The summary of the story

The novel, The Scarlet Letter, is about the struggle three people face while trying to live their lives and find happiness in a Puritan society. It told the story like this. In the early 1640s, Hester has come to the small town of Boston, Massachusetts, from Great Britain, while her husband, Chillingworth has left to deal with something .But after then, there is no news about him and nobody know whether he is alive or not for two years. Then Hester and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the town's priest, engages in the act of adultery and produce a baby girl named Pearl. Although only Hester know that Dimmesdale is the father, she has promised Dimmesdale not to reveal his identity. Hester is put on display in front of the entire town in order to punish her, and to also serve as an illustration to the town's people from sinning. She is then put in jail with the baby for a few months and forced to wear a scarlet letter "A" which stands for "Adultery" forever. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth, who had been captured by Native American Indians on his way to New England and held in captivity for two years, escapes and enters the town of Boston. After learning of what Hester had done, Chillingworth poses as a doctor and vows to discover the identity of Hester's partner in sin. Hester agrees to keep his true identity a secret, too. "From main idea of this story, it's easy for us to see the fact that it exposed gloomy and despicable repulsion of human nature and at the same time extolled glorious soul by portraying the dark reality under Puritanism in the 17th century."[3] (P92) Through this novel, the characters and situations have helped to describe the Puritan town Boston and Puritanism。

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s attitude towards Puritanism

In this novel, Hawthorne used the repressive, authoritarian Puritan society as an analogue for humankind in general. The Puritan setting also enabled him to portray the human soul under extreme pressure. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, while unquestionable part of the Puritan society in which they live, also reflect universal experiences. Hawthorne speaks specially to American issues, but he circumvents the aesthetic and thematic limitations that might accompany such focus. His university and his dramatic flair have ensured his place in the literary canon。

Back to his attitude towards the Puritanism of ancestors, when Hawthorne read the accounts about his first American ancestors, he was reported to have read them with fascination and horror. He was different from his ancestors; he had a feeling to some extent of Puritanism as being intolerant and cruel. He seemes to think that the Puritan religion was too strict and harsh. You can see how he disliked them by the way people act, talk, and live。

Meanwhile, he also showed how he thought the Puritan people would react to the manner in which Hester stitched the "A", and he did not make them look very pleasant. By showing them as being ruthless, and evil, Hawthorne was able to reveal his views of the Puritan people, and how he disliked them through the townsfolk (the woman in particular). He made them come across as people you would love to hate. Throughout the entire book, Hester was looked down upon though slightly less as the story progressed, and treated like a second class citizen. Hawthorne showed his distaste of the Puritan culture by expressing himself through the characters and their actions. Not one person in this novel was truly good, and all the characters sinned. It was impossible to have a perfect society, and Nathaniel Hawthorne explained to us in The Scarlet Letter, that one ruled by the Puritan religion, proved this true。

In a whole, Hawthorne’s attitude towards Puritanism was split. There were things he was absolutely in favor of and things he condemned from the depth of his heart. And to some extent, Hawthorne was a Puritan because of his Puritan origin. It was Puritanism that has led to today’s American achievement oriented society. But Hawthorne described the Puritan society of the 17th century as narrow and relentless. He did not share the dogmas and delusions of the people be condemned because he had little interest and less belief in doctrines and theological debate. His imagination was repeatedly drawn the subjects of temptation, guilt and shame. He sought the depth of the human things。

Of course Hawthorne’s point of view is that of the 19th century, not that of 17th century, where his short stories are settled. He is aware of his roots and history, but he questions these roots and history from his modern point of view。

Conclusion

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores several aspects in the Puritan community of 17th century Boston.Such as the relationship, religion, community, discipline and punishment and so on.Relationship between men and women are very constrained and that are what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. Religion seemes to govern over all. Reverends own high status in the Puritan society and people completely believe that their fate are relevent with God. Public discipline and punishment are used to discourage everyone else from committing the same crime or sin as the offending criminal did. The communities always follow the belief of God and try best to do their duties. And are always here to criticize and punish all who disobeyed the religion or lawsIn 17th century Boston every thing was very strict and everyone was expected to follow the laws, which makes Hester's sin such an excellent illustration of the belief of that time period. Through the things like relationship, religion, community, discipline and punishment,the reader can get a better understanding of what was expected of town’s people in the 17th century. The Scarlet Letter shows the pain and suffering a woman went through when she broke her marriage, and disobeyed her religion. The fate driven religious society in 17th century Boston would not accept sin of any kind so they branded Hester Prynne with the letter A for the rest of her life and made her stand in front of the whole community as an illustration for everyone that sin and corruption was not accepted in their Puritan society.After the 17th century, the Puritans as a political entity largely disappeared, but Puritan attitudes and ethics continued to exert an influence on American society. They made a virtue of qualities that made for economic success---self-reliance, frugality, industry, and energy, and through them influenced modern social and economic life. Their concern for education was important in the development of the United States, and the idea of congregational democratic church government was carried into the political life of the state as a source of modern democracy. Through The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorn highly praises the beauty of human nature and comprehends the Puritan thought and values which deeply influence the Americans.He also “condemns the negative impact of Puritan society on people’s spirit.”[11](P41) And at the same time helps peopleto realize the dark side of Puritan: harshness and persecutions。

 

第二篇：The story of English

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There once was a master who went to India. In those times, we didn't have the

communications or airplanes or many kinds of transportation that we do now. So the master went to India on foot. He had never been to India before; perhaps he came from Persia. And when he got there, he saw a lot of fruit. In India they have plenty of fruit to sell, but much of it is expensive because they can't grow much due to the water situation. So he saw one basket, a big basket of some very red, long fruit. And it was the cheapest in the shop, not expensive at all.

从前有一位师父，他到印度去，那时候因为交通不发达，没有飞机，不像现在一样有很多交通工具，所以这位师父就步行去印度。他有可能是波斯人，以前没去过印度。他到印度时，看见许许多多的水果。在印度，有时因为缺水的缘故，水果产量不多，许多小店虽然摆满了水果，但多半都很贵。那位师父发现有个大篮子里面装着一种红色长条形的水果，这种水果的价格最便宜，一点都不贵.

So he went up and asked, "How much per kilo?" And the shopkeeper said, "Two rupees." Two rupees in India is nothing; it's like dirt. So he bought a whole kilogram of the fruit and started eating it. But after he ate some of it: Oh, my God! His eyes watered, his mouth watered and burned, his eyes were burning, his head was burning and his face became red. As he coughed and choked and gasped for breath, he jumped up and down, saying, "Ah! Ah! Ah!"

他就走过去询问：“这个一公斤要多少钱？”小贩回答：“两卢比。”两卢比在印度根本不算什么，像尘土一样不值钱，于是他就整整买了一公斤，然后开始吃。 吃了几口之后，这位师父就眼泪、口水齐流，眼睛发红，嘴巴辣得像着火一样，整个头好像要烧起来，他又咳又呛，满脸通红地喘不过气来，在那里边跳边叫.

