树皮小船的启示 The 1)Bark Boat
文字难度：★★☆
Grandpa and grandson walked in a park and came to a pond. There were many children who drove their remote-controlled boats. Grandson looked at the shiny boats and how the children were racing them, making waves, chasing each other’s boats. It looked like so much fun. He could hear the laughter and shouts of the other children and his heart felt heavy.
爷爷和孙子在公园里散步，他们来到了一口池塘边。许多孩子在那里玩他们的遥控小船。孙子看着那些亮闪闪的小船，看着那些孩子如何用它们比赛，激起浪花，小船彼此追逐着。场面看起来可真是乐趣十足。他可以听到其他孩子的笑声和叫声，而他却觉得心情沉重。
The two stood there for a good while, not speaking. The little boy knew there was no way his parents could afford to buy him such a boat. And Grandfather for sure had no chance of giving such a gift. His pension was so small that the boy’s mother had invited him to live with them. Grandpa looked at his grandson, saw the 2)somber look on his face and felt the little boy’s envy. He looked around until his eyes fell on a bench right next to a big pine tree.
爷孙俩在那里站了好一会儿，却一句话都没说。小男孩知道他的父母绝对买不起这样一艘小船给他。而爷爷无疑也没有可能会送这样一份礼物给他。他的养老金少得可怜，所以小男孩的母亲请他来和他们一起住。爷爷看着他的孙子，看到他一脸的闷闷不乐，感觉到了小男孩内心的艳羡之情。爷爷四下打量，目光最终落在了一棵大松树旁边的长椅上。
“Why don’t we sit here,” Grandpa said and started walking towards the bench. They walked together to the bench and sat down. The little boy sighed deeply, his eyes following the boats. “Grandpa, I would so like to have a boat like that,” he said quietly. “I know,” Grandfather patted the boy on the shoulders, “Sometimes life feels so unfair, I know.”
“我们不如在这里坐一会儿吧，”爷爷边说边向那张长椅走去。他们一起走到长椅前坐下。小男孩深深地叹了口气，眼睛还紧盯着那些小船。“爷爷，我真想要一艘那样的小船啊，”他轻声说道。“我知道，”爷爷拍了拍小男孩的肩膀，说道，“有时候你会觉得人生很不公平，我知道。”
He bent over and picked up something from the ground. A big piece of pine bark had fallen from the huge tree by their bench. For a while both grandpa and grandson looked up into the deep green of the pine tree. Then Grandfather took a little pocketknife and started to carve the bark delicately. Grandson looked curiously at what he was doing. He carved the sides of the bark into the shape of a leaf; one end was pointed, the other was flat. Then, with the tip of the knife, he carefully carved a tiny hole in the middle of the bark. It was a perfectly round little hole, the boy noticed.
他弯下腰，从地上捡起某样东西，是一大块从他们那长椅旁的大松树上掉下来的松树皮。爷爷和孙子两人都抬起头盯着松树那深绿色的树冠看了一会儿。然后，爷爷掏出一把小折刀，开始精细地雕刻那块树皮。孙子好奇地看着他在做什么。他将树皮的边缘裁刻成一片树叶的形状，一端是尖的，另一端是平的。接着，他小心翼翼地用小刀的尖端在树皮的中间穿了一个小孔。小男孩发现，这个小圆孔非常完美。
Grandpa raised his eyes from his work and looked around. “There—go and get me that twig on the ground, would you?” The boy hopped down from the bench and went to fetch the twig.
爷爷停下手里的工作，抬起眼睛四处张望。“那里——去把地上那段小树枝拿给我，好吗？”小男孩从长椅上跳下来，跑过去捡起那段小树枝。
“Perfect,” the old man said, “straight and strong and not so dry that it would 3)snap. Good! Now scoop some 4)resin from the pine tree on the other end of the stick. Be careful not to get your clothes dirty!”
“很好，”老爷爷说道，“又直又硬，也不太干所以不会折断。太棒了！现在用棍子的另一端从松树上挖点树脂。小心不要把你的衣服弄脏了！”
Grandpa had to make the tiny hole a bit larger, but soon he managed to put the stick into the hole. Some of the resin squeezed out from the hole, but Grandpa seemed pleased. Then he looked around again. “There! Bring me that twig! And some of that grass.” The little boy ran to the next twig, scooped up a handful of grass and brought it all to Grandpa. This was getting interesting. He 5)edged in even closer and soon they were sitting there, both heads bent over what Grandpa was doing. First Grandpa cut the long twig into two. Then he made a small rope out of grass and used it to tie the first twig horizontally to the twig that was standing 6)vertically from the bark. It formed a broad cross. Then he did the same with the other twig, this time he tied it to the base of the standing twig.
爷爷不得不把那个小洞挖大一点，不过很快他就成功把树枝插进了小洞里。少量树脂被挤出了小洞，不过爷爷看起来很满意。接着他又四处张望。“那边！把那根小树枝递给我！还有那边的一些青草。”小男孩跑向另一根树枝，又抓了一大把青草交给爷爷。这一切变得越来越有趣了。他靠得更近了，很快他们就并坐在那里，两人都一头扎在爷爷手中的活计上。爷爷首先把那根长树枝劈成两截，接着用草编了一小段绳子，并用它将第一截树枝以水平角度和直立在树皮上的那条树枝绑在一起，做成了一个宽宽的十字形。然后他将第二截树枝如法炮制，这一次他把它绑在了垂直树枝的底部。
“I need you to promise you won’t tell your mother what I shall do now,” Grandpa 7)winked at the boy.
