英语美文点亮智慧人生40：The Old Fisherman老渔夫的故事（MP3+双语字幕）

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[00:00.00]Our house was directly across the street	我家住在巴尔的摩市，
[00:08.56]from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital	与约翰斯?霍普金森医院门诊部的
[00:11.76]in Baltimore.	正门只隔了条马路。
[00:13.13]We lived downstairs	我们住楼下，
[00:14.77]and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic.	楼上的屋子租给了来诊所求诊的病人。
[00:18.87]One summer evening	一个夏日的傍晚，
[00:20.67]as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door.	我正在准备晚餐时，忽然听见有人敲门。
[00:24.54]I opened it to see a truly awful-looking man.	打开门后，我见到一个相貌可怕的男士。
[00:28.14]"Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old,"	看着他那蜷曲、枯瘦的身体我心想：
[00:32.36]I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body.	“天啊，他简直还没有我八岁时高呢。
[00:36.12]But the appalling thing was his face...	”更骇人的是他的脸――
[00:39.29]lopsided from swelling,	因浮肿而显得不平衡，
[00:41.29]red and raw.	红红的而且很粗趁。
[00:42.62]Yet his voice was pleasant as he said,	不过他说话时的声音倒很和善：
[00:45.82]"Good evening. I've come to see	“晚上好，我想问一下，
[00:48.44]if you've a room for just one night.	你这儿有没有屋子借住一晚。
[00:50.94]I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore,	我早上从东海岸赶来治病，
[00:55.18]and there's no bus until morning."	明天早上才有回家的大巴。”
[00:58.37]He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon	他告诉我他从中午起就在找房子，
[01:01.45]but with no success. No one seemed to have a room.	但没找到。好像没人有空房。
[01:05.40]"I guess it's my face...	“我猜想是我的脸…
[01:07.31]I know it looks terrible,	我晓得我的脸看上去很可怕，
[01:09.36]but my doctor says with a few more treatments.."	但医生说再多治几次…”
[01:12.27]For a moment I hesitated,	我迟疑了片刻，
[01:14.42]but his next words convinced me.	但他接下来的话语说服了我。
[01:16.74]"I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch.	“我可以睡在走廊的摇椅上，
[01:20.17]My bus leaves early in the morning."	明天一大早就去赶大巴。”
[01:22.71]I told him we would find him a bed,	我告诉他我们会给他找一张床，
[01:25.42]but to rest on the porch.	但只能搁在走廊里。
[01:27.37]I went inside and finished getting supper.	回屋布置好晚餐准备开饭时，
[01:30.37]When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us.	我问老人要不要过来一起来吃。
[01:34.37]"No, thank you. I have plenty."	他举起一只灰色纸包说：不了，
[01:36.85]And he held up a brown paper bag.	谢谢你，我带了足够的吃的。”
[01:39.13]When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him for a few minutes.	饭后，我到走廊上同他聊了几分钟。
[01:45.82]It didn't take long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart	不多久，便发现这位老人瘦小的身躯
[01:51.28]crowded into that tiny body.	却有着伟岸的心灵。
[01:53.78]He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter,	他告诉我，以钓鱼为生是为了扶持他女儿，
[01:58.27]her five children, and her husband,	女儿的五个孩子，还有女婿――
[02:00.85]who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.	因脊椎受伤彻底致残的人。
[02:03.82]He didn't tell it by way of complaint.	他不是以抱怨的口吻讲述这些事的，
[02:06.58]In fact,	实际上，
[02:07.65]every other sentence was preface with a thanks to God for a blessing.	每句话的开始都对上帝的保佑充满谢意。
[02:13.00]He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease,	他感激他所患的病――
[02:17.93]which was apparently a form of skin cancer.	显然是某种皮肤癌――没有疼痛，
[02:20.99]He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.	他感谢上帝n予他继续活下去的力量。
[02:24.86]At bedtime,	就寝时，我在孩子们的房间
[02:26.16]we put a camp cot in the children's room for him.	给他放了张野营用的小床。
[02:29.75]When I got up in the morning,	第二天早晨我起来时，
[02:31.81]the bed linens were neatly folded	小床上的被褥已齐整地叠好，
[02:34.25]and the little man was out on the porch.	老人站在外面的走廊上。
[02:36.79]He refused breakfast.	他谢绝了早餐。
[02:38.46]But just before he left for his bus,	就在即将离开去乘巴士时，
[02:41.70]haltingly, as if asking a great favor,	他犹豫再三，像是要请求一个天大的恩惠，
[02:44.63]he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time	问道：“下次来看病时，
[02:47.94]I have a treatment?	我还能回到这儿住吗？
[02:49.28]I won't put you out a bit.	我不会给你们添乱的，
[02:51.23]I can sleep fine in a chair."	我只要在椅子上就能睡好。”
[02:53.30]He paused a moment and then added,	他顿了一会，补充道：
[02:56.62]"Your children made me feel at home.	“你们的小孩让我感觉像是在家里一样自在。