But he still continued to eat the fruit! Some people who were looking at him shook their heads and said, "You're crazy, man. Those are chilies! You can't eat so many; they're not good for you! People use them as a condiment, but only a little bit to put into food for taste. You can't just eat them by the handful like that; they're not fruit!" So the stupid master said, "No, I can't stop! I paid money for them, and now I'll eat them. It's my money!"

不过他还是继续吃！有人看到他这样子后，就摇摇头说：“老兄，你是脑袋坏掉啦？这是辣椒耶！不能吃那么多，这样对你不好。辣椒是用来调味的，煮菜时每次只放一点点在食物里

增加味道。这个不是水果，不能这样整把拿起来吃啊！”那位笨师父说：“不行，我已经花钱买了，就要把它吃完，这可都是钱哪！”

And you think that master was stupid, right? Similarly, we sometimes do a lot of things like that. We invest money, time or effort in a relationship, business or job. And even though it's been a long time, bitter experience tells us it won't work, and we know there's no more hope that things will change in the future - this we definitely know by intuition - we still continue just because we've invested money, time, effort and love into it. If so, we're kaput in the brain. Just like the man who ate the chilies and suffered so much but couldn't stop because he didn't want to waste the money he'd paid.

你们觉得这位师父很笨，是吗？其实我们有时候也做很多类似的傻事。有时候我们在某些感情或事业工作上，投入了金钱、时间和心力，经过长期的经营之后，我们从惨痛的经验中知道行不通，直觉也很清楚未来不会有任何转机，但我们还是舍不得放弃，因为已经投入了金钱、时间、心力和感情在里面。像这种情形，表示说我们头脑坏掉，就像那个吃辣椒的人一样，明明已经那么痛苦了，还是不肯停止，只因为不想白白浪费已经付出的钱。

So even if you've lost something, let it go and move on. That's better than continuing to lose.

就算你会有所损失，还是要放下，然后继续前进！这样总比一直损失下去来得好。 (二)

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene. So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.

一天晚上，一位女士在机场候机，她的航班还要等上很长的几个小时。她在机场的商店里找了一本书，买下一袋曲奇饼，找了一个地方坐下。她全神贯注地读着书，忽然看见坐在她旁边的一个男子居然大胆地从他们之间的曲奇饼袋子里拿走了一两块去吃。为了不当众发脾气，她尽量假装没有看见，使劲地嚼着曲奇饼，一边看着表，而那个可恶的曲奇饼小偷正在使她的存货不断减少。

She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking,"If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye." With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, as he ate the other.

时间一分一秒地过去，她越来越生气，心想：“要不是我脾气好，我早把他的眼睛打青了！”就这样，她拿一块曲奇饼，他也拿一块，剩了最后一块时，她不知道对方会怎么做。他呢，脸上带着微笑，又有些紧张，把最后一块曲奇饼拿起来，掰成两半，给她一半，自己把另一半吃了。

She snatched it from him and thought...oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he's also rude. Why he didn't even show any gratitude! She had never known when she had been so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the ingrate thief.

她从对方手里夺下半块曲奇饼，想，哦，老兄！这家伙有点太胆大、太无理了。他竟然都没有露出一点感激的意思！她从来也没有像这样恼怒过，所以在她的航班通告响起时，她如释重负地叹了口气。她收拾好了行李，走向登机口，根本不想再看一眼那忘恩负义的小偷。 She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat. Then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes. If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

登机之后，她舒适地坐在座位上，开始找那本马上就要看完的书。就在她够到行李时，却惊讶地喘不过气来。她的曲奇饼不就放在自己眼前吗？她绝望地喃喃着，如果这是我的，那么那些曲奇饼就是他的啦，是他在和我分享。她悲哀地意识到，道歉已经太晚，她才是那个不讲理的、忘恩负义的、偷了曲奇饼的人。

How many times in our lives have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true...was not?

在我们的生活中，有多少次我们认为事情完全就是那样的，而后来才发现我们认为是真相的东西……却并非真相？

It is only when we silence the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us.

只有当我们让日常生活中那些喧嚣的声音沉静下来时，我们才能听到生活展现给我们的真理的低语。

When you find something funny search it for hidden truth.

如果你觉得某事很古怪，就要去发掘隐藏在它背后的真相。

（三）

A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her ,She did not know she was going to make it and want to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling .It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

有一个女孩向她父亲抱怨她的生活，她觉得凡事都很艰难，不知该怎样挺过去，想放弃。她厌倦了不断的抗争和奋斗，似乎一个问题刚刚解决，另一个问题马上呈现。

Her father, a cook ,took her to the kitchen ,He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire .Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans. He led them sit and boil, without saying a word.

她的父亲是个厨师，他把她带到了厨房。他在三个壶里分别装满了水，然后放到高温的火上烧。很快，壶里的水被煮开了。他往第一个壶里放了些胡萝卜，往第二个壶里放了几个鸡蛋，在最后一个壶里放了些磨碎的咖啡豆，然后，一句话也没说，他由着水把它们煮沸。

The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners, He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a mug. Turning to her he asked," Darling, what do you see?"

女儿咂巴着牙齿发出声响，不耐烦地等着，对父亲的行为感到很纳闷。大约二十分钟后，父亲关掉了火炉，把胡萝卜捞出来，放到一个碗里。又把鸡蛋拣出来放进另一个碗里，接着把咖啡用勺子舀出来倒进一个杯子里，然后转过头来，对她说，“亲爱的，你看到的是什么？” "Carrots, eggs, and coffee." she replied.

“胡萝卜、鸡蛋和咖啡。”她答道。

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots, She did and noted that they were soft .He then asked her to take an egg and break it ,After pulling off the shell ,she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee .She smiled ,as she tasted its rich aroma.

父亲把她带近了这些东西，要她去摸胡萝卜，她摸了之后，注意到，它们变柔软了。然后，他又要她去拿一个鸡蛋并把它敲破，在把壳剥掉之后，她观察了这个煮熟的鸡蛋。最后，父亲要她饮一口咖啡。尝着芳香四溢的咖啡，她微笑起来。

"What does it mean ,Father?" she humbly asked.

“这是什么意思，父亲？”她谦逊地问道。

He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling wate ,but each reacted differently, The carrot went in strong, hard ,and unrelenting ,But after being subjected to the boiling water ,it softened and weak. The egg had being fragile, Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water ,its inside became hardened ,The ground coffee beans were unique ,however ,After they were in the boiling water ,they had changed the water .

