed among the newer, better dinnerware. "Is it an heirloom?" she asked tactfully.
[2] I admit the piece does look rather conspicuous. For one thing, it matches nothing else. It's also old and chipped. But that little gravy boat is much more than an heirloom to me. It is the one thing in this world I will never part with.

[3] The story begins more than 50 years ago, when I was seven years old and we lived in a big house along the Ohio River in New Richmond, Ohio. All that separated the house from the river was the street and our wide front lawn. In anticipation of high water, the ground floor had been built seven feet above grade.

[4] Late in December the heavy rains came, and the river climbed to the tops of its banks. When the water began to rise in a serious way, my parents made plans in case the river should invade our house. My mother decided she would pack our books and her fine china in a small den off the master bedroom.

[5] The china was not nearly as good as it was old. Each piece had a gold rim and a band of roses. But the service had been her mother's and was precious to her. As she packed the china with great care, she said to me, "You must treasure the things that people you love have cherished. It keeps you in touch with them."

[1]最近我举办了一次晚宴，招待几位亲密的朋友。为了给那个晚上增添一点优雅的情趣，我摆出了一件奇珍异宝----绘有精美蓝边和金边的白色王冠德比牌的瓷器。大伙儿就座后，其中一位客人注意到了这只残破的船形肉卤盘----我已把它放在了满桌新颖而别致的餐具当中。“这是一件传家宝么？”她机敏地问道。

我承认这只盘子看起来确实惹人注目。首先，它跟其他任何东西都不相匹配；再者，它古老而且伤痕累累。但对我而言，这只小小的船形肉卤盘绝不只是一件传家之宝。它是这个世界上我一生都不会放弃的珍爱之物。

故事发生在50多年前，当时我才七岁，我们家住在俄亥俄州新里士满俄亥俄河边的一幢大房子里。房子跟河水只隔着一条街道和房前宽阔的草坪。考虑到河水有上涨的可能，房子一楼的地板安装得比地面高出七英尺。

12月下旬下起了大暴雨，河水涨到河沿上。河水刚开始猛涨时，我爸妈就作出了各种应急方案，以防河水淹进我们的房子。妈妈决定将我们所有的书籍以及她的精美瓷器搬出大卧室，放在楼上的小书斋里。

这些瓷器丝毫也显不出年代久远的痕迹。每一件都绘有金边和玫瑰花束。这套餐具是我外婆遗留下来的，对我妈来说十分珍贵。她一边小心翼翼地把它们包好，一边对我说：“你必须珍惜这些你所爱的人曾经珍惜过的东西。这可以保持你同他们的联系。”

[6] I didn't understand, since I'd never owned anything I cared all that much about. Still, planning for disaster held considerable fascination for me.

[7] The plan was to move upstairs if the river reached the seventh of the steps that led to the front porch. We would keep a rowboat downstairs so we could get from room to room. The one thing we would not do was leave the house. My father, the town's only doctor, had to be where sick people could find him.

[8] I checked on the river's rise several times a day and lived in a state of hopeful alarm that the water would climb all the way up to the house. It did not disappoint. The muddy water rose higher until, at last, the critical seventh step was reached.

[9] We worked for days carrying things upstairs, until, late one afternoon, the water edged over the threshold and rushed into the house. I watched, amazed at how rapidly it rose.

[10] After the water got about a foot deep inside the house, it was hard to sleep at night. The sound of the river moving about downstairs was frightening. Debris had broken windows, so every once in a while some floating battering ram--a log or perhaps a table--would bang into the walls and make a sound like a distant drum.

我当时并不懂得她的意思，因为我从未拥有过什么能令我如此珍爱的器皿。不过，为了防备遭受灾难而出谋划策使我兴趣盎然。

家里的计划是，如果河水上涨到通向前廊的第七级台阶，我们就搬到楼上去。我们将在楼下系一条划艇，以便能够从一个房间划到另一个房间。我们就是不愿意离开自己的家园。我爸爸是镇上唯一的一名大夫，他得守在病人能找到他的地方。

我每天查看几次河水上涨的情况，并惊恐地预料河水会一直漫进屋里。果然不出所料，浑浊的河水竟不断地高涨，终于淹到了至关重要的第七级台阶。

连着几天，我们忙于把东西搬到楼上，有一天一直忙到下午五六点钟，河水徐徐地漫过门槛，冲进屋里。我监视着，发现河水上涨的速度快得令人惊讶。

当屋里的积水深达一英尺时，晚上就很难睡个安稳觉了。河水在楼下撞击的声音叫人惊恐万分。随水冲进来的碎石片击碎了窗户玻璃，偶尔，飘浮在水上的撞击物——一根圆木，也有可能是一张桌子----会猛烈地撞到墙上，发出的声音像是远方传来的鼓声。

[11] Every day I sat on the landing and watched the river rise. Mother cooked simple meals in a spare bedroom she had turned into a makeshift kitchen. She was worried, I could tell, about what would happen to us. Father came and went in a small fishing boat. He was concerned about his patients and possible outbreaks of dysentery, pneumonia or typhoid.

[12] Before long, the Red Cross began to pitch tents on high ground north of town. "We are staying right here," my father said.

[13] As the water continued to rise, I kept busy rowing through the house and looking at the furniture that had been too big to move upstairs. I liked to row around the great cozy couch, now almost submerged, and pretend it was an island in a lake.

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