孩子的礼物
那是1961年的圣诞节。我在俄亥俄州的一个小镇上教小学三年级。班上27个孩子都在热切盼望着这个激动人心的、互赠礼品的日子到来。
每天孩子们都会做点儿新玩意——爆米花串成的细链子、手工做的小装饰品和墙纸做的德国式风铃，我们把这些风铃挂在了天花板上。但自始至终，她都是孤零零地远远观望，仿佛是隔了一道几里宽的障碍。我猜想着这个安静的孩子发生了什么事，原先是那么快乐，怎么突然变得沉默寡言起来。我希望节日的活动能吸引她，可还是无济于事。
赠送礼物的那天终于到了。在交换礼物时我们为对方亲手做的小礼品不停地欢呼叫好。而整个过程中，她只是安静地坐在那儿看着。我为她做的小袋很特别，红绿相间还镶着白边。我非常想看到她笑一笑。她打开包装，动作又慢又小心。我等待着，但是她却转过了身。
放学后，学生们三三两两地离开了，但她磨磨蹭蹭，看着大家走出门外。我坐下来稍稍松了口气，对要发生的事没有一点准备。这时她向我走来，双手拿着一个白色的盒子向我递过来。盒子没有包装，稍微有些脏，好像是被孩子未洗过的小手摸过了许多遍。“给我的吗？”我微微一笑。她没出声，只是点点头。我接过盒子，非常小心地打开它。盒子里面有一条金色的链子，闪闪发光。我在一瞬间明白过来——这是她为妈妈做的项链，她再也见不到的妈妈，再也不能抱她、给她梳头或一起讲故事的妈妈。她的妈妈再也不能分享她童年时光的快乐和忧伤。就在三个星期前她的妈妈离开了人世。
我拿起那条链子。她用双手接过它，向前探了探身，在我的脖子后把简易的项链钩系好。然后她向后退了几步，好像在看看是否合适。我低下头看着金色的链子，然后抬起头望着她，说道：“玛丽亚，这链子真漂亮。你妈妈一定会喜欢的。”我们都已无法抑制住泪水。她踉踉跄跄地扑进我的怀里，我们都哭了。在那短暂的一刻我成为她的妈妈，因为她把一份最珍贵的礼物送给了我：她自己。I

Red
It says poison, passion and stop right there. It is the most powerful colour on the planet and it is rife with contradictions. Its universal meanings are heat, blood, danger and emotion.
A red light means that the doctor is in. Red cars are sexual status symbols. Red heads are supposed to be firebrands. The devil wears red and so do scarlet women. Those with heart problems are advised to avoid the colour because it is so stimulating. Red light has been known to accelerate plant growth.
In China, it is a wedding colour denoting luck and happiness. According to Hebrew tradition the name Adam, the first man means both red and alive. Advertisers love red because it's a high energy, high impact color; those attracted to it demand to be noticed.
In the past, red dyes were expensive, so red walls and fabrics suggested either luxurious wealth, importance or ill repute. Today careful use can easily suggest an Asian influence. Red's connection with heat is so strong that it can make you feel warmer even when the temperature hasn't changed. Too much brings associations with violent emotions leading to impatience, confusion and irritability. Used with caution it can enrich although it does tend to make small rooms even smaller.I

Long Walk to Freedom
Then I slowly saw that not only was I not free, but my brothers and sisters were not free. I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, but the freedom of everyone who looked like I did. That is when I joined the African National Congress, and that is when the hunger for my own freedom became the greater hunger for the freedom of my people. The chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me. It was during these long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor much be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.
When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.I

漫漫自由路
我渐渐发现不光是我失去了自由，我的兄弟姐妹也失去了自由。 不光我的自由被大打折扣，看起来和我一样所有其他人的自由都被大打折扣。在我加入非洲国民大会的时候，也就是当我从追求个人的自由转变为追求人民的自由的时候。加于每一个人身上的枷锁，就是加于全体人民身上的；加于全体人民身上的枷锁就是加于我身上的枷锁。正是在那些漫长而又孤独的岁月里，我从为我自己的民族斗争转变成为全体的人民——白人和黑人，追求自由的奋斗。我深知正如其他事情一样，压迫者和被压迫者同样必须得到解放。
当我步出监狱的时候，我就把解放被压迫者以及压迫者视为我的使命。有人说这使命已经完成，但我知道并非如此，事实上我们并没有获得自由，我们只是获得争取自由的自由，获得了不被压迫的自由，我们的征程才刚刚开始，我们刚刚踏出这艰苦而又漫长的征程的第一步。在通往自由的道路上我走了很久。我努力不让自己止步。在这条路上我也曾迷失过，但我却发现了一个秘密，就是当爬过一座高山后，才发现原来还有更多的山要攀登，我只是在这里稍加歇息，看一看身边的美好风景，回顾一下自己所走过的路，但我只能稍作停留，因为随着自由而来的还有责任，我不敢逗留，漫长的旅途还未到尽头。I