父亲解释说，这三洋东西面临着同样的逆境——煮沸的水。但它们的反应却各不相同。胡萝卜本是硬的，坚固而且强度大，但受到煮沸的水的影响后，它变得柔软而脆弱。鸡蛋本来易碎，薄薄的外壳保护着内部的液体。但是在经历过煮沸的水以后，它的内部却变得坚硬。不过，最独特的却是磨碎的咖啡豆，当它们被放入煮沸的水之后，它们却改变了水。 "Which are you?" he asked his daughter.

“哪一个是你呢？”他问女儿。

When adversity knocks on your door ,how do you respond? Are you a carrot ,an egg ,or a coffee bean?

当逆境找上你时，你该如何应对呢？ 你是胡萝卜、鸡蛋，还是咖啡豆？

（四）

Never ever had he been so thirsty for a look at the world outside the window like now.

The disease befell so furiously that he could not be spared and was arranged in a small ward with another patient in the segregation area in a hospital. The ward had nothing other than a small window that connected to the outside world.

His roommate was allowed to sit up in bed because some medical instruments would take some liquid out of his lung every afternoon. His roommate?s bed was tightly close to the window, while he could only lie in bed all day long.

Every afternoon, when sitting up by the window, his roommate would gleefully tell him the ongoing scenes outside the window: Seen through the window, a lake was lying placidly in the park, on which there were ducks and swans. Children were happily casting pieces of bread to the fish or playing with their model ships. Young lovers were leisurely walking strolling hand in hand under the trees. Some people were playing balls in the grass with plenty of flowers blooming. Above the farthest row of trees was the beautiful sky. He was listening attentively and enjoying every precious minute of life. He was told that a child almost fell into the lake and that an attractive girl was dressed in a delicate skirt. His roommate?s vivid depiction made him feel like seeing the real scene with his own eyes. The picture of life was so harmonious and loving!

In a slightly rainy dusk, he felt not reconciled to his situation suddenly: Why could his roommate enjoy the beautiful landscapes outside the window while he couldn?t? He felt deeply upset as if a bug was eating through his heart. The more he thought, the more eagerly he would like to exchange his position with his roommate?s.

In the midnight, he stared at the ceiling and sank into thought. All of a sudden, his roommate was coughing heavily and wanted to call the nurse, but failed to reach the button of the bell. He pretended to be sound asleep, but after second thought he wanted to press the bell button….. In his hesitation of seconds, he stunningly found that his mate had stopped breathing.

On his roommate?s death, he felt lonely, greatly miserable and guilty for not saving him. The doctor thought that he did not want to face an empty bed every day, so he promised to change another ward for him. Just the moment he was lifted on the stretcher, he spotted the scene outside the window—a pale wall.

他从来没有像现在这样，如此强烈地渴望窗外的世界。

疫疾来得凶猛，他不能幸免。他和另外一个患者被安排在一家人民医院隔离区的小病房里。房间空空落落，只有一扇小窗连接外面的世界。

同室病友在治疗中，每天下午，将有仪器从他肺中抽取液体，因此，他被允许坐在床上。病友的床紧靠着窗，而他只能终日平躺在床上。

每天下午，睡在窗旁的那个人坐起来，都会饶有兴致地给他讲一些窗外的情景:从窗口向外看可以看到公园里的湖；湖内有鸭子和天鹅，孩子们在那儿撒面包片，放模型船: 年轻的恋人在树下携手散步，在鲜花盛开、绿草如茵的地方有人玩球嬉戏，后头一排树顶上则美丽的天空。

他静静地倾听着，享受生命里每一分钟。他听见一个孩子差点跌到湖里， 一个美丽的女孩穿着漂亮的裙子 。同伴的描述使他如同亲历外面的美景。生命的图画如此和谐，让他眷恋。

一个小雨的黄昏，他突然心有不甘：为什么睡在床边的人可以独享窗外的世界，他觉得不是滋味，心里似有小虫在啃噬，搅得难受。他越这么想，就越想与那人调换一下位子。

夜里，他盯着天花板发呆。病友忽然拼命地咳嗽，想叫护士，却没有摸着紧靠床边的按铃。他先是假装睡熟，后来稍一转念想按床铃……就在这几秒钟的犹豫之中，他吃惊地发现，同伴停止了呼吸…

病友离去，寂寞的他陷入自责中而悲痛万分。医生以为他不想面对那一张空床，答应给他调换一个房间。当他被护士抬起时，蓦地，他看到了窗外的景致——一堵空白的墙。

(五)

Wanda, the neighborhood witch, was a good witch and had been one for about 221 years. Her fondest dream was to become a fairy godmother. She had been going to the Fairy Godmother Academy for 103 years, learning fairy godmother magic: how to turn pumpkins into coaches, how to make things vanish in clouds of smoke, even how to change mice into horses and footmen.

Just that very morning the principal of the Academy had said Wanda was ready for her final test. She was to change the first animal she met into something else. The animal was to be so happy at becoming whatever it became that it would say, “Oh, happy day! I?m a ____.” If it did, Wanda would pass the test. She would become a fairy godmother,

with a sparkling pink dress, a golden crown, and a magic wand tipped with a shining star.

However, if she failed, she would have to start school all over again—all 103 years of it.

“Good luck,” the principal said as Wanda left the Academy.

旺达是附近镇上一位善良的巫婆，她干着一行已经整整221年了。旺达最大的梦想就是有朝一日能成为一位仙女教母。为了实现理想，她花费了103年的时间，在仙女教母学院刻苦学习，掌握了不少仙女教母的魔法，比如：如何将南瓜变成南瓜车；如何让东西化作一缕青烟神奇地消失，甚至还学会了如何将老鼠变成马或者仆人。

就在学业全部结束的最后一个早晨，校长通知旺达准备迎接最后一项测试。在这项测试里，旺达被要求对今天出门后，所遇到的第一个动物施加魔法，无论这只动物被变成什么，这只动物必须说一句：“啊哈！真是一个开心的日子，我是一个——”，如果它真的说了，旺达就算通过了测试，她将能穿上粉红闪光的裙子，戴上一顶金色的皇冠，拿着一根镶着水晶星的魔法棒，成为一名仙女教母。

相反，如果失败了，一切就得重新开始——旺达将回到学校再学习103年。

“祝你好运！”校长对正准备离开学院的旺达说。

The very first animal Wanda bumped into was Charley, a little green frog who sat in a pond by the side of the road catching bugs with his long, sticky tongue and croaking “Baroomp! Baroomp!”

When Charley saw Wanda he jumped onto a lily pad. “Hi,” he cried. “Witch way are you going? Ha, ha. That?s a joke, Wanda. ?Witch way are you going?? Get it?”

“I get it, Charley,” replied Wanda, “but it?s not much of a joke. Anyway, I'm glad you?re here. I have a surprise for you. You?ll be so happy.“ Then, without even an“if you please,” Wanda waved her wand, said a magic word, and poof! Charley, the little green frog, turned into a prince!

