生活的道路总是充满坎坷、崎岖不平。如果只期待舒适安逸的生活，那我们多半会发现生活的不如愿，埋怨生活给我们回报太少。如果从一开始就做好了经历痛苦和磨难的准备，那我们就会更加珍惜生命中的美好时光，发现生活的富足和绚烂。
When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr.Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known .He never yelled at us for playing in his yard .I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than circumstances warranted .
小时候，我有一个老邻居叫吉布斯医生，他不像我所认识的任何一个医生那样。我们在他的院子里玩耍，他也从不对我们大喊大叫。在我的记忆中，他境况不好，却很和善。
When Dr.Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees .His house sat on ten acres, and his life's goal was to make it a forest.
吉布斯医生不去救死扶伤的时候就种树。他的住所占地10英亩，他的人生目标就是将那儿变成一片森林。
The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant husbandry. He came from the "No pain, no gain" school of horticulture .He never wanted his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you water them, each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed the weenie trees early on.
这个好医生对于园林管理有一番有趣的理论。他的园艺种植风格是“逆境成材”，他从不浇灌他新种的树。这显然与常理相悖。有一次我问为什么。他说浇水会宠坏这些树，如果浇水，这些树会一代比一代娇弱。所以，你得把它们的生长环境变得艰苦些，尽早淘汰那些弱不禁风的树。
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren't watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture .I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
他还说用水浇灌的树的根是如何长得短小，而那些没有浇水的树根则长得发达。这样才能钻入深深的泥土以获得水分。我将他的话理解为：发达的根对树来说才是最宝贵的。
So he never watered his trees .He'd plant an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Row! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
所以他从不给他的树浇水。他种一棵橡树，每天早上，他不是给它浇水，而是卷起一张报纸抽打它。“啪！噼！砰！”我问他为什么这么做，他说是为了引起树的注意。
Dr.Gibbs went to glory a couple of years after I left home .Every now and again , I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re granite strong now .Big and robust. Those trees wake up in the morning and beat their chests and drink their coffee black.
在我离家几年后，吉布斯医生就去世了，我时不时经过他的高度民主子，看看那些大约25年前我曾看着他种下的树。如今它们已是像花岗岩般硬朗了。枝繁叶茂，生气勃勃。我想象这些树在早晨醒过来，拍打着胸脯，喝着苦涩的斋咖啡。
I planted a couple of trees a few years back .Carried water to them for a solid summer .Sprayed them .Prayed over them .The whole nine yards .Two years of coddling has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows in, they tremble and chatter their branches .Sissy trees.
几年前我也种下两三棵树。整整一个夏天我都坚持为它们浇水，为它们喷杀虫剂，为它们祈祷。费尽了我全部心思。两年的悉心呵护，结果换来的是几棵需要全身心投入去照顾的树。每当寒风吹起，它们就颤抖起来，枝叶直哆嗦。多么娇 里娇气的树啊！
Funny things about those trees of Dr.Gibbs’. Adversity and deprivation seemed to benefit them in ways comfort and ease never could.
吉布斯医生的树真是有趣。逆境和折磨带给它们的益处似乎是舒适和安逸永远无法给予的。
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons .I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within .I often pray for them .Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer.
每天晚上睡觉前，我都要看看我的两个儿子。我俯视着他们幼小的身体，看着他们体内生命气息一起一落。我经常为他们祈祷，总是祈祷他们的人生能一帆风顺。但最近我想，是时候改一改我的祈祷词了。
This change has to do with the inevitability of cold winds that hit us at the core .I know my children are going to encounter hardship, and I'm praying they won't be naive .There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere .
这改变是与生活中那些不可避免的风吹雨有关。我知道我的孩子们会遇到困难，我祈祷他们不会因稚嫩而脆弱。在生命里某些时候总会有风吹雨打。
So I'm changing my prayer. Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not .Too many times we pray for ease, but that's a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be swept asunder.
所以我改变了我的祈祷词。因为不管我们愿不愿意，生活总是艰难的。我们已祈祷了太多的安逸。但却少有实现。我们需要做的是祈祷深植永恒的信念之根，这样我们才能在风吹雨打中站住脚跟。