A Reason, Season, or Lifetime
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. Sometimes they die. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. Your need has been answered, and now it is time to move on.
When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.I

你生活中的人们
人们走进你的生活，或者是为了一个原因，或者他们只停留一段时期，或者他们永远与你相随。一旦明晓其中究竟，你就知道该如何面对他们了。
有的人出现在你的生活中是有原因的，通常他们填补了你流露出来的需要：帮你渡过难关，指点和支持你，切实地在情感上、精神上帮助你。他们出现是因为你需要他们。然后在一个你无可引咎而又不便的时候，这人说了什么或者做了什么令你们终止了友谊。有时候他们离你而去，有时候他们冒出歪理而逼得你要奋起反抗，有时候是因为他们逝世。我们必须认识到，自己的需要已经满足了，愿望已经实现了，他们的工作也就完成了。你的需要得到了回应，接着的是要继续前行。
有的人在你的生活中只会停留一段时期，那是因为你到了这样的一个时候：成长、学习，并和别人一起分享你的世界。他们让你体会平和，也让你欢笑。他们可能也教会你做一些从没做过的事情。他们常能给你带来无数欢乐。相信这一点！这是真的！可这，只能维持一段时间。
持续一生的情谊将令你终生受益；一点一滴地努力吧，建造一个坚不可摧的感情基础。你要做的只是去接受经验，对一生相随的人付出关爱，并将你所学到应用到生命中的其他关系和方方面面中。爱情令人盲目，而友谊能醍醐灌顶，据说如此。I

我和我的大提琴
六年前，我已是35岁的人了，心里却突然产生一种浪漫却又无法减弱的冲动，我把这种冲动比作电影《教父》里热烈的一幕。不过，激起我这种想法的，不是西西里岛上的少女，而是提琴家族中外形优美的后裔——大提琴。我立刻租了一具厚胶合板制作的大提琴，然后来到音乐教授温德尔·马格瑞夫面前。那是冬天的事。“你想拉得多好就可以有多好，”马格瑞夫的话说得很玄妙。他在一张纸上画出五线谱，标上E和F两个音调符。他向我示范手指应放在琴颈的什么部位，怎样运弓。然后，他在记事簿上记下我的姓名：星期二上午10时。一个又一个星期二过去，很快就到了春天。
我就是这样开始了从无知驶向梦想的航行。我们当中有谁没做过这样的梦？谁没拿起过朋友的吉他而感觉到其中所藏着的妙歌仙曲？谁没有思忖着自己能否学会演奏《月光》奏鸣曲，哪怕是开头容易的那部分？再次有个老师真是再好不过了。E——F，E——F，我们一起拉，然后移到G调。这是一段愉快的时光。我再次有了变化，变得不再深陷在已成形的自我里了。当然，中年人最不愿承认的，就是自己已经错过了能改变的时候。噢，我们也改变——变变色拉的调料，换换互惠基金——但我们自己并无变化。我们做已经会做的事情，拉大提琴是我显然不会做的事情，不过，每星期二，我多少总得学会一点。没有人看我拉琴，这是件好事。午夜时分，我在城里住宅的楼上房间里，经常拉阿尔温·舒罗德的《大提琴基本练习曲170首》，从敞开的窗户传出长时间折磨人的练习曲片段，和猫的抗议声混在一起。看不见过路人，但闻其脚步声好奇地停下，然后又匆匆走开。在一个飘雪的夜晚，我乘公共汽车回家，在车上仔细阅读莫扎特C大调五重奏的总谱。我觉得乐谱在我手中突然变成了音乐。当时，我已多少能阅读总谱，小声哼着大提琴的调子，突然，那五个部分如花一般很和谐地在我脑中开放。坐在我对面的人盯着我看。我迎着他的目光时，眼里含着泪，这的确是我第一次在心中听到了音乐。也许他也能听到？不，他第二站就下车了。
时间一年年地过去，我女儿已是十几岁的少女，成长为熟练的青年钢琴手。我的目标是有朝一天能和女儿一起演奏。我还向往能同像我一样的音乐爱好者们在公共场所演奏，而且有人在暗中羡慕我。我继续练琴、演奏，但情形和从前大不一样了。结果是，幻想在实现后魅力大减。从前我听到大提琴，觉得那声音是美丽和光彩的组合。现在，电视镜头放出罗斯特罗波维奇的面部特写时，我发现他那充满魅力的笑脸其实是坚定决心的面具。即使对他来说，大提琴也是难以驾驭的乐器——它对雄心万丈的人也一样铁面无情。我拿起我的大提琴，拧紧弓毛，再一次悠扬地奏起《夜色美丽》，颤音仍然颤抖如同不平衡的轮胎。以前我想拉一手好琴，现在我已做到了，我和我想的一样好。这就已经够了。I

