堅持夢想的羅伯茨

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horseranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.

我有個朋友叫蒙提·羅伯茨，他在圣思多羅有座牧馬場。我常借用他寬敞的住宅舉辦募款活動，以便為幫助青少年的計劃籌備基金。

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack usemy house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horsetrainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch toranch, training horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. Whenhe was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grewup."

上次活動時，他在致辭中提到：“我讓杰克借用住宅是有原因的。這故事跟一個小男孩有關(guān)，他的父親是位馬術(shù)師，他從小就必須跟著父親東奔西跑，男孩的求學(xué)過程并不順利。高中時，有次老師叫全班同學(xué)寫報告，題目是長大后的愿望。”

"That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. Hewrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showingthe location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch."

“那晚他洋洋灑灑地寫了七張紙，描述他的偉大愿望，那就是想擁有一座屬于自己的牧馬農(nóng)場，并且仔細(xì)畫了一張200畝農(nóng)場的設(shè)計圖，上面標(biāo)有馬廄、跑道等的位置，然后在這一大片農(nóng)場中央，還要建造一棟占地4000平方英尺的巨宅。”

"He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to histeacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with anote that read, ‘See me after class.’"

“他花了好大心血把報告完成，第二天交給了老師。兩天后他拿回了報告，第一頁上打了一個又紅又大的F，旁邊還寫了一行字：下課后來見我。”

"The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive anF?’"

“腦中充滿幻想的他下課后帶著報告去找老師：‘為什么給我不及格?’”

"The teacher said,This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money.You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot ofmoney. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'llhave to pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If youwill rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’"

“老師回答道：‘你年紀(jì)輕輕，不要老做白日夢。你沒錢，沒家庭背景，什么都沒有。蓋座農(nóng)場可是個花錢的大工程;你要花錢買地、花錢買純種馬匹、花錢照顧它們。你別太好高騖遠(yuǎn)了。’他接著又說：‘如果你肯重寫一個比較不離譜的愿望，我會重新給你打分。’”

"The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he shoulddo. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is avery important decision for you.’"

“這男孩回家后反復(fù)思量了好幾次，然后征詢父親的意見。父親只是告訴他：‘兒子，這是非常重要的決定，你必須自己拿定主意。’”

"Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changesat all. He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I'll keep my dream.’"

“再三考慮好幾天后，他決定原稿交回，一個字都不改。他告訴老師：‘即使不及格，我也不愿放棄夢想。’”

Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, "I tell you this story because you aresitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have thatschool paper framed over the fireplace." He added, "The best part of the story is that twosummers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week."When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was yourteacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams.Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.’"

蒙提此時向眾人表示：“我提起這故事，是因為各位現(xiàn)在就坐在200畝農(nóng)場內(nèi)，占地4000平方英尺的豪華住宅。那份高中時寫的報告我至今還留著。他頓了一下又說：“有意思的是，兩年前的夏天，那位老師帶了30個學(xué)生來我農(nóng)場露營一星期。離開之前，他對我說：‘蒙提，說來有些慚愧。你讀高中時，我曾潑過你冷水。這些年來，我也對不少學(xué)生說過相同的話。幸虧你有這個毅力堅持自己的夢想。’”