He was a handsome prince but a wet one. The lily pad had collapsed under his weight and dumped him into the water. Charley-turned-prince stood up and looked at his reflection in the water. “Hey!” he cried. “You turned me into a prince! It?s a surprise all right, but I don?t want to be a prince. I want to be a frog! Change me back right now!”

“Oh, dear,” Wanda said. “You know I don?t like to be yelled at, Charley. Now you?ve made me forget the reverse spell. But who wouldn?t rather be a prince than a frog?” 旺达遇到的第一只动物正好是查理，一只绿色的小青蛙，它正坐在路边的池塘里，一边伸出长长的舌头粘住虫子卷进嘴里，一边唱着歌：呱呱呱，呱呱呱

查理看见了旺达，它跳到一片荷叶上，跟她打招呼：“嗨！你要去巫婆家吗①？哈哈哈，开玩笑的，旺达，?你准备去哪里？?听明白了吧！”

“我明白你的意思，查理，”旺达回答道，“但是这并不怎么好笑，不管怎么样，我很高兴遇到你，我有一个惊喜要送给你，你会更开心的。”也不问查理是否愿意接受，旺达已经挥动手中的魔法棒，念了一句咒语，然后只听“噗”的一声，查理，那只绿色的小青蛙，竟然变成了一位王子。

（六）

The wolf and the fox wanted to eat the rabbit, but it wasn't easy to catch him.

One day the wolf said to the fox, "You go home and lie in bed. I'll tell the rabbit that you are dead. When he comes to look at you, you can jump up and catch him." That's a good idea," said the fox.

He went home at once. The wolf went to the rabbit's house and knocked at the door. "Who is it?" asked the rabbit. "It's the wolf. I've come to tell you that the fox is dead." Then the wolf went away.

The rabbit went to the fox's house. He looked in through the window and saw the fox lying in bed with his eyes closed. He thought, "Is the fox really dead or is he pretending to be dead? If he's not dead, he'll catch me when I go near him." so he said, "The wolf says that the fox is dead. But he doesn't look like a dead fox. The mouth of a dead fox is always open." When the fox heard this, he thought, "I'll show him that I'm dead." So he opened his mouth.

The rabbit knew that the fox wasn't dead, and he ran as quickly as he could. 狼和狐狸想要吃掉兔子，但是这只兔子太难抓到了。

一天，狼对狐狸说：“你回家假装躺在床上。我去告诉兔子你已经死了。当他来看你的时候，你就可以跳起来抓住他了。”“真是个好主意！”狐狸说。

于是他立刻回到家。狼去兔子的房前敲了敲门，“是谁啊？”兔子问道。“狼，我是来告诉你狐狸已经死了。”说完狼就走开了。

兔子去狐狸家看情况。他通过狐狸家的窗户看到闭着眼睛的狐狸躺在床上。他想，狐狸是真的死了，还是在假装呢？如果他没有死，那么我走近他就会被他抓住。于是他说：“狼说狐狸死了。但是他看起来并不像死掉了呀。死去的狐狸通常都是张着嘴的。”狐狸听到这些话就想：我得证明自己是真的死了。于是他张开了嘴巴。

这时兔子知道狐狸并没有死，他就以最快的速度跑开啦。

这篇英语故事告诉我们：不要被假象迷惑，凡事多多求证才能防患于未然。

（七）

For long, a little boy was wondering why his next-desk-pal could rank 1st in the class whenever he wanted to, whereas he himself failed to: he only ranked 21st.

有个孩子对一个问题一直想不通：为什么他的同桌想考第一一下子就考了第一，而自己想考第一却只考了全班第二十一名？

At home, he asked his Mom, “Mom, am I more stupid than others? I feel I am as obedient and as careful as him, but how come I always lag behind? "Hearing the words, Mom was aware that her son began to gain amour-propre, which was now being undermined by the ranking system. Staring at him, she went wordless, not knowing how to explain. 回家后他问道：“妈妈我是不是比别人笨？我觉得我和他一样听老师的话，一样认真地做作业，可是，为什么我总比他落后？”妈妈听了儿子的话，感觉到儿子开始有自尊心了，而这种自尊心正在被学校的排名伤害着。她望着儿子，没有回答，因为她也不知道怎样回答。 In another test, the son ranked 17th, while his pal remained 1st. Back home, he raised the same question. Mom really wanted to inform her son that intelligence differs, which means that students ranking 1st are supposed to be cleverer than normal ones. However, was this disillusioning answer the one that her son was constantly curious about? Thank goodness she did not open her mouth.

又一次考试后，孩子考了第十七名，而他的同桌还是第一名。回家后，儿子又问了同样的问题。她真想说，人的智力确实有三六九等，考第一的人，脑子就是比一般的人灵。然而这样的回答，难道是孩子真想知道的答案吗？她庆幸自己没说出口。

How to answer her son?s question? There were times she felt an impulse to equivocate, “You are too lazy. You are not as industrious as others…” but she stopped when envisioning her son suffering from the pains of unsatisfied grades and rankings. She thought it cruel to inflict any additional burden on his son and was trying to find out a perfect answer.

应该怎样回答儿子的问题呢？有几次，她真想重复那几句被上万个父母重复了上万次的话——你太贪玩了；你在学习上还不够勤奋;和别人比起来还不够努力……这样来搪塞儿子。然而，像她儿子这样脑袋不够聪明，在班上成绩不甚突出的孩子，平时活得还不够辛苦吗？所以她没有那么做，她想为儿子的问题找到一个完美的答案。

Time elapsing swiftly, the son finished primary school. Despite studying harder and better, he was still unable to keep up with his pal. To show her pride of him, Mom decided to take him to the sea. During the trip, she managed to give out an answer.

儿子小学毕业了，虽然他比过去更加刻苦，但依然没有赶上他的同桌，不过与过去相比，他的成绩一直在提高。为了对儿子的进步表示赞赏，她带他去看了一次大海。就是在这次旅行中，这位母亲回答了儿子的问题。

Now, the son no longer worries about his rankings, and there are no longer boring guys who would inquire his rankings in primary school, because, with the 1st ranking, he is accepted by Tsinghua University. Back home in winter vacation, he was invited to address the students and parents in his high school. In the speech, he mentioned an valuable experience in his childhood, “…When my mother and I was lying on the beach, she pointed to the front and said, ?Do you see the seabirds scrambling for food over there? When the waves come near, little birds can rise quickly while “clumsy” sea-gulls would take more time to complete the process. However, have you noticed birds that finally fly across the endless ocean are none other than “clumsy” sea-gulls??” The moving speech provoked many mothers present into tears, including his mother.

