It had been snowing all night, not a single star in sight. My roommate and I , each wrapped①in a quilt②, were seated far apart in a different corner of the porch, facing each other and chatting away③. She exclaimed pointing to something afar, "Look, Venus is rising!" I looked up and saw nothing but a lamp round the bend in a mountain path. I beamed and said pointing to a tiny lamplight on the opposite mountain, "It's Jupiter over there!"More and more lights came into sight as we kept pointing here and there. Lights from hurricane lamps④flickering about in the pine forest created the scene of a star-studded⑤sky. With the distinction between sky and forest obscured⑥by snowflakes, the numerous lamp-lights now easily passed for as many stars. Completely lost in make-believe world, I seemed to see all the lamplights drifting from the ground. With the illusory⑦stars hanging still overhead, I was spared the effort of tracing their positions when I woke up from my dreams in the dead of night. Thus I found consolation⑧even on a lonely snowy night.

连夜降雪，一点星光都看不见。荷和我拥衾对坐，在廊子的两角，遥遥谈话。 荷指着说：“你看维纳斯（Venus）升起来了！”我抬头望时，却是山路转折处的路灯。我怡然一笑，也指着对山的一星灯火说：“那边是丘比特（Jupiter）呢！”愈指愈多。松林中射来凌乱的风灯，都成了满天星宿。真的，雪花隙里，看不出天空和森林的界线，将灯当作繁星，简直是抵得过。 一念至诚的将假作真，灯光似乎都从地上飘起。这幻成的星光，都不移动，不必半夜梦醒时，再去追寻它们的位置。 于是寂寞雪夜，也有了慰安。

① wrap 英 [ræp] 美 [ræp] vt. 包；缠绕；隐藏；掩护vi. 包起来；缠绕；穿外衣 n. 外套；围巾

② quilt 英 [kwɪlt] 美 [kwɪlt]n. 被子；棉被 vt. 东拼西凑地编；加软衬料后缝制 vi. 缝被子

③ chat away 闲谈

④ hurricane lamp n. [电] 防风灯；飓风灯；马灯

⑤ star-studded ['stɑ:stʌdid] adj. 星罗棋布的

⑥ obscure 英 [əb'skjʊə] 美 [əb'skjʊr]adj. 模糊的；晦涩的；昏暗的vt. 遮掩；使变暗；使难理解

⑦ illusory 英 [ɪ'l(j)uːs(ə)rɪ] 美 [ɪ'lusəri]adj. 错觉的；幻影的；虚假的；产生幻觉的

⑧ consolation 英 [,kɒnsə'leɪʃ(ə)n]美 [ˌkɑnsəˈleʃən] n. 安慰；慰问；起安慰作用的人或事物