The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble
Within the memory of the youngest child there was a family of rabbits who lived near a pack of wolves. The wolves announced that they did not like the way the rabbits were living. (The wolves were crazy about the way they themselves were living, because it was the only way to live.) One night several wolves were killed in an earthquake and this was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that rabbits pound on the ground with their hind legs and cause earthquakes. On another night one of the wolves was killed by a bolt of lightning and this was also blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that lettuce-eaters cause lightning. The wolves threatened to civilize the rabbits if they didn't behave, and the rabbits decided to run away to a desert island. But the other animals, who lived at a great distance, shamed them, saying, "You must stay where you are and be brave. This is no world for escapists. If the wolves attack you, we will come to your aid, in all probability." So the rabbits continued to live near the wolves and one day there was a terrible flood which drowned a great many wolves. This was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that carrot-nibblers with long ears cause floods. The wolves descended on the rabbits, for their own good, and imprisoned them in a dark cave, for their own protection.
When nothing was heard about the rabbits for some weeks, the other animals demanded to know what had happened to them. The wolves replied that the rabbits had been eaten and since they had been eaten the affair was a purely internal matter. But the other animals warned that they might possibly unite against the wolves unless some reason was given for the destruction of rabbits. So the wolves gave them one. "They were trying to escape," said the wolves, "and, as you know, this is no world for escapists."I

肇事的兔子
在最小的孩子还记得的那个时候，在狼群的附近居住着兔子一家。狼们公开宣布，他们不喜欢兔子的生活方式。（狼对自己的生活方式推崇之至，因为这是唯一可行的生活方式。）一天晚上，几只狼在地震中死亡。这件事是兔子的责任，因为众所周知，兔子用两条腿蹬地，造成了地震。另一个晚上，一只狼被雷电劈毙，这件事也怪罪于兔子，因为众所周知，雷电是由吃莴苣的动物引发的。狼威胁说，如果兔子继续为非作歹，它们将施以管教。兔子决定逃到一个荒岛上去。但是其它住在远处的动物奚落它们说：“你们必须守住阵脚，要勇敢。这个世界决没有逃避主义者的容身之地。如果狼攻击你们，我们多半会来相助。”于是兔子继续在狼群附近生活。有一天，发生了一场可怕的洪水，许多狼被淹死。责任怪罪到兔子头上，因为众所周知，长耳朵并小口小口吃胡萝卜的动物会引起洪水。为了自己着想，狼对它们下手了，把它们关在黑洞里进行保护。
由于连续几星期没有听到兔子的消息，其它动物要求知道它们的行踪。狼回答说兔子已经被吃了；既然已经吃到肚里，此事就纯属内政。但其它动物警告说，除非有消灭兔子的正当理由，不然它们可能团结起来，一致对狼。于是，狼给了它们一条理由。“它们企图逃走”，狼说。“你们也知道，这个世界决没有逃避主义者的容身之地。”I

What I Have Lived For
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy, ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness-that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what-at last-I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I can't, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.I