[02:58.83]Grownups are bothered by my face,	大人们因我的脸而烦恼，
[03:01.32]but children don't seem to mind."	可孩子们好像不那么介意。”
[03:03.75]I told him he was welcome to come again.	我告诉他欢迎下次再来。
[03:06.79]On his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning.	第二次，老人早上七点多就到了。
[03:11.58]As a gift, he brought a big fish	他带了一条大鱼和一夸脱牡蛎作为礼物，
[03:15.00]and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen.	那是我所见过的最大的牡蛎。
[03:18.59]He said he had shucked them that morning before he left	他说早上出发前剥了壳，
[03:22.51]so that they'd be nice and fresh.	这样能保证新鲜又美味。
[03:24.78]I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m.	我知道他乘的巴士凌晨4点发车，
[03:27.47]and I wondered what time he had to get up	我在想，为给我们准备这些东西，
[03:30.12]in order to do this for us.	他得多早就起来啊。
[03:31.79]During the years he came to stay overnight with us,	那些年他在我们家借宿，
[03:35.21]there was never a time that he did not bring us	每次都带鱼、牡蛎，
[03:38.71]fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.	或是他家园子里的蔬菜。
[03:42.17]Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery ...	还有几次我们收到他特意寄来的东西――
[03:47.73]fish and oysters packed in a box with fresh young spinach or kale...	新鲜嫩菠菜或甘蓝叶包裹的鱼和牡蛎…
[03:53.39]every leaf carefully washed.	每片叶子都仔细清洗过。
[03:56.37]Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these,	得知他得步行三英里邮寄，
[03:59.98]and knowing how little money he had made	得知他自己的收入那么低，
[04:02.97]the gifts doubly precious.	这些礼物在我们心里变得倍加珍贵。
[04:05.11]When I received these little remembrances,	每当我收到这些小小的礼物时，
[04:08.70]I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made	常想起老人首次借宿的次日清晨，
[04:12.60]after he left that first morning.	我们隔壁的邻居对我说：
[04:14.23]"Did you keep that awful-looking man last night?	“昨晚你收留那丑八怪老头了吗？
[04:17.53]I turned him away!	我把他支出去了！
[04:19.20]You can lose roomers by putting up such people! "	你要留他过夜非吓跑房客不可！”
[04:22.48]Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice.	可能我家的确失去了一两次房客，
[04:25.97]But oh! If only they could have known him,	但是啊，如果他们能认识这位老人，
[04:29.30]perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear.	或许他们的病痛将不再那么难以承受。
[04:32.95]I know	我知道，
[04:33.88]our family will always be grateful to have known him.	我的家人总是为认识这位老人而心存感激。
[04:37.80]From him, we learned what it was	从他那里，我们学到了什么是
[04:40.60]to accept the bad without complaint	坦然面对不幸而毫无怨言，
[04:42.79]and the good with gratitude to God.	并怀着感恩的心接受上帝赐予的美好。
[04:45.38]Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse.	最近，我拜访了一位朋友，
[04:49.64]As she showed me her flowers,	她有一个花房。她带我观看她的花时，
[04:52.13]we came to the most beautiful one of all...	我们来到花房中最美丽的一处――
[04:54.76]a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms.	一株绽放的金菊。
[04:58.24]But to my great surprise,	但令我特别惊奇的是，
[05:00.16]it was growing in an old dented,	它竟然生长在一个凹陷的、
[05:02.85]rusty bucket.	生了锈的铁桶里。
[05:03.92]I thought to myself, "If this were my plant,	我心里想，“如果这是我的花，
[05:07.11]I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!"	我会把它放到我最可爱的花盆里去！”
[05:10.19]My friend changed my mind.	朋友改变了我的想法。
[05:12.27]"I ran short of pots," she explained,	“当时我缺花盆”，她解释道，
[05:14.67]"and knowing how beautiful this one would be,	“既然知道它会那么好看，
[05:17.71]I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail.	我想它也不介意在这旧桶里开花。
[05:21.40]It's just for a little while,	用不了多久，
[05:23.26]until I can put it out in the garden."	我就会把它移栽到花园里去。”
[05:26.00]She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly,	她一定很奇怪我为何笑得如此开心，
[05:29.98]but I was imagining such a scene in heaven.	我那时正想象着天堂中这样一幅情景。
[05:33.19]"Here's an especially beautiful one,"	当上帝来到老渔夫可爱的灵魂前时可能会说：
[05:35.83]God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman.	“这样一个特别可爱的灵魂，
[05:41.70]"He won't mind starting in this small body."	并不介意栖息于瘦小的身躯。”
[05:43.85]All this happened long ago...	这些都发生在很久以前…
[05:46.20]and now, in God's garden,	而现在，那美好的灵魂该是
[05:48.53]how tall this lovely soul must stand.	多么高大地伫立于上帝的花园啊！

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英语美文点亮智慧人生40：The Old Fisherman老渔夫的故事（MP3+双语字幕）