Marie laughed, too, but she patted his hand tenderly. “Pierre, you must have the laboratory you have wanted for so long,” she sighed. “All these honors are very nice, but we would so much rather have a decent place to work in. Someday we’ll get it, won’t we?” (来源：老牌的英语学习网站 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

“Yes,” agreed Pierre. “I’m sure we will.”

In November, a few months after their return to Paris, Pierre made another trip to London. This time it was so receive the Davy Medal. This great honor had been awarded to Pierre and Marie by the Royal Society of London.

When he came home, Marie and little Irene met him at the door of the apartment. Irene, who had been told that her father was bringing home a prize, danced up and down with excitement.

“Papa!” she cried, after he had lifted her up and kissed her. “Let me see it, let  me see it !”

Her father rummaged in the valise he had been carrying. “Now where did I put that thing?” he exclaimed. “I’m sure I brought it home with me —I think.”

“Is this it, Pierre?” Marie had picked up a rather heavy package that lay under Pierre’s hat on the table.

“Yes, that’s it.” Pierre unwrapped the package and lifted the leather lid of the case. He held up a heavy gold medal on which were engraved the names: PIERRE AND MARIE CURIE.

“Why, it’s a great big gold penny!” Irene cried. “It’s pretty, isn’t it, Mé?”

“Yes, it’s very pretty,” Marie answered. “But what on earth will we do with it ?”

“Perhaps we could put it on the table here, for a paper weight,” Pierre suggested. “Or maybe we could —well—hang it on the wall.”

 He took up the medal to see how it would look over the manel. It slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor with a thud.

 Irene darted to picked it up and stood feeling the ridges in the engraving. Then, laughing with glee, she began to roll it along the carpet like a hoop.

A happy smile spread over Pierre Curie’s gentle face. “See, lrene loves her new toy,” he said to Marie. “ So, we have found a use for the medal after all.”

居里女儿的新玩具 

玛丽·居里身着深色简朴的晚礼服，扫视了一下那张长长的餐桌。英国的女士们与先生们交叉而坐，满身珠光宝气，玛丽看得都入了神。

可是，尽管玛丽自己身上没有穿金戴银，但众人的眼光却都集中在她的身上。她与皮埃尔是今天宴会的贵宾。他们是应皇家科学研究院的邀请来到英国的。这群显赫的科学家们邀请了皮埃尔·居里来给他们做有关于镭的演讲。

这次演讲十分成功。此刻伦敦的每个人都希望能一睹居里教授和居里夫人的风采并邀请他们参加联欢会及宴会。

玛丽扭头转向坐在她旁边的凯尔温勋爵，她的一位老朋友和同行。“大家都太好了”，她对这位长者说道。“我和皮埃尔都不习惯人们对我们大肆宣扬。我们的确很少出门。似乎总没时间。

凯尔温勋爵笑着说道：“我能理解，可你要记住你现在是位声名远扬的女士了。你是世界上首位被邀请参加皇家科学研究院集会的女士。实际上，我得说你是世界上唯一著名的女科学家。

听到凯尔温勋爵这么说，玛丽显得有点震惊。她并没觉得出名并且也不想出名。这会占用她很多时间。她扫视了一下皮埃尔。

皮埃尔刚刚就有关镭做了一个精彩的讲话。这会儿，他正在平静地回答着坐在他身边的著名科学家们的问题。尽管他的黑色礼服陈旧褪色，但在玛丽的眼里他仍是屋内最耀眼的人物。

坐在返回旅馆的车厢里，皮埃尔开始咯咯地笑起来。

“你笑什么，亲爱的？”玛丽问他。

“我看到你在看那些女士的珠宝，”皮埃尔对她说。“我也在看。不过不像你那么羡慕。我在做一个小游戏。”

 “我想猜猜每条项链和每只手镯会值多少钱。而且要是我能有那么多钱我将能建个多大的实验室。你知道吗，玛丽，”他笑道，“我会一下子就拥有一群像巴黎大学那么大的大厦。”

玛丽也笑起来，但她轻轻拍着他的手感叹道：“皮埃尔，你一定会有你盼望已久的实验室的，这些荣誉固然不错，可我们的确要有一个像样的工作环境。我们迟早会有的，对吗？”

“是的，”皮埃尔赞同道：“我肯定我们会的！”

到了十一月，即他们返回巴黎的几个月后，皮埃尔又去了一趟伦敦。这次是去接受戴维奖章。这个巨大的荣誉是英国皇家学会授予皮埃尔和玛丽的。

当他回到家时，玛丽和小埃莉尼正在公寓的门口迎接他。埃莉尼得知父亲回家带了奖品，兴奋得手舞足蹈。

“爸爸！”她叫道，爸爸举起她亲了亲。“让我看看，让我看看！”

她的父亲在随身的施行包里到处翻着。“我把它放在哪了？”他叫道。“我肯定亲自把它带回来了——我想是的。”

“是这个吗，皮埃尔？”玛丽拾起桌子上盖在皮埃尔帽子下一个很沉的小盒。

“正是它。”他拿出一枚沉甸甸的金质奖章，上面刻着名字：皮埃尔和玛丽·居里。

“哎，是枚大个儿的金便士！”埃莉尼嚷道。“它很精致，是不是，妈妈？”

“是的，是很精致，”玛丽答道。“可我们用它到底能做些什么呢？”

“或许我们可以把它放在这儿的桌子上，当镇尺，”皮埃尔建议道。“要么也许我们——嗯——把它挂在墙上。”