敘事抒情散文英語美文閱讀

　　Man Is Like a Fruit Tree by Elmer H. Bobst

　　人像一棵果樹 埃爾默.霍姆斯.博布斯特

　　Once, while taking my boat down the inland waterway to Florida, I decided to tie up at Georgetown, South Carolina, for the night and visit with an old friend. As we approached the Esso dock, I saw him through my binoculars standing there awaiting us. Tall and straight as an arrow he stood, facing a cold, penetrating wind - truly a picture of a sturdy man, even though in his eighties. Yes, the man was our elder statesman, Bernard Baruch.

　　He loaded us into his station wagon and we were off to his famous Hobcaw Barony for dinner. We sat and talked in the great living room where many notables and statesmen, including Roosevelt and Churchill, have sat and taken their cues. In his eighty-second year, still a human dynamo, Mr. Baruch talked not of the past but of present problems and the future, deploring our ignorance of history, economics and psychology. His only reference to the past was to tell me, with the wonderful sparkle in his eyes, that he was only able to get eight quail out of the ten shots the day before. What is the secret of this great man's value to the world? The answer is his insatiable desire to keep being productive.

　　有一次，我沿著內河獨自駕船前往佛羅里達州。到達南卡洛來納的喬治敦時，我決定靠岸過夜，順便去拜訪一位老朋友。船一進埃松港，我就從望遠鏡中看到他站在那里等我們。朋友高而挺拔的身影像一支箭一樣，站立在刺骨的寒風中，簡直一幅健壯男子漢的畫面，雖然畫面中人已年過八旬。沒錯，他就是我們的老一輩政治家，伯納德.巴魯克。

　　伯納德.巴魯克的旅行轎車載著我們，徑直駛向他那著名的霍布考大莊園用餐。我們就座談話的大客廳，曾有包括羅斯福和丘吉爾在內的許多貴客與政治家光臨，與他交談，傾聽他的意見。如今，巴魯克先生雖已82歲，卻依然活力充沛。他對過去緘口不提，只談論現(xiàn)在與將來的問題，并為我們對歷史學、經(jīng)濟學和心理學知識的匱乏而深表遺憾。他告訴我，昨天他只用10發(fā)子彈就射中了8只鵪鶉，這也是他提到的唯一一件“往事”。說話時，他的雙眼閃爍著令人愉快的光芒。這位偉大的人物對世界充滿價值的奧秘何在?答案就是他對成就一如既往的追求。

　　Another friend of mine, the head of one of our largest corporations, a great steel company, is approaching his middle seventies, and he is still a great leader. He, too, never talks of the past. Instead, he tackles the problems of each day in his stride, brims with plans for the future and, incidentally, shoots in the low seventies on any golf course. He is a happy man because he is productive.

　　Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently, I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables, talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity were the chief requisites for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased. When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.

　　我的另一位朋友領導著一家最大的公司——一個大鋼鐵公司。年近75歲的他，依然是位優(yōu)秀的領導者。他也從不談及往昔，而是游刃有余地處理著每天的問題，頭腦中想的滿是對未來的計劃。并且值得一提的是，70多歲的他，還會不時打打高爾夫球。他是個幸福的人，因為他有所成就。

　　人生在世最難完成的兩件事就是：用誠實的努力獲得財富，以及擁有財富后，學會如何正確地運用。最近，在一個相當知名的高爾夫俱樂部，我打完一輪球后走進衣帽間。當時已近黃昏，多數(shù)俱樂部成員都已經(jīng)回家。然而，六七位年過中旬的人依然坐在桌邊，漫無目的地閑聊著，喝得爛醉如泥。他們每天都是如此。令我無比驚奇的是，他們個個都曾是家財萬貫，事業(yè)成功，在圈內備受尊敬的人。如果幸福的首要因素是物質財富，那么他們每個人都應該很幸福。+但是，我想，對他們來說，某種非常重要的東西已經(jīng)失去了，不然他們又怎會逃避現(xiàn)實，每天用蘇打水和蘇格蘭威士忌將自己灌得爛醉如泥?他們明白，自己已經(jīng)無法突破現(xiàn)有的成就。一棵果樹若不再結果便會枯死，人也如此。

　　What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eyes while I was thumbing through my Bible. The words were few but they became indelibly impressed on my mind: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread."

　　To me that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections. In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight - have finished the course - I have kept the faith.

　　如何才能幸福長壽地生活在世上呢?我想，很早之前在翻閱《圣經(jīng)》時，我就找到了答案?！秳?chuàng)世紀》中有一段話引起了我的注意，它雖然簡短，卻在我腦海中留下了深刻的印象：“要想糊口，必要汗流滿面。”

　　對我而言，它是最初的記憶，也是始終的挑戰(zhàn)。實際上，對每個人來說，人生之役，生存之役，都是一種挑戰(zhàn)。圣.保羅不朽的教誨，也一直并將永遠鼓舞著我。但愿，在到達生命之途的終點時，我能夠認為自己打了漂亮的一仗，不僅走完了人生的旅程，而且一如既往地堅持著自己的信仰。