现在这位做儿子的再也不担心自己的名次了，也再没有人追问他小学时成绩排第几名，因为他去年以全校第一名的成绩考入了清华。寒假归来时，母校请他给同学及家长们做一个报告。其中他讲了小时候的一段经历：“我和母亲坐在沙滩上，她指着前面对我说，你看那些在海边争食的鸟儿，当海浪打来的时候，小灰雀总能迅速地起飞，它们拍打两三下翅膀就升入天空；而海鸥总显得非常笨拙，它们从沙滩飞入天空总要很长时间；然后，真正能飞跃大海横过大洋的还是它们。”这个报告使得很多母亲流下了眼泪，其中包括他自己的母亲

（八）

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new siblin.They find out that the new baby is going to be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sings to his sister in Mommy's tummy.

和其他称职的母亲一样，当凯伦发现自己再次怀孕之时，她尽她所能去帮助自己三岁的儿子迈克尔接受即将出生的孩子。后来大家得知新生儿是女孩，于是一天天，一夜夜，迈克尔不停地唱歌给还在妈妈肚子里的小妹妹听。

The pregnancy progresses normally for Karen, an active member of the Panther Creek United Methodist Church in Morristown, Tennessee. Then the labor pains come. Every five minutes, every minute. But complications arise during delivery. Hours of labor. Would a C-section be required?

凯伦住在田纳西州莫里斯镇，是卫理公会的虔诚信徒。凯伦的怀孕过程很顺利，终于到了生产的那一天。先是每隔5分钟疼一次，然后每分钟都会疼。生产的时候出现了异常，持续了好几个钟头。需要剖腹产吗？

Finally, Michael's little sister is born. But she is in serious condition. With siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushes the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee. The days inch by. The little girl gets worse. The pediatric specialist tells the parents, "There is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst." 迈克尔的妹妹终于出生了。但她的情况很糟。救护车呼啸着连夜把她送到田纳西州诺克斯维尔圣玛丽医院的新生儿重症监护室。一天天过去了，妹妹的情况却更严重了。儿科专家通知父母，“没什么希望了。做好最坏的打算。”

Karen and her husband contact a local cemetery about a burial plot. They have fixed up a special room in their home for the new baby now they plan a funeral. Michael, keeps begging his parents to let him see his sister, "I want to sing to her," he says.

凯伦与丈夫联系了当地的墓园商讨安葬地的事宜。他们本来在家里给孩子准备了一间儿童房，而现在他们却得筹备一场葬礼。迈克尔一直不停的央求父母让他见见小妹妹，他说：“我想给她唱歌。”

Week two in intensive care. It looks as if a funeral will come before the week is over. Michael keeps nagging about singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in Intensive Care. But Karen makes up her mind. She will take Michael whether they like it or not. If he doesn't see his sister now, he may never see her alive.

在重症监护室住了两周之后，小妹妹似乎坚持不了多久了。迈克尔一直吵着要给妹妹唱歌，可重症监护室禁止儿童进入。但凯伦下定了决心，不管别人愿不愿意，她都要带迈克尔进去。如果现在不让他看，他可能再也见不到活着的妹妹了。

She dresses him in an oversized scrub suit and marches him into ICU. He looks like a walking laundry basket, but the head nurse recognizes him as a child and bellows, "Get that kid out of here now! No children are allowed. The mother rises up strong in Karen, and the usually mild-mannered lady glares steel-eyed into the head nurse's face, her lips a firm line.

她给他穿上大号消毒服，快歩带他走进ICU病房。他看起来挺像会走的洗衣篮，但还是被护士长给看出来了，护士长大叫，“把那个小孩领出去！这不让小孩进！”一股强烈的母性在Karen体内应运而生，这位平日里温柔的女性眼睛一眨也不眨的盯着护士长的脸，嘴角显出坚毅的线条。

"He is not leaving until he sings to his sister!"

“他要进去，唱歌给妹妹听！”

Karen tows Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazes at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. And he begins to sing. In the pure hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sings: 凯伦拉着迈克尔来到妹妹床前。他凝视着这个即将离开人世的小婴儿，开始唱歌。Michael用他三岁孩子稚嫩的童音，发自内心的歌唱：

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray..." “你是我的阳光，我唯一的阳光，你让阴郁的天空充满欢笑……”

Instantly the baby girl responds. The pulse rate becomes calm and steady.

妹妹马上有了反应，脉搏变得平缓稳定。

Keep on singing, Michael.

接着唱，迈克尔

（九）

It all began with a stop at a red light.

Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006. While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other. 故事开始于一个十字路口，路口亮着红灯。

凯文·萨文是美国亚特兰大市的一个作家兼企业家。20xx年的一天，他载着自己14岁的女儿汉娜从别的地方回家。在等待信号灯变绿的时候，他们看到马路上停着一辆黑色奔驰车，而在奔驰车不远处的马路另一侧，一个无家可归的流浪汉在乞讨食物。

“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal,” Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.

“老爸，如果那个车主买一辆不那么昂贵的车，那个流浪汉就可以吃一顿饱餐了！”汉娜不满的说道。红灯变绿了，他们继续上路，但小汉娜还是不懂事的缠着父母，她觉得这件事很不公平，并坚持要为那个可怜的人做些什么。

“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”

“那你想做什么呢？”她妈妈打趣地问她。“你想要把我们的房子卖了吗？”

Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.

（提醒：不要给一个理想主义的孩子这么大方的提议！汉娜就咬定了这个主意，她执意要把家里豪华的别墅卖掉，把卖房所得一半的钱捐给慈善基金会，然后还有一半的钱则用来买一栋相对一般的房子作新家。）

Eventually, that?s what the family did. The project — crazy, impetuous and utterly inspiring — is chronicled in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It?s a book that, frankly, I?d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.

最后，家里拗不过她的软磨硬泡，真的就把房子给卖了。在下个月即将出版的新书《一半的力量》中，父亲和女儿作为作者，将这个疯狂、冲动但却相当发人深省的计划公之于众。老实说，这本书我可不敢随便放在我自家孩子触手可及的地方。孩子都很容易受影响和启发，如果他们读了，说不定哪天你们全家就不得不搬到大街上去住了。

At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere, when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes, the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference — for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help. In a column a week ago, I described neurological evidence from brain scans that altruism lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primal gratifications such as food and sex. The Salwens? experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.

在这个海地等世界其他地方亟需帮助的时候，许许多多的美国人都在以不同的方式帮助他们，有的发去慰问短信，有的则捐衣捐物。但萨文一家却给我们树立了一个别样的榜样，他们齐心协力，为他们自己，也为那些需要帮助的人们真正做了富有意义的事。在一周前我的另一篇专栏文章中，我说过，大脑扫描的结果显示：无私的行为会使大脑部分感受到如食物和性生活般最为原始的快感。萨文家的经历正是无私带来自私快感的一大例证。

Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.

