Discovery in a Thunderstorm

雷雨中的醒悟

Many years ago I was on a bicycle trip through some exceedinglypicturesquecountryside. Suddenly, dark clouds piledup overhead and rain began to fall, but strange to relate, several hundred yards ahead of me the sun shone brilliantly. Pedaling, however, as rapidly as I could, I found it impossible to get into the clear. The clouds with their rain kept advancing faster than I could race forward. I continued this unequalcontest for an exhausting half hour, before realizing that I could not win my way to the bright area ahead of me.

多年前，我曾騎著自行車從一片風景如畫的郊野中穿過。突然，烏云密布，大雨滂沱，然而令人驚奇的是，在前方幾百碼的地方卻是陽光燦爛。我蹬著車使勁往前沖，卻發現怎么也到不了那片陽光普照之地。烏云夾著大雨比我沖得還快。半小時后，精疲力盡的我停止了這場不公平的抗爭，意識到自己根本無法到達那片晴朗的天地。

Then it dawned upon me that I was wasting my strength in unimportant hurry, while paying no attention whatsoeverto the landscape for the sake of which I was making the trip. The storm could not last forever and the discomfort was not unendurable. Indeed, there was much to look at which might otherwise have escaped me. As I gazed about with sharpened appreciation, I saw colors and lines and contours that would have appeared differently under brilliant light. The rain mists which now crowned the wooded hills and the fresh clearness of the different greens were entrancing. My annoyance at the rain was gone and my eagerness to escape it vanished. It had provided me with a new view and helped me understand that the sources of beauty and satisfaction may be found close at hand within the range of one’s own sensibilities.

頓時，我豁然開朗，我在毫不重要的事情上疲于奔波，卻不曾欣賞途中的景致，忘記了自己旅行的目的。暴風雨不會永不停息，任何不適也并非難以容忍。的確，我差點錯過了途中許多美好的景致。我滿懷感激地凝望著眼前的景色，此刻所見的色彩、線條和輪廓比起陽光下別有一番風味。樹木繁茂的山上，煙雨朦朧；別樣的綠樹清新明朗，令人神迷。大雨帶給我的煩惱頓時消散，想要逃離的欲望也不復存在。相反，它帶給我一種全新的視覺景觀，讓我懂得美與滿足就源自于我們身邊，只要細心發現便能唾手可得。

It made me think, then and later, about other matters to which this incident was related. It helped me realize that there is no sense in my attempting ever to flee from circumstances and conditions which cannot be avoided but which I might bravely meet and frequently mend and often turn to good account. I know that half the battle is won if I can face trouble with courage, disappointment with spirit, and triumph with humility. It has become ever clearer to me that danger is far from disaster, that defeat may be the forerunner of final victory, and that, in the last analysis, all achievementis perilously fragile unless based on enduring principles of moral conduct.

這次經歷從此也引導著我去思考相關的事物。它讓我明白，對于無法避免的環境與條件，企圖逃避毫無意義，但我可以勇敢面對它們，并常常對其進行修整與改善。我知道，只要勇敢地面對困難、失望而不沮喪，成功而不驕傲，那我們的人生之戰便取得了一半的勝利。我也更清楚地意識到，危險遠非災難，而失敗也許就是最終勝利的先行者。因此，歸根結底，一切成就如果不經受道德準則的考驗，就會脆弱不堪，危機重重。

I have learned that trying to find a carefree world somewhere far off involves me in an endless chase in the course of which the opportunity for happiness and the happiness of attainmentare all too I often lost in the chase itself. It has become apparent to me that I cannot wipeout the pains of existence by denying them, blaming them largely or completely on others, or running away from them.

我已經明白，當自己無休止地追尋，試圖在遙遠之地尋找一個無憂無慮的世界時，也常常會在追尋中錯過獲得幸福與成就的機會。顯然，拒絕承認生存的痛苦，將它們多數或全部歸咎于他人，或者逃避，都無法將它消除。

The elements of weakness which mark every person cannot absolve me from the burdens and blessings of responsibility for myself and to others. I can magnify but never lessen my problems by ignoring, evading or exorcising them. I believe that my perplexities and difficulties can be considerably resolved, if not completely overcome, by my own attitudes and actions. I am convinced that there can be no guarantee of my happiness except that I help evoke and enhance it by the work of my hands and the dictates of my heart and the direction of my striving. I believe that deep faith in God is necessary to keep me and hold mankind uncowed and confident under the vagaries and ordeals of mortal experience, and particularly so in this period of revolutionarystorm and travail. If my values receive their sanction and strength from relationship to divine law and acceptance of its ethicalimperatives, then nothing can really harm me. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

每個人都有不足之處，但我為自己與他人排憂解難和祈求祝福的責任并不能因此免除。我可以將問題放大，卻絕不會為縮小問題而忽視、逃避或求助神靈。我相信，通過自己的態度與行為就可解決我的疑惑與難題，即使無法克服全部。我確信，要想使幸福有所保障，接受心靈的指引，就必須靠自己的雙手，朝著目標努力奮斗，去創造并積累幸福。我相信，若想在人世間的變幻莫測與嚴酷考驗中，特別是當今革命風暴的艱難時刻，保持無所畏懼與信心十足，就必須對上帝保持虔誠的信仰。如果我的價值觀能從其與神律的聯系和倫理要求的承諾中獲得支持與力量，那任何事物都無法給我造成真正的傷害。“耶和華是我的牧者，我將一無所求。”

更多內容》》》英語頻道

我要報班》》英語學習課程

（實習編輯：劉偉）