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第8章 Free to Soar 飞翔的自由

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.

Free to Soarsoar v.高飞,高丛,滑翔,剧增,昂扬

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicoloredmulticolored adj.多彩的,彩色的 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.

有时候我们真像这风筝啊!上天赋予我们困境和约束,赋予我们成长和增强实力所要遵守的规则。

飞翔的自由

在一个微风袭面的春日里,我看见一群年轻人正在放风筝,那些颜色不同、形状各异、大小不一的风筝如同美丽的小鸟一样在空中飞翔。当劲风把风筝高高吹起,一根线就能控制住它们。

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 restraintrestraint n.抑制, 制止, 克制 simply put it at the mercymercy n.仁慈, 宽恕, 怜悯 of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangledtangled缠结的, 紊乱的, 复杂的,迷惘的 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.

风筝总是能够迎风飘向更高的天空,而不会随风飘走。它们摇晃着、被拉扯着,但线以及身后的笨重尾巴使它们处于被控制之中,并且迎风而上。

它们挣扎着、抖动着,想要摆脱线的束缚,好像在说:“放开我!放开我!让我自由去飞!”即使是它们与拉扯它们的线抗争时,它们依然在美丽地飞翔。终于有一只风筝成功挣脱了约束。“终于自由了,”它好像在喊,“终于可以随风自由飞翔了!”

然而,不受约束的自由使它完全处于大风无情的摆布之下。它笨拙地颤抖着,不断向地面坠落,落在一堆杂草当中,线缠绕在了一棵枯死的灌木上。“最后的自由”使它自由到无力地落在尘土之上,任风沿地吹走的样子充满无助。当碰到第一个障碍物时,便死气沉沉地停留在那儿了。

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 counterpartcounterpart n.副本, 极相似的人或物, 配对物 to the winds of opposition. Some of us tugtug v.用力拖, 吃力地搬运, 苦干, 用拖轮拖, 拖拉n.拖, 苦干, 拖船, (牵引用的)绳索 at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtainedobtain vt.获得, 得到. 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.

有时候我们多像这只风筝啊!上天赋予我们困境与约束,又赋予了我们成长和增强实力所要遵守的规则。

约束是逆风飞行的必要配对物。我们中的某些人是如此强烈地抵制规则,这使我们无法飞到原本可以达到的高度。我们只遵守部分的戒律,所以永远不能飞得更高,让我们的尾巴离地面更远。

让我们每个人都往高处飞吧,并且牢记住一点:有些可能令我们不悦的约束,往往是促使我们向上攀升、并实现心愿的平衡力量。

“生命诚可贵,爱情价更高。若为自由故,两者皆可抛。”匈牙利诗人裴多菲这首经典的诗歌表达了自己对自由至高无上的价值肯定。本文通过风筝这一意象向我们讲明世间没有绝对的自由,都会受到各种各样的制约。脱离约束的自由,只能像断线的风筝一样,不知飘向何方。