雙語優美散文：種蘋果
摘錄：人們的夢想又何嘗不是如此。我們常會有不錯的想法，但這些想法也只是曇花一現——我們對這些“幼苗”不以爲意，根本不去保護它們。而後有一天我們疑惑夢想爲何從未實現?
I realized I was holding an apple tree in the palm of my hand. A little seed with the potential to become a beautiful big tree—a tree that could grow thousands of apples in its lifetime. Thousands of apples, each containing several seeds, each capable of growing a new tree which again could produce thousands of apples. Why then the world wasn’t filled with apple trees?
It is a rule of nature that only a few of these seeds grow. Most never do or are destroyed early on in their growth.
我意識到被我捧在掌心的是棵蘋果樹。這顆小小的種子蘊藏着長成一棵美麗大樹的潛力——這棵大樹在它的生命中又會結出成千上萬個蘋果。每個蘋果裏又有幾顆種子，每顆種子又可以長成一棵新的蘋果樹，再結出許多蘋果。但爲什麼世界上並沒有到處都是蘋果樹呢?
因爲在自然規律的作用下，只有幾顆種子能生長起來。大部分種子根本不能生長，即便生長起來也會夭折。
And it came to my mind it’s quite often so with people’s dreams also. Wonderful ideas come to our minds but they die too soon—we don’t tend to the little saplings , we don’t protect them as we should. And then one day we wonder what happened to our dreams—why did they never come true?
於是，這讓我聯想到，人們的夢想又何嘗不是如此。我們常會有不錯的想法，但這些想法也只是曇花一現——我們對這些“幼苗”不以爲意，根本不去保護它們。而後有一天我們疑惑夢想爲何從未實現?
I put the apple seed on the table, and bent down to see how the light was reflected from it, this nature’s tiny wonder. I wondered when someone was seriously growing apples, how many times they had to try to get a seed to germinate ? How much work did it require?
我把這顆蘋果種子放在桌上，彎下腰觀察這顆反着光的小小造物傑作。我想，如果有人一心想種蘋果的話，要嘗試多少次才能讓種子發芽?這需要多少付出?
Maybe it was like with our dreams: the seeds of your dreams did not automatically grow. Planting an apple tree, it might take many tries. You might meet dozens of people until you met the true friend.
或許這一如我們的夢想：夢想的種子不會自己長大。種下一棵蘋果樹需要付出許多辛勞。遇見一個知己需要在茫茫人海中尋尋覓覓。
But if you kept on sowing the seeds of your dream, one day you would succeed. And after that others would comment you were lucky to be successful—when in fact you probably failed more often than you would like to count. But you were good at failing—you learned, you adapted, and then with your new knowledge you tried again. And again. And again. And one day success was yours.
但如果你不懈地播種夢想的種子，總有一天你會成功。之後，人們會說你的成功是因爲上天的眷顧——殊不知連你自己都不曉得成功前究竟經歷過多少次失敗。但失敗之於你並非壞事——你會適應失敗，並從中汲取經驗教訓，然後用這些經驗教訓再次嘗試。一次又一次。如此反覆。終有一天成功如期而至。
I picked up the apple seed again—but instead of throwing it away I took an empty flower pot, poured some earth into it and planted the seed. Maybe one day it would grow into a proud tree. I’d never know if I didn’t try.
我再次拿起這顆蘋果種子——這次我並未將它扔掉，而是拿來了一個空花盆，倒了些土進去，把這顆種子種在裏面。或許有一天它會長成一棵驕傲的蘋果樹。只有試過了才知道。
