雙語 ● Man Is Like a Fruit Tree 人就如一棵果樹
Man Is Like a Fruit Tree 人就如一棵果樹
◎ Elmer Bobst
While taking my boat down the inland waterway to Florida a few weeks ago, I decided to tie up at Georgetown, South Carolina, for the night and visit with an old friend. As we approached the Esso dock, I saw him through my binoculars standing there awaiting us. Tall and straight as an arrow he stood, facing a cold, penetrating wind—truly a picture of a sturdy man, even though his next birthday will make him eighty-two. Yes, the man was our elder statesman, Bernard Baruch.
幾周前，我沿著內(nèi)河獨自駕船前往佛羅里達州。到達南卡羅來納的喬治敦時，我決定靠岸過夜，順便去拜訪一位老朋友。船一進埃松港，我就從望遠鏡中看到他站在那里等我們。朋友高大而挺拔的身影像一支箭一樣，站立在刺骨的寒風(fēng)中，簡直是一幅健壯男子漢的畫面，雖然畫面中人已年過八旬。沒錯，他就是我們的老一輩政治家——伯納德·巴魯克。
He loaded us into his station wagon and we were off to his famous Hobcaw Barony for dinner. We sat and talked in the great living room where many notables and statesmen, including Roosevelt and Churchill, have sat and taken their cues. In his eighty-second year, still a human dynamo, Mr. Baruch talks not of the past but of present problems and the future, deploring our ignorance of history, economics, and psychology. His only reference to the past was to tell me, with a wonderful sparkle in his eyes, that he was only able to get eight quail out of the ten shots the day before. What is the secret of this great man’s value to the world at eighty-two? The answer is his insatiable desire to keep being productive.
伯納德·巴魯克的旅行轎車載著我們，徑直駛向他那著名的霍布考大莊園用餐。我們就座談話的大客廳，曾有包括羅斯福和丘吉爾在內(nèi)的許多名人與政治家光臨，與他交談，傾聽他的意見。如今，巴魯克先生雖已82歲，卻依然精力充沛。他對過去緘口不提，只談?wù)摤F(xiàn)在與將來的問題，并為我們對歷史學(xué)、經(jīng)濟學(xué)和心理學(xué)知識的匱乏而深表遺憾。他告訴我，昨天他只用10發(fā)子彈就射中了8只鵪鶉，這也是他提到的唯一的“往事”。說話時，他的雙眼閃爍著令人愉快的光芒。這位偉大的人物對世界充滿價值的奧秘何在？答案就是他對成就一如既往、永不知足的追求。
Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half-dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day and, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity was the chief requisite for happiness, and then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch and soda. They knew each one of them that their productivity had ceased. When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.
人生在世最難完成的兩件事就是：用誠實的努力獲得財富，以及擁有財富后，學(xué)會如何正確地使用它。最近，在一個非常著名的高爾夫俱樂部，我打完一輪球后走進更衣室。當(dāng)時已近黃昏，大多數(shù)俱樂部成員都已經(jīng)回家。然而，六七位中年人依然坐在桌邊，漫無目的地閑聊著，喝得爛醉如泥。他們每天都是如此。令我無比驚奇的是，他們個個都曾是家財萬貫、事業(yè)成功，在圈內(nèi)備受尊敬的人。如果幸福的首要因素是物質(zhì)財富，那么他們每個人都應(yīng)該很幸福。但是，在我看來，對他們來說，某種非常重要的東西已經(jīng)丟失了，否則他們又怎會逃避現(xiàn)實，每天用蘇打水和蘇格蘭威士忌將自己灌得爛醉如泥？他們明白，自己已經(jīng)無法突破現(xiàn)有的成就。當(dāng)一棵果樹若不再結(jié)果時，便會枯死，人也如此。
What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book, Genesis, which caught my eyes while I was thumbing through my Bible. The words were few, but they became indelibly impressed on my mind: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.”
如何才能在這世上幸福長久地生活下去呢？我想，很早之前在翻閱《圣經(jīng)》時，我就找到了答案。《創(chuàng)世記》中有一段話引起了我的注意，它雖然簡短，卻在我腦海中留下了深刻的印象：“要想糊口，必要汗流滿面?！?
To me, that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections. In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
對我來說，它是最初的記憶，也是始終的挑戰(zhàn)。事實上，對每個人來說，人生與生存的戰(zhàn)役，都是一種挑戰(zhàn)。圣·保羅不朽的教誨也一直并將永遠鼓舞著我。但愿在到達生命之途的終點時，我能夠認為自己打了漂亮的一仗，不僅走完了人生的旅程，而且一如既往地遵循著自己的信仰。
