愛(ài)的傷疤The Scars of Love

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Floridaa little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.

幾年前的一個(gè)炎炎夏日，在美國(guó)佛羅里達(dá)州南部，有個(gè)小男孩為貪圖涼快，決定去自家房子后面一個(gè)形成已久的深水潭中游泳。

In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door,leaving behind shoes,socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water,not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake,an alligator was swimming toward the shore. His mother - in the house was looking out the window - saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear,she ran toward the water,yelling to her son as loudly as she could.

因?yàn)槠炔患按叵胪度氲角鍥龅乃?，他飛快地從后門(mén)跑了出去，邊跑邊脫掉鞋子、襪子和襯衣，把它們隨手拋在了身后。他一頭扎進(jìn)了水里，絲毫沒(méi)有意識(shí)到自己游往潭中心的同時(shí)，一只美洲鱷也正在朝岸邊游來(lái)。小男孩的母親當(dāng)時(shí)在屋子里透過(guò)窗子向外看著，發(fā)現(xiàn)那只美洲鱷正向她的孩子步步逼近。她極度驚恐起來(lái)，一邊迅速奔向水潭，一邊聲嘶力竭地朝自己的孩子呼喊著。

Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a return to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her,the alligator reached him.

聽(tīng)到她的呼喊，小男孩才猛然意識(shí)到了危險(xiǎn)，立即掉頭向岸邊的母親游去?？蛇@時(shí)已經(jīng)無(wú)濟(jì)于事。他的手勉強(qiáng)剛夠到他的母親，鱷魚(yú)也已經(jīng)接觸到了他。

From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.

母親在岸上拼命地拽緊兒子的手臂，而此時(shí)美洲鱷也死死地咬住孩子的腿不放。為了爭(zhēng)奪小男孩，母親和鱷魚(yú)之間儼然展開(kāi)了一場(chǎng)讓人難以置信的拔河較量。美洲鱷的力氣顯然要比母親強(qiáng)大得多，但是母親挽救兒子的堅(jiān)定信念讓她無(wú)論如何也絕不放手。就在這萬(wàn)分危急的關(guān)頭，一位農(nóng)夫恰巧駕車經(jīng)過(guò)，一聽(tīng)到孩子母親的尖叫便飛速?gòu)目ㄜ嚿咸?，瞄?zhǔn)鱷魚(yú)并開(kāi)槍將其射殺。

Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal and, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

值得慶幸的是，經(jīng)過(guò)在醫(yī)院數(shù)周的搶救治療，小男孩居然存活了下來(lái)。鱷魚(yú)兇殘的襲擊在他的腿上刻下了觸目驚心的傷痕。不僅如此，他的雙臂上也留下了深深的抓痕，那是在生死關(guān)頭母親為了牢牢抓住摯愛(ài)的兒子，以至于手指甲都掐入了兒子的肉中所留下的。

The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter. But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn't let go.

事后，這位死里逃生的小男孩接受了一位報(bào)社記者的采訪。當(dāng)記者問(wèn)他是否愿意讓大家看看他身上的傷疤時(shí)，小男孩挽起了自己的褲腿，腿上深深的疤痕暴露無(wú)遺。緊接著，他滿臉自豪地告訴記者，“大家還是看看我的手臂吧，我的手臂上也有好多傷疤呢。這是媽媽不放開(kāi)我，在救我的時(shí)候留下的。”

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic. But, the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret.

看了這個(gè)小男孩的故事后，人們都能感同身受。其實(shí)我們每個(gè)人身上都有傷疤。只不過(guò)并不是被鱷魚(yú)咬的，或任何如此戲劇性事件所造成，而是過(guò)往的痛苦經(jīng)歷所留下的。那些傷疤是如此難看，讓人深感懊悔。

But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.

但是，我的朋友，你可曾想過(guò)有些傷口是一些不想放棄你的人造成的。在你掙扎的過(guò)程中，那些愛(ài)你的人為了拉住你，才在你身上留下了這些傷疤。