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當(dāng)今社會生活節(jié)奏快，工作壓力大，許多人都因工作繁忙而不能常常與家人團(tuán)聚。工作固然重要，但你是否因此而忽視了對自己來說最重要的人或事了呢？你又是否因工作而犧牲了許多與家人共度周末的機(jī)會了呢？讀讀下面這篇小文吧，或許會對你有所啟發(fā)……
卓言 選 C.Ka譯
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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.” |
隨著年齡的增長，我越來越喜愛周六的清晨。這或許是因為我第一個起床可以享受一段靜謐的獨處時光，又或許是因為不用上班所帶來的無限喜悅。不管怎樣，周六清晨頭幾個小時都是相當(dāng)令人愉悅的。 幾周前，在一個原本與平時毫無二致的周六清晨，生活又給我上了一課，就如它會時不時教授你一些東西一樣。讓我給你講講吧。 （那天早上，）我調(diào)高收音機(jī)的音量，聽到了一個年長男人鏗鏘的聲音。你知道的，就是那種聽起來本應(yīng)該自己就從事播音主持的人的嗓音。他正在和一個叫“湯姆”的人講著什么“1,000顆玻璃彈珠”的事。 這引起了我的興趣，于是我坐下來聽他到底要說些什么。“嗯，湯姆，看起來你工作的確很忙，薪水肯定也不錯，但是你不得不經(jīng)常遠(yuǎn)離家庭和親人，這太遺憾了。簡直不能相信一個年輕人一周必須得工作60或70個小時來勉強(qiáng)維持生計。” “讓我給你講一件事，湯姆，這件事讓我對自己人生中最重要的事保持了正確的認(rèn)識。”接著他開始解釋他的“1,000顆玻璃珠”理論。 “話說，有一天我坐下來簡單計算了一下，一個普通人大概能活75年，我知道，有些人更長壽一些，有些人壽命則短一些，但平均來講，人大約可以活75年。” “那么現(xiàn)在，我用75乘以52，結(jié)果是3,900，這就是一個普通人一生中所擁有的星期六的總天數(shù)。” “我直到55歲時才詳細(xì)思量了這一切，”他繼續(xù)說道，“那時我已經(jīng)活過2800多個星期六了。我于是就想，假如我能活到75歲，我就只剩下大約一千個星期六可以享受了。” “于是，我去了一家玩具店，把店里的每一顆玻璃彈珠都買了下來，結(jié)果總共是1,000顆。我把它們帶回家，放在收音機(jī)旁一個干凈的大塑料罐里。從那以后，每過一個星期六，我都會從里面拿出一顆珠子扔掉。” “我發(fā)現(xiàn)，看著珠子慢慢減少，我更加專注于生活中真正重要的事了。看著你在這個世界上的時間慢慢減少，沒有什么比這更能讓自己徹底弄清人生真正重要的事是什么的了。” “在節(jié)目結(jié)束并帶我可愛的妻子去吃早餐之前，讓我再最后告訴你一件事吧。今天早上，我拿出了罐子里的最后一顆珠子。我想，如果我能活到下周六，那么，我就被額外賜予了一點時間，而我們能利用的就是那額外的一點時間。” “跟你聊天很愉快，湯姆，我希望你多花一點時間與自己所愛的人一起度過，我也希望以后再遇到你。祝清晨愉快！” 當(dāng)他說完，你連一根針落地的聲音都能聽到，就連節(jié)目主持人也一時無語。我想，他給了我們很多值得思考的東西。那天早晨，我本打算工作一會兒，然后去健身房。然而，我卻上樓用一吻喚醒了妻子。“來吧，親愛的，我?guī)愫秃⒆觽內(nèi)コ栽绮汀！?/p> “這是怎么回事？”她微笑著問。“啊，沒什么，只是很久我們都沒一起跟孩子們過周六了。嘿，我們出去的時候能順便去下玩具店嗎？我需要買一些玻璃彈珠。” （來源：英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志） |
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Vocabulary: 1. marble: 玻璃彈子，玻璃珠。 2. solitude: 獨處，獨居，與外界隔絕。 3. chap: 〈英口〉家伙，小伙子；golden: （聲音）亮的，鏗鏘的。 4. intrigue: 激起……的好奇心。 5. make ends meet: 使收支相抵，勉強(qiáng)維持生計。 6. perspective: （對事物的）合理觀察，洞察力；priority: 優(yōu)先考慮的事。 7. get...straight: 徹底了解（或弄清、搞懂）。 8. sign off: 電臺停止廣播，宣布廣播結(jié)束。 9. c’mon: 即come on 的縮寫形式。 10. bring...on: 使發(fā)展，引起，導(dǎo)致。 |
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