萨文先生和他的妻子乔安先前总是认为在大房子里，孩子们会过的更加惬意。但是在搬进小房子后，将大家隔离开来的空间少得多了，这样一来，家庭成员就可以有更多的时间呆在一起。小房子出乎意料地变成了一个更加适宜家庭生活的家。

“We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness,” Mr. Salwen told me, adding, “I can?t figure out why everybody wouldn?t want that deal.”

“其实我们是把物质和金钱转换成更加紧密无间的联系了，”萨文先生在与我谈话中这样说道，“我觉得如果有这种选择，每个人都会像我一样这么做的。”

（十）

For the last 16 years, Nick Fahey has been living on an island in the San Juan 1)archipelago north of 2)Puget Sound, in Washington State, where his only full-time companion is a 26-year-old3)quarter horse. Mr. Fahey, 67, lives in a cabin on 100 wooded acres; it has no refrigerator, but there is electricity generated by solar panels, so he has light and can

4)charge his cell phone. There are few 5)amenities of the material kind, but his days are his own. With the exception of cutting wood for fuel and to support himself—occasionally he makes a trek to neighboring islands or the mainland, to sell the wood or buy groceries—he is free to do as he pleases.

在过去的16年里,尼克·费伊一直住在华盛顿州普吉特海湾北面圣胡安群岛中的一个小岛上,终日陪伴他的只有一匹26岁高龄的夸特马。现年67岁的费伊先生住在一间建于一片占地100英亩的林地里的小木屋中,屋里没有电冰箱,但可以借助太阳能电池板发电,所以他有电灯,也可以给手机充电。尽管物质条件不尽如人意,但费伊过得逍遥自在。平日里,费伊会砍些木头来生火,偶尔会长途跋涉到附近的岛屿或岛外的陆地上卖自己砍来的木头或是买些生活用品回来维持基本的生活,除此之外的时间他可以自由支配,随心所欲。

Getting away from it all: it?s a common fantasy. But for some people, fantasizing isn?t enough. For whatever reason, perhaps the desire for peace and quiet in an increasingly

6)frenetic world, an attempt to escape the intrusiveness of technology or the need for an isolated place to recover from heartbreak, they feel compelled to act out the fantasy, seeking the kind of solitude found only in the remotest locations.

抛开一切,远离尘嚣,这样的白日梦大家都做过。但对于某些人来说,光空想还不够。也许是想在愈渐狂躁的俗世中渴求一份平和与宁静,或者是妄图避开科技的侵扰,又或者需要躲在一处偏僻之地修复破碎的心,不论出于何种原因,他们迫切想要跳出空想,付诸行动,去寻求只能在杳无人烟之地才能寻求到的独居生活。

The compulsion to live in isolation can be attributed to any number of factors, said psychologist Elaine N. Aron. Some people might “really need their 7)downtime,” Dr. Aron said, and may seek out “isolation that avoids all social intercourse.” Others may have developed an “8)avoidant attachment style” in childhood, resulting in “a need to prove to themselves that they don?t need anybody,” she said. For many people, though, the desire for extreme solitude may have simpler roots, she noted: “It could be because they want a mystical experience. You can?t 9)pathologize that.”

心理学家伊莱恩·N·艾尔伦表示,有很多因素会导致人们迫切渴望过上独居的生活。艾尔伦博士说,有些人可能“真的需要停下手中的工作”,并可能会想“隐居起来,避开所有的社交活动”。还有一些人可能在童年时期就逐渐形成了一种“回避型的依恋模式”,结果导致以后“总要向自己证明他们不需要任何人的陪伴,”她说。然而对于大多数人来说,渴望彻底地独处可能是出于一种更简单的理由,艾尔伦指出:“可能是因为他们想要获得一种具有神秘感的体验,你不能将其视为一种病态。”

In Mr. Fahey?s case, he moved to the island full time in 1994, several years after he divorced. Not because he was 10)traumatized, he said, but because he liked the “feeling of freedom when you?re by yourself. You don?t have to answer to anybody.” Once a week, though, he goes to Anacortes, a town on the mainland, 10 miles away by boat, to visit his 99-year-old father in an assisted-living home and to see his girlfriend, Deborah Marti

n, whom he has been dating for 15 years. Ms. Martin, 56, explained: “We are both pretty independent, and I imagine that?s partly why it works. We don?t have the same expectations that other couples might, like, ?I need you to be here every night.?”

而费伊先生的情况是,他于19xx年搬到这个小岛定居,当时他已离婚了好几年。据他所说,他隐居并非因为心灵受到创伤,而是因为他喜欢“独自一人时那种自由自在的感觉,你不需要迎合任何人。”然而每周,他都会乘船去一次阿纳科特斯——距离该岛10英里的大陆上的一个市镇,去看望他那住在一所护理院里的99岁的父亲以及女友黛博拉·马丁。他俩谈恋爱已经谈了15年。56岁的马丁女士说:“我们都很独立,我想这大概是我们的恋爱关系能持续如此久的部分原因吧。我们没有其他夫妻对伴侣的那些诸如?我需要你每晚都呆在这里陪我?的期望

（十一） An only child, a perfectly ordinary little girl in rural Wisconsin, I wanted sisters more than anything. When I turned seven, my parents made a decision that delighted me beyond measure: they chose to adopt.

小时候我是家里的独生女，是威斯康新州农村的一个非常普通的女孩。那时我特别想要的就是妹妹。我7岁那年，父母做出了一个让我喜出望外的决定：他们要领养了。

It was Christmastime when my two new sisters, aged 6 and 3, arrived from Colombia. They came with a great flourish of celebration, as friends and relatives visited us bearing gifts to welcome them. That evening our guests went home and we were left to ourselves. My sisters and I went to the bedroom we were to share; as we crawledsintosour beds, our parents came to each of us, tucking us in and saying goodnight.“Te amo,”they whispered to my new sisters in Spanish,“I love you.”

那是圣诞节期间，我的两个新妹妹，一个6岁，一个3岁，从哥伦比亚来到了我家。她们的到来带来了喜庆，亲朋好友带着礼物来我家欢迎她们。那天晚上客人们走后，剩下了我们自己，我和妹妹们走进我们共用的卧室；当我们爬上床时，父母进来了，为我们一一掖好被角并且道了晚安，“Te amo”，他们用西班牙语向我的新妹妹耳语道，“我爱你”。

From the beginning these newcomers were like my own flesh and blood; we played and bickered and learned just as if we had always been sisters. From the beginning we all were my parents' daughters equally, as they supervised and scolded and encouraged us.

从一开始，新来的妹妹就像是我的亲妹妹；我们一起玩，一起斗嘴，一起学习，仿佛我们一直就是姐妹；父母对我们指教、训斥或鼓励时，我们都是父母的女儿，谁都不受偏袒。

Life seemed great. Beneath the surface, however, my parents were struggling with their own marital problems. As we girls were approaching our teen years, my parents uttered the fateful words,“We're getting a divorce.”

