书城外语课外英语-似水年华(双语版)
33391500000024

第24章 四月雨带来五月花

从美国中西部金色的田野,到巴勒斯坦嫩绿色的古老疆土,那些留心观察的人共享着同一个快乐真理。近来这一真理被阐述为:四月的雨带来五月的花。这一真理预示光明会从黑暗中迸发;刚强生自软弱;如果你敢确信,生命会从死亡中萌发!全世界的农民们都明白季节的重要性和永恒性。他们知道在哪个季节播种,哪个季节收获,每件事都必须应时而做!虽然暴雨无情地倾盆而下,迫使所有的户外劳作停止,但土地的主人会仰天微笑。尽管有诸多不便,但是他知道,雨会为他的庄稼带来繁茂生长所需的营养。四月里的豪雨,会带来五月里的繁花似锦。但是这一古老真理并不只适用于田里的庄稼,它还是那些正经历着人生磨难的人的无限希冀:一段友谊的受挫会开启另一段崭新友谊的大门;此处失去的工作会提供彼处更好的工作机会;一个梦想的破灭会成为美好未来的基石。万物皆有道!请谨记:势不可挡的黑暗或有一晚,但它永远无法阻挡清晨的万丈光芒!当你正处于悲伤之季,请坚持住,因为欢乐的季节也许马上就会到来……

Free to Soar

One windy spring day,I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites.Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing.As the strong winds gusted against the kites,a string kept them in check.Instead of blowing away with the wind,they arose against it to achieve great heights.They shook and pulled,but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow,facing upward and against the wind.As the kites struggled and trembled against the string,they seemed to say,“Let me go!Let me go!I want to be free!”They soared beautifully even as they fought the restriction of the string.Finally,one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose.“Free at last.”it seemed to say.“Free to fly with the wind.”Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze.It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush.“Free at last”free to lie powerless in the dirt,to be blown helplessly along the ground,and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.How much like kites we sometimes are.The Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions,rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength.Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition.Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained.We keep part of the commandment and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.Let us each rise to the great heights,recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.