有三种简单然而无比强烈的激情左右了我的一生：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难的难以忍受的怜悯。这些激情像飓风，反复地吹拂过深重的苦海，濒于绝境。
我寻找爱，首先是因为它使人心醉神迷——这种陶醉是如此的美妙，使我愿意牺牲所有的余生去换取几个小时这样的欣喜。我寻找爱，还因为它解除孤独——在可怕的孤独中，一颗颤抖的灵魂从世界的边缘看到冰冷、无底、死寂的深渊。最后，我寻找爱，还因为在爱的交融中，神秘而又具体细微地，我看到了圣贤和诗人们想象出的天堂的前景。这就是我所寻找的，而且，虽然对人生来说似乎过于美妙，这也是我终于找到了的。
以同样的激情我探索知识。我希望能够理解人类的心灵。我希望能够知道群星为何闪烁。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的数字力量，它支配着此消彼涨。仅在不大的一定程度上，我达到了此目的。
爱和知识，只要有可能，通向着天堂。但是怜悯总把我带回尘世。痛苦呼喊的回声回荡在我的内心。忍饥挨饿的孩子，惨遭压迫者摧残的受害者，被儿女们视为可憎的负担的无助的老人，连同这整个充满了孤独、贫穷和痛苦的世界，使人类所应有的生活成为了笑柄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，而且我自己也在忍受折磨。
这就是我的一生。我发现它值得一过。如果再给我一次机会，我会很高兴地再活它一次。I

Hawk Roosting
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.
The convenience of the high trees!
The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray
Are of advantage to me;
And the earth's face upward for my inspection.
My feet are locked upon the rough bark.
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly —
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads —
The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:
The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.I

栖息之鹰
我栖息在树端，双眼紧闭。
在我如钩般的头与爪之间的身体：
纹丝不动，无梦无息
或在熟睡中演练完美的猎杀和啄食。
高枝予我以便利！
空气的浮力与太阳的光辉
成就了我的优势；
地球上的一切都在接受我的检阅。
我的双爪紧紧抓住粗糙的树皮。
万物之主造就了我
我的利爪，以至于每一根羽毛：
如今，万物尽在我的掌握之中。
或者一飞冲天，慢慢盘旋——
兴之所至，手到擒来，因为一切都是我的。
我的躯体里没有别的念头：
我的主旨就是撕开猎物的头颅——
生死由我掌控。
我飞翔的目的清晰而唯一
直扑猎物，粉身碎骨。
我的权利不容争辩：
上帝护佑着我。
从一开始，就没有任何改变。
我不允许任何改变。
一切如常，一如既往。I

On beauty
关于美
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
如果美不以自身为途径，为向导，你们又到哪里去找她，又怎么能找到她呢？如果她不是你们言语的编织者，你们又如何能谈论她呢？
The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
伤心痛苦者说：“美是善良而温柔的。她像一位因自己的荣耀而半含羞涩的年轻母亲，走在我们的身边。”
And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread. Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."
热情奔放者说：“不，美是强烈而令人惊畏的。她如暴风雨般震动我们脚下的大地，摇撼我们头上的天空。”
The tired and the weary say, "Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."
疲惫怠倦者说：“美是温柔的低语，她在我们的心中诉说。她的声音波动在我们的沉默中，犹如一道微弱的光在对阴影的恐惧中颤抖。”
But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains, and with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."
但活泼好动者说：“我们曾听到她在山谷中大声呼叫，随其呐喊而来的是足蹄踏地、翅膀拍击和雄狮怒吼的声音。”
At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
夜晚，城市的守夜人说：“美将与晨光一同从东方升起。”
And at noon-time the toilers and the wayfarers say, "We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."
正午，辛勤劳作者和长途跋涉者说：“我们曾看到她透过黄昏之窗眺望大地。”
In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
严冬，困在风雪中的人说：“她将与春同至，雀跃于山峦之间。”
And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."
酷暑，收割庄稼的人说：“我们曾看到她与秋叶共舞，雪花点缀于她的发梢。”
All these things have you said of beauty, yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, and beauty is not a need but an ecstasy. It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, but rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted. It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears. It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, but rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
你们谈到关于美的所有这些，实际并非关于她本身，而是关于你们未被满足的需求，但美并不是一种需求，而是 心醉神迷的欣喜。她不是焦渴的唇，也不是伸出的空空的手，而是一颗燃烧的心，一个充满喜悦的灵魂。她不是你们想看到的形象，也不是你们想听到的歌声，而是 你们闭上眼睛看到的形象，堵住耳朵听到的歌声。她不是伤残树皮下的树液，也不是悬在利爪下的翅膀。而是一座鲜花永远盛开的花园，一群永远在天空飞翔的天使。
Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
当生命摘去遮盖她圣洁面容的面纱时，美就是生命。I