生活看上去非常好。然而，在表象之下，父母却在为他们之间的婚姻问题而苦苦挣扎，当我们姐妹十几岁时，父母说出了那句致命的话：“我们要离婚了。

My sisters had been hurt before. They had been dealt a great wound when their birth mother abandoned them, and none of us understood the depth of their inner turmoil. It was a pain that now resurfaced, as the emotions from that abandonment years earlier overwhelmed them. ”

妹妹们以前就受到过伤害，当她们遭生母遗弃时蒙受过巨大的伤痛，无人能够理解她们内心的烦乱有多深，而这一痛苦如今又重新浮现出来，早年被遗弃时的情感使她们不知所措。

We all struggled during this time. My father remarried and strove to provide some sort of stability for us through this new family: another mother, brother and sister. But the bonds between my parents and sisters continued to disintegrate. By the time I left for college, my family was in profound disarray.

在这一段时间里我们都在苦苦挣扎。我的父亲再婚了，并努力通过新的家庭——另一个妈妈、弟弟和妹妹——为我们提供稳定的生活。但父母与我们姐妹间的关系仍在分崩离析。在我离开家上大学时，家里正处于一片混乱当中。

During my college years, my outlook on life evolved in significant ways. This personal transformation led my parents and sisters to reevaluate their own lives and make changes that ultimately brought us together as a family. My mother and father have again become great sources of encouragement for us three sisters. They have succeeded in providing our lives with a foundation of stable love. One of my sisters has recently married,and family gatherings are now occasions of happiness and renewal.

上大学期间，我的人生观向着积极方向发生了重大改变，这一切身转变导致我的父母和妹妹重新评价他们的生活并且也做出改变，这些改变最终把我们带到一起，真正成为一家人，父母再次成为鼓励我们三姐妹的巨大源泉，他们成功地为我们提供了以稳定的爱为基础的生活。我的一个妹妹最近已经结婚，如今家庭团聚是获得幸福与焕发精神的所在。

Chinese friends sometimes ask me why I am in China, working at a low salary when I c

ould be prospering in America. It is the experiences I went through while growing up that have made me who I am today. I am on the staff of CBN, a humanitarian organization in Beijing that seeks to help people in distress. Among our many projects, we often work with orphans.

（十二） One of my patients, a successful businessman, tells me that before his cancer he would become depressed unless things went a certain way. Happiness was "having the cookie." If you had the cookie, things were good. If you didn't have the cookie, life wasn't worth a damn. Unfortunately, the cookie kept changing. Some of the time it was money, sometimes power, sometimes sex. At other times, it was the new car, the biggest contract, the most prestigious address. A year and a half after his diagnosis of prostate cancer he sits shaking his head ruefully. "It's like I stopped learning how to live after I was a kid. When I give my son a cookie, he is happy. If I take the cookie away or it breaks, he is unhappy. But he is two and a half and I am forty-three. It's taken me this long to understand that the cookie will never make me happy for long. The minute you have the cookie it starts to crumble or you start to worry about it crumbling or about someone trying to take it away from you. You know, you have to give up a lot of things to take care of the cookie, to keep it from crumbling and be sure that no one takes it away from you. You may not even get a chance to eat it because you are so busy just trying not to lose it. Having the cookie is not what life is about."

我有一位病人，他是一个成功的商人，告诉我，在他患癌症之前，凡事如果没有确定下来他就忧心忡忡。对他而言，幸福是“拥有小甜饼”。如果你拥有了小甜饼，一切都一帆风顺。如果你没有小甜饼，生活就一文不值。不幸的是，小甜饼总是不断变换着，有时是金钱，有时是权力，有时是欲望。在其他时候，它是一辆新车、一份数额最大的合同、或者一个享有声望的通讯地址。在他被诊断出患有前列腺癌的一年半之后，他坐在那里，悲天悯人地摇着头，说：“长大以后，我好像就不知道怎样生活了。当我给我儿子一个小甜饼时，他心花怒放。如果我拿走甜饼或者是小甜饼碎了，他就闷闷不乐。不同的是，他只有两岁半，而我已经43了。我花了这么长的时间才明白小甜饼并不能使我长久感到幸福。从你拥有小甜饼的那一刻，它就开始破碎，或者你就开始担心它会破碎，抑或你开始担心别人拿走它。为了守护你的小甜饼，为了防止它破碎或者确定别人不会从你手中夺走它，你不得不放弃许多东西。你忙于不让自己失去它，甚至没有时间享受它。拥有小甜饼并不是生活的全部内容。

My patient laughs and says cancer has changed him. For the first time he is happy. No matter if his business is doing well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf. "Two years ago, cancer asked me, 'Okay, what's important? What is really important?' Well, life i

s important. Life. Life any way you can have it, life with the cookie, life without the cookie. Happiness does not have anything to do with the cookie; it has to do with being alive. Before, who made the time?" He pauses thoughtfully. "Damn, I guess life is the cookie

”

我的病人笑着说癌症已经改变了他。不论他的生意是否一帆风顺，不论他在打高尔夫球时是输是赢，他有生以来第一次感到幸福。“两年前，癌症问我?什么重要？什么才真正的重要？?对，生命重要。生命。生命，无论如何你拥有生命。有小甜饼也罢，没有小甜饼也罢，幸福与小甜饼并非息息相关，而是与生命的存在有关。可是，时光一去不复返，谁又能让时光倒流呢？”他停顿了一下，若有所思，说：“该死，我觉得生命就是那块小甜饼”。

（十三） 世界上最远的距离不是生和死，而是我在你眼前，你却不知道我爱你。

She was not beautiful. Nothing about her was extraordinary. Nothing about her made her stand out in a crowd. She grew up in a family of six and being the eldest, she learned responsibility at an early age.

她并不漂亮，也没有什么特别之处。没有什么能让她从人群中脱颖而出。她生长在6口人的大家庭。作为姐姐，她很早就学会了责任。

As she grew, she instilled a sort of light and cheer to whomever she met. She was not beautiful, but she made others feel better about themselves. She meets a rebel boy who thinks he is all man, they become fast friends and she fell in love with him.

随着成长，她逐渐使所遇到的人获得了智慧和欢乐。她并不漂亮，但是她使别人对他们自身感觉很好。她遇到了一个叛逆的男孩，他认为自己很不错。他们成为了好朋友，而她则爱上了他。

The man then fell in love with a girl named Anna. He tells her Anna is like a beautiful angel. The girl swallows a lump at her throat. She was not beautiful, she did not posses the heart of the one he loved, but she did not care. As long as he was happy, she would be happy. She helped write the most beautiful letters to his angel. All the time visioning it was she herself receiving those very letters. And so the girl helped him choose the right clothes, say the right words, and buy the right gifts for his angel.

