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1000颗玻璃弹珠
A Thousand Marbles

[ 2010-11-02 17:26]     字号 [] [] []  
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当今社会生活节奏快,工作压力大,许多人都因工作繁忙而不能常常与家人团聚。工作固然重要,但你是否因此而忽视了对自己来说最重要的人或事了呢?你又是否因工作而牺牲了许多与家人共度周末的机会了呢?读读下面这篇小文吧,或许会对你有所启发……

1000颗玻璃弹珠

卓言 选 C.Ka译

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude[2] that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, what began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the volume up on my radio, and I heard an older-sounding chap with a golden voice.[3] You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself. He was talking about “a thousand marbles” to someone named “Tom”.

I was intrigued[4] and sat down to listen to what he had to say. “Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well, but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet[5].”

“Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.”[6] And that’s when he began to explain his theory of “a thousand marbles”.

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less but on average, folks live about 75 years.”

“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.”

“It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.”

“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up with 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large clear plastic container next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.”

“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight[7].”

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign off[8] with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.”

“It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon[9] honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”

“What brought this on[10]?” she asked with a smile. “Oh, nothing special, it’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”

随着年龄的增长,我越来越喜爱周六的清晨。这或许是因为我第一个起床可以享受一段静谧的独处时光,又或许是因为不用上班所带来的无限喜悦。不管怎样,周六清晨头几个小时都是相当令人愉悦的。

几周前,在一个原本与平时毫无二致的周六清晨,生活又给我上了一课,就如它会时不时教授你一些东西一样。让我给你讲讲吧。

(那天早上,)我调高收音机的音量,听到了一个年长男人铿锵的声音。你知道的,就是那种听起来本应该自己就从事播音主持的人的嗓音。他正在和一个叫“汤姆”的人讲着什么“1,000颗玻璃弹珠”的事。

这引起了我的兴趣,于是我坐下来听他到底要说些什么。“嗯,汤姆,看起来你工作的确很忙,薪水肯定也不错,但是你不得不经常远离家庭和亲人,这太遗憾了。简直不能相信一个年轻人一周必须得工作60或70个小时来勉强维持生计。”

“让我给你讲一件事,汤姆,这件事让我对自己人生中最重要的事保持了正确的认识。”接着他开始解释他的“1,000颗玻璃珠”理论。

“话说,有一天我坐下来简单计算了一下,一个普通人大概能活75年,我知道,有些人更长寿一些,有些人寿命则短一些,但平均来讲,人大约可以活75年。”

“那么现在,我用75乘以52,结果是3,900,这就是一个普通人一生中所拥有的星期六的总天数。”

“我直到55岁时才详细思量了这一切,”他继续说道,“那时我已经活过2800多个星期六了。我于是就想,假如我能活到75岁,我就只剩下大约一千个星期六可以享受了。”

“于是,我去了一家玩具店,把店里的每一颗玻璃弹珠都买了下来,结果总共是1,000颗。我把它们带回家,放在收音机旁一个干净的大塑料罐里。从那以后,每过一个星期六,我都会从里面拿出一颗珠子扔掉。”

“我发现,看着珠子慢慢减少,我更加专注于生活中真正重要的事了。看着你在这个世界上的时间慢慢减少,没有什么比这更能让自己彻底弄清人生真正重要的事是什么的了。”

“在节目结束并带我可爱的妻子去吃早餐之前,让我再最后告诉你一件事吧。今天早上,我拿出了罐子里的最后一颗珠子。我想,如果我能活到下周六,那么,我就被额外赐予了一点时间,而我们能利用的就是那额外的一点时间。”

“跟你聊天很愉快,汤姆,我希望你多花一点时间与自己所爱的人一起度过,我也希望以后再遇到你。祝清晨愉快!”

当他说完,你连一根针落地的声音都能听到,就连节目主持人也一时无语。我想,他给了我们很多值得思考的东西。那天早晨,我本打算工作一会儿,然后去健身房。然而,我却上楼用一吻唤醒了妻子。“来吧,亲爱的,我带你和孩子们去吃早餐。”

“这是怎么回事?”她微笑着问。“啊,没什么,只是很久我们都没一起跟孩子们过周六了。嘿,我们出去的时候能顺便去下玩具店吗?我需要买一些玻璃弹珠。”

(来源:英语学习杂志)

Vocabulary:

1. marble: 玻璃弹子,玻璃珠。

2. solitude: 独处,独居,与外界隔绝。

3. chap: 〈英口〉家伙,小伙子;golden: (声音)亮的,铿锵的。

4. intrigue: 激起……的好奇心。

5. make ends meet: 使收支相抵,勉强维持生计。

6. perspective: (对事物的)合理观察,洞察力;priority: 优先考虑的事。

7. get...straight: 彻底了解(或弄清、搞懂)。

8. sign off: 电台停止广播,宣布广播结束。

9. c’mon: 即come on 的缩写形式。

10. bring...on: 使发展,引起,导致。

 
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