中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
這是一個(gè)關(guān)于處世的故事。生活從未保證它會(huì)對(duì)所有人一視同仁，艷羨、憤恨、嫉妒……這些因?yàn)榕c他人比較而滋生的情緒是最沒有意義的。選擇明智的處世態(tài)度，就是要接受生活的不公平，專注于自己的心，應(yīng)對(duì)發(fā)生在自己身上的事情。
By Joseph Walker
硯青 選 胡曉凱 譯
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Stealing? Well, yes—I guess we were stealing, if you want to get all technical about it. But in our 13-year-old brains we thought it was nothing big deal. The matter of ownership never occurred to us. We just knew that the Jordan’s had the best raspberries in the neighborhood, and that their bushes were always heavy with fruit. And suddenly that Friday night, a handful of freshly picked raspberries sounded good. Maybe two handfuls. So we snuck into[2] the Jordan’s backyard—which, come to think of it, should have been our first clue that we were doing something wrong: we “snuck.” Anytime sneaking is involved, it means you don’t want to get caught, which usually means you shouldn’t be doing it. But we snuck into their backyard and positioned ourselves carefully around the bushes and started harvesting their sweet, juicy berries. Now, I’ve got to tell you, there isn’t anything that tastes better than vine-ripened raspberries, fresh off the bush. We were savoring every bite of ill-gotten berry when all of a sudden the Jordan’s backyard lights flicked on, and Mr. Jordan came charging outside.[3] “What you boys doing out here?” he shouted as my friends scrambled[4] off in all directions, uneaten raspberries flying every which way. He made a valiant[5] attempt to grab one or two as they dashed past him, but they were too quick for the older gentleman to catch, and within seconds the boys disappeared into the dark of the summer evening. All except one. Uh, that would be me. Speed was never my strength. I was tall. I was strong. But I wasn’t very fast. Fast was for the little quick guys. I was all about size and power, neither of which come into play[6] when you’re trapped in a backyard, your lips red with juice from a neighbors’ precious raspberries. So I stood there, deer-in-the-headlights[7] style, and quickly considered my options. I could run, but I knew perfectly well that even as old as Mr. Jordan was, he could probably out-run me. I could lie, but I couldn’t come up with a believable story that would explain why I was in their backyard wearing a t-shirt stained with fresh raspberry juice. Or I could just stand there and accept whatever punishment would surely come my way from the Jordan’s and my parents. To be honest, I didn’t like that last option, but I didn’t really have a choice. I took the tongue-lashing that Mr. Jordan gave me as he marched me down the block to my house, where my mother took over and escalated the harangue to new levels of righteous scolding.[8] My friends said they could hear every colorful[9] word she uttered from the darkness of our backyard, where they had gathered to celebrate their escape—and to observe my capture. They teased me about it for days afterwards, while all I could do was to complain about how unfair it was that I had to pay the full price for doing the exact same thing all of them had done without any noticeable consequences. After about a week, I complained to my father about the inequity of the situation. “I don’t think it’s unfair at all,” Dad said. “You took raspberries without asking, and you got exactly