|
一千个弹珠
¤
英文作者不详
丰筌中文翻译
随着年龄的增长，我越来越喜爱星期六早晨。或许是因为第一个起身，能够安静独
处；或许是不必上班的极大乐趣； 总之，星期六早上的最初几个钟头，对我来说，
是最享受的。
几个星期以前，我一手拿着热气腾腾的咖啡，一手拿着早报，慢吞吞地走向地下室
的小房间。一个典型星期六早晨的开始，却转变成为一个生活中，似乎经常有意无意
留给你的教诲。让我慢慢道来。我调整着我的业余无线电收发机的波段转钮，以便
收听星期六早晨同好们的交换网。在调动时，听到一个发送信号很强、金嗓子般声
音的老汉在说话。你知道，是那种听起来就应该从事广播业者的声音。
他在跟听者说有关“一千个弹珠”的事情。我被这话题吸引了，就停下来听他有什
么要说的。
“嗯，汤姆，听起来你的工作确实很忙，我确信他们给你的薪水很高，但是可惜，
你必须经常离家，远离你的家人。实在很难相信，一个年轻人每个礼拜要工作六十、
七十个小时来维持生计。你错过了女儿的独舞表演，真是糟糕。”
他接着说，“让我告诉你一件事，汤姆，一件帮我保持‘事有先后、轻重缓急’的
良好处事方针的事情。”就这样，他开始阐述“一千个弹珠” 的理论。
“是这样的，有一天我坐下来做了一点算术。每个人平均活到七十五岁。我知道，
有的人活长些，有的人活短些。但是平均来说，人大概活七十五年。那么，我把75乘
上52，得到3900，也就是一个平均寿命的人的整个一生中，可以拥有的星期六的天
数。”
“现在，继续听我说，汤姆，我快讲到要点了。我一直到55岁时，才仔细地想到这
些细节。”他继续说，“那个时候我已经渡过了两千八百个星期六。我当时想，如果
我活到七十五，我只剩下一千个左右的星期六可以享受了。”
“所以，我去玩具店，买下了他们所有的每一颗弹珠。最后走了三家玩具店，才买
齐了一千个弹珠。我拿回来，把它们放进一个透明的大塑料罐里，就在这儿，我这套
设备旁边的袋子里。从那时候开始，每个星期六，我都拿出一个弹珠来，丢掉。”
“我发现，当我看着弹珠消失，我就更能专注于我生活中真正重要的事情。没有什
么比看着你的时间在这个地球上消失，更能够真正的帮你安排事情的先、后、缓、急
了。”
“现在，在跟你结束通讯带我可爱的老婆去吃早餐前，让我再告诉你最后一件事。
今早，我从塑料罐里拿出了最后的那颗弹珠。我想，如果我下星期六还在的话，老
天就赐给了我一些额外的时间。我们大家都用得着的，就是那一点点多余的时间。”
“很高兴遇到你，汤姆。我希望你有更多的时间跟家人在一起，我也希望我能再在
这个频道上遇到你。七十五岁的老头，这里是K9NZQ， QRT高频速效终端要挂线了，
早安！”
当这家伙挂线的瞬间，你在频道上几乎可以听到一根针掉落。我想，他给大家都留
下了许多事情思考。那天早上，我本来计划要装修收发天线，然后跟几个同好会面，
策划我们俱乐部的下一期会刊。我改了计划，到楼上吻着老伴，把她吵醒。
“甜心，醒了吧，我带你和孩子们去吃早餐。”
“这是什么来由？”她笑着问。
“噢，没什么特别的，只是我们很久没跟孩子们，星期六在一起了。还有，出去时，
可不可以到玩具店停留一会儿？ 我想买一些弹珠”。
“如果你活到一百岁，我要能够活到一百岁少一天，那么我永远不会没有你而活着。”
─ 快乐熊(英国著名儿童读物作家，米尔恩，1926年虚创的故事熊 Winnie-the-Pooh)
|
A Thousand Marbles
¤
Chinese Translation by Feng Quan
English Author Unknown
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet
solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded
joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday
morning are most enjoyable.
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming
cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began
as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life
seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the
dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen
to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding
chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he
sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business.
He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand
marbles. I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.
"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they
pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family
so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy
hours week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital.
He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped
me keep a good perspective on my own priorities. " And that's when he began
to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."
"You see, I sat down one day and did little arithmetic. The average person
lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less,
but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied
75 by 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the
average person has in their entire lifetime."
"Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me
until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail";
he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred
Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had
about a thousand of them left to enjoy.
"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended
up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them
home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here
in the sack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one
marble out and thrown it away. "
"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focus more on the really
important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here
on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight. "
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take
my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble
out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then
I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is
a little more time. "
"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family,
and I hope to meet you again here on the band. 75 year Old Man, this is
K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"
You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off.
I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the
antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to
work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife
up with a kiss.
"C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast.”
"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.
"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday
together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out?
I need to buy some marbles... ”
"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day,
so I never have to live without you.” - Winnie-the-Pooh
|