雙語(yǔ)小故事，金玉良言

Golden Advice

金玉良言
 

When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was very thin, I wasn't a good student, I talked too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to bear all this as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to Daddy with tears in my eyes.

大約12歲時(shí)，我有了一個(gè)仇人，那是一個(gè)喜歡指出我缺點(diǎn)的女孩。隨著一周周過(guò)去，她給我列的缺點(diǎn)來(lái)越多：我很瘦，我不是好學(xué)生，我太愛(ài)說(shuō)話(huà)，我太驕傲。我盡量長(zhǎng)時(shí)間地忍受這些。最后，我變得非常生氣，就眼含淚水跑去見(jiàn)爸爸。
 

He listened to me quietly. Then he asked, "Are the things she says true or not? Allen, didn't you ever wonder what you're really like? Well, you now have that girl's opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

爸爸靜靜地聽(tīng)我說(shuō)。隨后，他問(wèn)道:“她說(shuō)的這些是不是真的?愛(ài)琳，難道你不想知道自己的真實(shí)模樣嗎?那么，你現(xiàn)在有了那個(gè)女孩的意見(jiàn)。去把她所說(shuō)的一切都列下來(lái)，在對(duì)的上面打分。對(duì)她所說(shuō)的其他事情不要在意。”
 

I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't change (like being very thin), but a good number I could and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I got a fairly clear picture of myself.

我按照爸爸所的去做了。令我大為驚訝的是，我發(fā)現(xiàn)大約一半都是對(duì)的。其中有些我無(wú)法改變(比如很瘦)，但好多我可以改變一而且突然我想改變。我第一次對(duì)自己有了一個(gè)相當(dāng)清晰的印象。
 

Enemy /?en?mi/ n. 敵軍;仇敵

Shortcoming /???:tk?m??/ n. 短處，缺點(diǎn)

Attention /??ten?n/ n. 注意，注意力

Discover /d??sk?v?(r)/ v. 發(fā)現(xiàn);碰見(jiàn)

Suddenly /?s?d?nli/ adv. 意外地，忽然地

I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it. "That's just for you," he said. "You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feel hurt. When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don't shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”

我將這個(gè)清單送給爸爸。他沒(méi)有去接。“那只是送給你的，”他說(shuō)，“你比任何別的人更清楚自己真實(shí)的一面。但你必須學(xué)會(huì)去聽(tīng)，不要生氣地閉上耳朵，感覺(jué)受了傷。當(dāng)說(shuō)到有關(guān)你的事情是對(duì)時(shí)，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)那會(huì)對(duì)你有幫助。我們的世界充滿(mǎn)了那些自認(rèn)為知道你的責(zé)任的人。不要閉上耳朵。要聽(tīng)他們所有的人的話(huà)，但要聽(tīng)到真話(huà)，做你知道是正確的事情。”
 

Daddy's advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.

爸爸的建議在很多重要時(shí)刻都回到了我的耳邊。一生中，我從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽(tīng)過(guò)比這更好的建議。
 

Truth /tru:θ/ n. 真理;真相

Important /?m?p?:tnt/ adj. 重要的;權(quán)威的

Moment /?m??m?nt/ n. 時(shí)刻;瞬間