the punishment you deserved.” “But what about the other guys?” I asked. “They didn’t get punished at all!” “That’s not my concern, nor should it be yours,” Dad said. “You can’t control what happens to other people. You can only deal with what happens to you. You made a bad choice that night, and you were punished for it. To me, that is completely fair.” Back then I thought Dad just didn’t get it. But through the years I come to realize that, as usual, he knew what he was talking about. We didn’t come to earth with a guarantee that life would treat us fairly. And it doesn’t. That’s why we can’t get bogged down comparing the various vicissitudes of our lives with the lives of others.[10] Like Dad said, that isn’t our concern. The only thing we can actually deal with is what happens to us. How we choose to respond to what happens to us is truly the standard by which the quality of our lives will be measured. Whether or not we think it happens fairly. |
偷？呃，是的——我想我們是在偷，如果非要嚴(yán)格來說的話。但是在我們這群13歲孩子看來，這沒什么大不了的。 所有權(quán)的問題我們從未想過。我們只知道附近的喬丹家有最好的樹莓，他們家的灌木上總是結(jié)滿了累累果實(shí)。在那個(gè)周五的晚上，突然，來一把新摘的樹莓的主意聽起來很不錯(cuò)。 或者兩把。 于是，我們溜進(jìn)了喬丹家的后院——回頭想想，這應(yīng)該是讓我們意識(shí)到自己正在做錯(cuò)事的第一個(gè)信號(hào)：我們是“偷溜了進(jìn)去”。不管何時(shí)，如果需要偷溜，就意味著你不想被抓住，通常也意味著你不應(yīng)該做那件事。但是我們溜進(jìn)了他們家的后院，小心翼翼地藏在灌木周圍，開始偷摘那些甜美多汁的漿果。 嘿，我得告訴你，沒有什么比從枝條上新摘下來的熟透的樹莓更美味的了。正當(dāng)我們細(xì)細(xì)品嘗著這些來路不正的漿果時(shí)，突然，喬丹家后院的燈亮了，喬丹先生沖了出來。 “你們這些毛小子在這里干什么呢？”他喊道，我的朋友們立刻作鳥獸散，還沒來得及吃掉的樹莓被扔得四處亂飛。 這些小壞蛋從他身邊奔過時(shí)，他還竭力想要抓住一兩個(gè)，可他們跑得太快，這位紳士上了年紀(jì)，壓根追不上，幾秒鐘后，這些毛小子的身影就消失在夏夜的黑暗中了。 只有一個(gè)沒有跑掉。呃，那就是我。 速度向來不是我的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)。我個(gè)子很高，身體也強(qiáng)壯。但是我的速度不夠快。跑得快的通常是那些敏捷的小個(gè)子。我的長(zhǎng)處在于塊頭和力量，然而，當(dāng)你困在人家的后院，吃了鄰居那些珍貴的樹莓，嘴唇讓果汁染紅時(shí)，這兩項(xiàng)長(zhǎng)處都派不上用場(chǎng)。 于是我站在那里，驚惶失措，迅速考慮著自己的出路：我可以逃跑，但是我很清楚，雖然喬丹先生上了年紀(jì)，我也很可能會(huì)被他抓住；我可以撒謊，但是我想不出一個(gè)可信的故事，來解釋我當(dāng)時(shí)為什么在他家后院，身上還穿著一件沾著新鮮樹莓汁的T恤衫；或者我可以聽天由命，站在那里接受必然會(huì)來自喬丹家和我父母的任何懲罰。 老實(shí)說，我并不喜歡最后一個(gè)設(shè)想，但我確實(shí)沒得選擇。喬丹先生一邊訓(xùn)斥我，一邊穿過街區(qū)把我押回家，然后媽媽又接手將訓(xùn)斥升級(jí)到責(zé)罵。我的朋友們說，從我家漆黑的后院，他們可以聽到我媽嘴里傳出的每一個(gè)粗俗的字眼，當(dāng)時(shí)他們聚集在我家后院，慶祝他們順利逃脫——同時(shí)見證我的被捕。 之后許多天，他們一直取笑我，而我只能抱怨老天不公平：我只是做了和他們一樣的事，卻要為此承擔(dān)全責(zé)，而他們卻可以全身而退。 大約一周后，我對(duì)父親抱怨這件事有多么不公平。 “我一點(diǎn)兒不覺得這不公平，”父親說，“你未經(jīng)允許摘人家的樹莓，你也得到了應(yīng)得的懲罰?！?/p> “但是其他人呢？”我問道，“他們一點(diǎn)兒都沒受懲罰?！?/p> “這個(gè)我不關(guān)心，你也不應(yīng)該在意?！卑职终f，“你不能掌控別人遇到什么事。你只能應(yīng)對(duì)發(fā)生在自己身上的事。你那天晚上做了一個(gè)糟糕的選擇，并為此受到了懲罰。在我看來，這是完全公平的?！?/p> 當(dāng)時(shí)我認(rèn)為爸爸根本不理解。但是多年后我逐漸意識(shí)到，他很清楚自己在說什么。 我們來到世界上，沒有人向我們保證生活會(huì)公平地對(duì)待我們。生活確實(shí)也不會(huì)。這就是我們?yōu)槭裁床荒芤驗(yàn)榘炎约旱目部琅c其他人比較而停頓不前。就像爸爸說的，那不是我們所要關(guān)心的。 我們唯一能應(yīng)對(duì)的是發(fā)生在我們自己身上的事。而我們?nèi)绾螒?yīng)對(duì)這些事，確實(shí)就成了衡量我們生活質(zhì)量的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，不管在我們眼里它們是否公平。 （來源：英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志） |
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Vocabulary: 1. rustle: 偷（一般指偷牲口）。 2. sneak into: 偷偷地進(jìn)入，潛入。 3. flick on: 咯噠地一聲打開(開關(guān)等)；charge: 猛沖。 4. scramble: 混亂、倉促地行動(dòng)。 5. valiant: 英勇的，勇敢的。 6. come into play: 起作用。 7. deer-in-the-headlights: 僵立在車燈前的鹿，比喻不知所措的樣子。 8. tongue-lashing: 斥責(zé)，訓(xùn)斥；escalate: 逐步升級(jí)；harangue: 訓(xùn)斥性的演說；righteous: 正當(dāng)?shù)?，道義上無可指責(zé)的。 9. colorful: （言詞）粗俗的。 10. bog down: 停滯不前；vicissitude: 變遷，世事變化。 |
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