Four Seasons of a Tree　一棵樹的四季

Four Seasons of a Tree　一棵樹的四季

◎ Assalam Walaikum

Don’t judge a life by one difficult season.

不要只在某人某段艱難的歲月里去判斷他的一生。

There was a man. He had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things to go and look at a pear tree that was far away.

從前有一個父親，他有四個兒子。他希望他的兒子們能學(xué)會凡事不要匆匆下結(jié)論，于是輪番派他們到很遠(yuǎn)的地方去尋一棵梨樹。

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, the youngest son in fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

大兒子在冬天前往去處，二兒子在春天啟程，三兒子在炎熱的夏季出發(fā)，而小兒子則是在秋天踏上了征程。等他們?nèi)记叭ゲ⒎导抑?，父親把他們叫到一起，聽他們各自描述自己所見到的情景。

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent and weak. The second son said no—it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son said it was laden with blossoms and they smelt so sweet and looked so beautiful. The last son disagreed with all of them, he said it was ripe and droop with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

大兒子數(shù)落說那棵樹很丑，枯槁殘缺，很難看。二兒子連忙否認(rèn)，說樹上長滿了嫩綠的新芽，生機(jī)盎然。老三說樹上明明開滿鮮花，香氣怡人，看起來十分漂亮。而小兒子不同意他們?nèi)说恼f法，他說，枝頭上墜滿了累累果實(shí)，彰顯著生機(jī)與收獲。

The man then said to his sons that they were all right, because they each had seen but only one season in the tree’s life. He told them that they cannot judge a tree or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are—the pleasure, the joy and love that come from that life—can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

父親就對兒子們解釋說，他們的說法都沒錯，因?yàn)樗麄兠總€人看到的，都只是大樹在四季中一個季節(jié)的情景。他告訴兒子們，不能單憑一個季節(jié)來判斷一棵樹的，更不能以一時(shí)來判斷一個人，因?yàn)槿说谋举|(zhì)——源于他們生命中的喜樂、興趣和愛——只有當(dāng)生命完結(jié)，人生畫上句點(diǎn)之時(shí)，才可蓋棺定論。

If you give up when it is winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, the fulfillment of your fall. Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

倘若你在冬季就已經(jīng)放棄，你就會錯過生命中春季的生機(jī)、夏季的美麗、秋季的豐收。別讓一季的痛苦毀滅了其他所有的喜樂。

超多雙語閱讀，盡在聽力課堂