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第42章 美丽的爱 (4)

有人回答:“有啊,有更美的事。那就是一对老年夫妇一起走在小路上,他们的手饱经风霜,但仍然紧紧相握;他们的脸布满皱纹,却依然容光焕发;肉体上,他们的心已经衰老,但那里面依然有对彼此强烈的爱和虔诚。是的,有比年轻的爱更美丽的事,那就是年老的爱。”

The Gift of Love爱的颂歌

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I thought like a child; when I became and adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

就算我能说万人的方言和天使的话语,但如果没有爱,我不过就如鸣锣一般;就算我有预知未来的能力,就算我精通各种知识和奥秘,就算我有坚定的信念,但如果没有爱,我就什么都算不上;就算我拿所有的财物周济穷人,就算我能做出舍己为人的壮举,但如果没有爱,我仍将一无所有。

爱是一种忍耐,爱是一种友善;爱不是嫉妒,不是自大,不是鲁莽,不是固执己见,不是轻易发怒。爱意味着憎恶不义,赞赏真理;爱意味着包容一切,相信一切,对生活充满希望,并能忍受生活中的一切。

爱是永无止境的,但又是有尽头的;就像知识一样,必将归于乌有。我们现在所掌握的知识很有限,当我们掌握了完整的知识时,有限的知识必将归于乌有。当我还是一个孩子的时候,我像孩子一样说话,像孩子一样思考问题,像孩子一样推理;但我一旦成年,就不再像孩子一样了。现阶段,我们很多时候好像是从镜子里观看事物,对很多事物都看不清,但有朝一日我们会直面这些事物。现阶段,我知道的东西很有限,但有朝一日我会懂得一切。

如今,常存在人们心中的东西有三样:信念、希望和爱,而其中爱是最重要的!

Home, Sweet Home甜蜜的家庭

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home!

A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,

Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere,

Home! Home! Sweet, sweet Home!

There’s no place like Home! There’s no place like Home!

I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,

And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,

As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door,

Through the woodbine, whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.

Home! Home! Sweet, sweet Home!

There’s no place like Home!

There’s no place like Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;

Oh, give me my lowly thatch’d cottage again!

The birds singing gaily, that came at my call—

Give me them, —and the peace of mind, dearer than all!

Home! Home! Sweet, sweet Home!

There’s no place like Home! There’s no place like Home!

虽然我们也会沉迷于欢乐与奢靡中,

无论家是多么简陋,没有地方比得上它!

好似从空而降的魔力,使我们在家觉得圣洁

就是找遍全世界,也找不到像这样的地方,

家啊!家啊!甜蜜的家啊!

没有地方比得上家!没有地方比得上家!

每当我漫步荒野凝视明月,

便想起母亲正惦念着她的孩子,

当她从茅舍门口遥望明月时,

穿过冬忍树丛,浓郁树香再也不能安慰我的心灵。

家啊!家啊!甜蜜的家啊!

没有地方比得上家!

没有地方比得上家!

对一个离乡背井的游子,再华丽的光辉,也是徒然闪烁;

一栋矮檐茅舍!

一呼即来的鸟儿正在欢唱

赐给它们-还有心灵的平静,这些胜过一切!

家啊!家啊!甜蜜的家啊!

没有地方比得上家!没有地方比得上家!

The Red Clothes in Heaven天堂里的红衣服

In my dual profession as an educator and health care provider, I have worked with numerous children infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The relationships that I have had with these special kids have been gifts in my life. They have taught me so many things, but I have especially learned that great courage can be found in the smallest of packages. Let me tell you about Tyler.

Tyler was born infected with HIV: his mother was also infected. From the very beginning of his life, he was dependent on medications to enable him to survive. When he was five, he had a tube surgically inserted in a vein in his chest. This tube was connected to a pump, which he carried in a small backpack on his back. Medications were hooked up to this pump and were continuously supplied through this tube to his bloodstream. At times, he also needed supplemented oxygen to support his breathing.

Tyler wasn’t willing to give up one single moment of his childhood to this deadly disease. It was not unusual to find him playing and racing around his backyard, wearing his medicine-laden backpack and dragging his tank of oxygen behind him in his little wagon. All of us who knew Tyler marveled at his pure joy in being alive and the energy it gave him. Tyler’s mom often teased him by telling him that he moved so fast she needed to dress him in red. That way, when she peered through the window to check on him playing in the yard, she could quickly spot him.

This dreaded disease eventually wore down even the likes of a little dynamo like Tyler. He grew quite ill and, unfortunately, so did his HIV-infected mother. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to survive, Tyler’s mom talked to him about death. She comforted him by telling Tyler that she was dying too, and that she would be with him soon in heaven.

A few days before his death, Tyler beckoned me over to his hospital bed and whispered, “I might die soon. I’m not scared. When I die, please dress me in red. Mom promised she’s coming to heaven, too. I’ll be playing when she gets there, and I want to make sure she can find me.”

作为一名教育和保健护理工作者,我曾经和数不清的感染上艾滋病病毒的孩子打过交道。我和这些特殊的孩子之间的关系是生活赋予的恩赐。他们教会我许多东西,我尤其懂得了即使在最弱小的人物身上也能发现其所蕴含的巨大勇气。让我告诉你泰勒的故事。

泰勒出生前就从母体感染上艾滋病病毒。自他来到人间就一直靠药物维持生命。他5岁时做手术,胸部插了一根管子,管子连着他背的背包里的泵,泵不断地把药通过管子输入他的血液。有时他还需要补充氧气帮助呼吸。