“我要你答应我绝不把我将要做的事告诉你妈妈，”爷爷对小男孩眨了眨眼睛。
“I promise!” The little boy said eagerly.
“我答应！”小男孩热切地说道。
“Good!” Grandpa reached into his pocket and out came a handkerchief with some lace around it. The boy 8)sniggered.
“很好！”爷爷将手伸进口袋里，掏出一条四周镶着一些蕾丝花边的手帕。小男孩窃笑起来。
“Oh, I know,” Grandpa sighed, “as dear as your mother is to me, she doesn’t quite understand we men are not too keen on lace. But this time it 9)comes in handy. Just look!”
“噢，我知道，”爷爷叹了口气道，“尽管你妈妈对我照顾得无微不至，她还是不太了解我们男人其实对蕾丝花边不怎么热衷。不过这一次，它正好派得上用场。看着吧！”
Grandfather 10)threaded the handkerchief to the 11)mast using grass that fit nicely through the lace, first along the upper 12)beam, then the lower one. And suddenly they had a big bark ship with a beautiful white 13)square sail.
爷爷将手帕绑在“桅杆”上，用青草正好能穿过蕾丝花边，先是上面的横梁，然后是下面的。突然之间，他们就有了一只大大的树皮船，还带着一张美丽的白色方帆。
“Now, let’s see how this floats!” Grandpa gave the ship to the boy. Together they walked to the water’s edge. The boy carefully lowered the boat into the water. A remote-controlled boat curved by, raising waves that splashed their boat wet. “Oh, no!” the boy cried.
“现在，我们把小船放入水中看看它好使不！”爷爷将小船递给小男孩。他们一起走到池塘边。小男孩小心翼翼地将小船放入水中。一艘遥控小船曲线行驶而过，激起的水浪溅湿了他们的小船。“噢，糟了！”小男孩叫道。
“Wait!” Out of nowhere came a cool breeze and the sail caught the wind. First slowly, then faster the boat braved the open waters. It looked so different from all the battery operated boats that people started pointing at it from the shore. Some boats came near but not one 14)collided with the bark boat. It floated like a feather on the waves. They stood there, for a long, long time, watching how the breezes carried the boat around the pond. And then, like a miracle, the winds drove the boat right back to them. The boy took the boat from the water and looked at Grandpa with eyes full of joy.
“等等！”这时不知从什么地方吹来了一丝凉风，小船被风吹动了。一开始很慢，然后小船越来越快地驶向开阔的水域。和所有那些靠电池运行的小船相比，这树皮小船独树一帜，岸边的人们都开始对它指指点点。有些小船驶到了它旁边，但没有一艘撞翻这只树皮小船。它就像一根羽毛一般，漂浮在碧波上。他们站在那里，站了很长一段时间，看着那只小船乘着轻风在池塘中绕行。接着，微风带着小船又奇迹般地恰好驶回到他们面前。小男孩从池塘里拿起小船，看着爷爷，眼中满是欣喜。
“Those expensive boats are great, aren’t they,” Grandpa said to the boy, “But I hope you remember one thing from all of this. When you looked at those other boats, they were steered by people like you and me. They collided with each other, they ran ashore. You saw how the batteries ran out on two of them, didn’t you?” The boy nodded.
“那些价钱昂贵的船都挺好的，是吧？”爷爷对小男孩说道，“但我希望你从今天这一切中记住一件事：你眼馋的那些小船其实都是由像你我这样的人所操控的。它们会相互碰撞，它们也会搁浅。你也看到了其中两艘在电池用完后是个什么模样，对吧？”小男孩点了点头。
“Our boat, on the other hand, was remote-controlled by another source entirely. One that never runs out.”
“但是另一方面，我们的小船则完全是由另一种能量遥控着的。一种永远都不会枯竭的能量。”
“The wind?”
“是风吗？”
“Well, you can call it wind. But who gave that wind? Who remote-controlled our boat so that it sailed proudly for an hour and then came back safely?” The little boy looked at his Grandpa. “I didn’t see anyone,” he said.
“嗯，你称其为风，但风又是从哪里来的呢？是谁遥控着我们的小船，让它无比骄傲地行驶了一个小时，然后又安全地返航的？”小男孩看着他的爷爷。“我没看见有人啊，”他说。
Grandpa smiled and 15)ruffled his hair. “Our boat was remote-controlled by Nature. We humans make errors, we collide, we run ashore, our energies run out when we try to control everything. But when we give up our need to control and let Nature steer our boat, it’s a journey and a wonder to look at. Will you promise to remember this story all your life?”
爷爷笑着揉了揉他的头发，说道：“我们的小船是由大自然遥控的。当我们人类试图控制一切时，我们屡犯错误，我们互相冲撞，我们搁浅岸上，我们的能量消耗殆尽。但是当我们放弃控制一切的欲求，并让大自然操控我们的小船时，那便成了值得期待的旅程和奇迹。你能答应我一辈子都记得这个故事吗？”
“I promise!” the little boy said.
“我会的！”小男孩说道。
“And now I believe it is time to move on. I do believe someone is selling ice cream somewhere in this park, and I am sure you could use one.” “Yes! Yes!” The little boy jumped up and down, all previous sadness and envy gone. And so they walked away from the pond, the little boy holding the bark ship carefully in his arms.
“现在我认为，是时候继续向前走了。公园的某个角落里肯定有人在卖冰激凌，我知道你肯定想来一个的。”“是的！是的！”小男孩又蹦又跳，之前所有的难过和羡慕都被抛之脑后了。于是他们离开了那个池塘，而小男孩则一直小心翼翼地抱着那只树皮小船。