那个男孩爱上了一个叫安娜的女孩。他告诉女孩说安娜像一个美丽的天使。女孩强忍着不哭。她并不漂亮，她不能拥有所爱男孩的心，但是她并不在乎。只要男孩高兴，她就会快乐。她帮助男孩给他的天使写最美的情书。一直以来，她都幻想着是自己收到这些情书。女孩帮男孩选合适的衣服，说恰当的话，给他的天使买心仪的礼物。

His angel brought him much joy. Then one day, the angel he loved left him for another richer man. The boy was stunned. He was so hurt, he did not speak for days. The girl went to him. He cried on her shoulder. Time went by and so wounds heal. The boy realizes something about his friend. Something he never realized before. How her laughter sounded heavenly and how her smiles brightened up the darkest days! This plain, simple girl was beautiful to him. On one day, he picked up all his courage to see her. He walked to her house, nervous, and fidgeting, Running his thoughts over and over his head.

他的天使给他带来很多快乐。但是突然有一天，天使离开了他而和另一个有钱的男人在一起。男孩震惊了。他很受伤，很多天都不说一句话。女孩来找他，他伏在她的肩膀哭泣。时间飞逝，伤痛逐渐痊愈。男孩意识发现了女孩的一些品质，一些以前未曾注意到的：她的笑声听起来多像来自天堂，她的微笑照亮了最阴郁的日子。这个朴实无华，单纯的女孩也很美。有一天，他鼓足勇气来看她。他向女孩的住所走去，紧张，坐立不安。头脑中一遍遍想着那些。

He was going to tell her how beautiful she was to him. He was going to tell her how wonderfully in love he was with her. He knocked. No one was home. The next day, he found out that the girl he truly fell in love with had a brain tumor that put her into a coma. The doctors were grim.

他将告诉她，对他来说她是多么的美丽；他讲告诉她爱上她是多么的美妙。敲门，却没人在家。第二天，他发现真正爱上的女孩患上了脑瘤陷入了昏迷。医生们都很难过。

Finally, he got to see her. He held her hand and he cried for this beautiful girl. She had taught the rebel boy to love and what it is to be loved. She was the most beautiful girl in the world to him. He cried, but it was too late.

他终于看到了她。握着她的手，他为女孩哭泣。她教会了叛逆的男孩去爱和去爱什么。在他眼里，她是世界上最美的女孩。他在哭泣，但是一切都太晚了。

Look around. Aren't there a lot of plain faces? Take a good look or you might just miss out that beautiful person.

环顾四周，是不是有许多朴实无华的面孔？仔细看一看，否则你有可能与美丽的人擦肩而过

（十四）

Imagine reading that your husband or brother who has been held in a prison for years is finally going to be released. You make the long journey to the prison and stand outside the prison gates, waiting desperately for the moment you'll be reunited with your loved one, only to hear... 'April Fools! No one's being released!' This experience happened to sixty people in April 2000 who read in the Opinia newspaper that their loved ones were going to be released from the Baia Mare prison in Romania. They made the long journey to

the prison, only to learn that the paper had played an April Fool's joke on them. The Opinia later published an apology.

想象你的亲人正在监狱服刑，而一天你突然从报纸上看到他们要被提前释放的消息。你满怀欢喜地去迎接他们，最后在监狱门口被告知，这只是个愚人节玩笑，你会怎么想？20xx年罗马尼亚的一家监狱愚弄了60个人，结果不得不公开道歉。

2.Glenn Howlett's colleagues at London city hall thought they had dreamed up a great gag. They sent him a memo informing him that the really big report he was working on was going to be due early, in just two weeks. The tip-off was that the memo was dated April 1st. Ha Ha. Except Howlett didn't realize it was a joke. He received the memo while on vacation and immediately cut his vacation short and phoned the office to tell everyone to start getting busy. But as he contemplated the new deadline he worked himself up into an increasing state of panic, until soon he began to experience heart palpitations. Finally he collapsed from the stress and had to take leave from work. As he was recovering he realized it just wasn't worth risking his health to finish the report, so he filed for early retirement. At which point someone told him the early deadline was just a joke. He responded by suing for damages. As a consequence of his lawsuit, city hall banned employees from pulling any more pranks.

伦敦市政厅工作的 Glenn Howlett，被他的同事狠狠整了一次。在他度假的时候，他的同事告诉他，他要做的一份报告必须提前上交，最后期限就是4月1日。他信以为真，取消了休假，日夜赶工的同时身体也累垮了，住院的时候他琢磨着这样不行啊，不能因为工作把人给弄残了，于是申请提前退休。就在这时有人告诉他，他被耍了。随后 Glenn Howlett控诉他的那几个同事，结果伦敦市政厅从此之后禁止员工之间开这样的玩笑。

3.Paul Goobie tied a dead chihuahua to the bumper of his co-worker's car. His co-worker, Kevin Meloy, got in the car and drove off, unaware that the chihuahua was there. Obviously passing motorists were horrified. But what made the situation even worse was that Meloy was deaf, so he couldn't hear the other motorists frantically honking at him. Happily he drove on for miles until finally someone was able to get his attention. Police charged Goobie with unlawful disposal of a dead animal.

一个叫Paul Goobie的人在同事Kevin Meloy车子的保险杠上拴了一只死去的吉娃娃狗。Kevin驾车上街后，街上的人都给吓坏了。因为Kevin是聋子，他听不见别的司机冲他揿喇叭的声音，所以就拖着一只死狗一路奔驰。最后被起诉非法处理死去的动物尸体。

4.Randy Wood's marriage was over, but apparently he was still a little bitter about the divorce. So he decided to play a prank on his ex-wife. He called her up and asked her to come over, telling her that he had something to show her. Obligingly she drove over, only to find him hanging by a noose from a tree in his front yard. Terrifed, she immediately dialed 911. Emergency services, including firefighters, policemen, and paramedics, soon showed up. But when they went to cut Wood down they discovered he wasn't dead. He wasn't even hurt. He had strung himself up as a prank to scare his ex-wife, using a lineman's harness similar to those used by utility crews. The authorities warned that he would face a fine of up to $1,000 and a year in jail for his prank.

一个叫Randy Wood的人在愚人节给他前妻打电话，说想见她。他前妻来的时候却惊恐地发现他上吊自杀了。于是她拨打了急救电话，还叫了消防队和警察。等人都到齐后，大家才发现是假的，他是用吊不死人的背带上吊的。警方说，罚款可能高达1000美元，并可能入狱一年。

5.Sitra Walker was an employee at a clothing store in Columbus, Ohio. She had only been working there for two weeks, but already she felt that she knew the manager well enough to joke around with him. So on April 1, 2003 she called him up at his home and told him that armed men were robbing the store. The manager immediately called the police, who promptly dispatched four cruisers. Minutes later Walker phoned the manager again and screamed 'April Fools'. Too late. When the police arrived moments later they weren't amused and charged her with inducing a panic. Walker's manager fired her.