有時(shí)候阻礙我們前行的不是恐懼本身,而是我們對(duì)恐懼的恐懼。如果能克服內(nèi)心的障礙,勇敢前行,我相信每個(gè)人的潛力都是很大的。相信自己,勇者無(wú)懼。
It must have been eight or nine when I read this story. I never forgot its horror.
我看到這個(gè)故事時(shí)只有八九歲。打那以后,我一想起這個(gè)故事就毛骨悚然。
Ivan was a timid little man---so timid that the villages called him “Pigeon” or mocked him with the title “Ivan the Terrible.”
伊萬(wàn)是一個(gè)膽小如鼠的小個(gè)子男人,他的膽子太小了,所以村子里人都叫他“膽小鬼”,或者嘲諷的成他為“怕死鬼伊萬(wàn)”。
Every night Ivan stopped in at the tavern which was one the edge of the village graveyard. Ivan never crossed the graveyard to get to his lonely shack on the other side. That path would save many minutes, but he had never taken it---not even in the full light of noon.
每天晚上,伊萬(wàn)都要到村字墓地邊上的那個(gè)小酒店去,但每次從酒店回到他在墓地另一邊那做孤伶伶的小木屋時(shí),他都不會(huì)從墓地當(dāng)中穿過(guò)來(lái)。雖然走那條路可以節(jié)省好多時(shí)間,他卻從來(lái)沒(méi)走過(guò)。即使在陽(yáng)光最明亮的大白天,他也沒(méi)有走過(guò)。
Late one winter’s night, when bitter wind and snow beat against the tavern, customers took up the familiar mockery. Ivan’s mother was scared by a canary when she carried him in her womb. “Ivan the Terrible---Ivan the Timid One.”
一個(gè)冬天的深夜,寒風(fēng)呼嘯,風(fēng)夾著雪花不停的拍打著小酒館。酒館里的客人們又聊起了那個(gè)老話題,對(duì)伊萬(wàn)進(jìn)行嘲弄:伊萬(wàn)他媽媽在懷它的時(shí)候給一只金絲雀給嚇著了,“怕死鬼伊萬(wàn);膽小鬼伊萬(wàn)。”
Ivan’s weak protest only encouraged them, and they jeered cruelly when the Cossack captain flung his horrid challenge at their victim.
伊萬(wàn)軟弱無(wú)力的抗議只能是他們更來(lái)勁兒,更加肆無(wú)忌憚的嘲弄他。這時(shí),酒館的那個(gè)哥薩克老板又極不友好的向伊萬(wàn),這個(gè)他們捉弄的對(duì)象,發(fā)出了挑釁。
“You are a pigeon, Ivan. You’ll walk around the graveyard in this cold---but you dare not cross it.” Ivan murmured, “The graveyard is nothing to cross, Captain. It is nothing but earth, like all the other earth.”
“你是一個(gè)膽小鬼,伊萬(wàn)。在這樣一個(gè)大冷天,你也只敢繞遠(yuǎn)路,繞著墓地走回家;就是不敢穿過(guò)去。”伊萬(wàn)喃喃的說(shuō):“穿過(guò)墓地也沒(méi)什么意思,老板。那里只有泥土,和其他地方的泥土沒(méi)什么兩樣。”
The captain cried, “A challenge, then! Cross the graveyard tonight, Ivan, and I’ll give you five rubles---five gold rubles!”
老板大聲吼道:“好吧!來(lái)一次挑戰(zhàn)怎么樣?伊萬(wàn),今天晚上你穿過(guò)墓地走回去,我就給你5個(gè)金盧布; 5個(gè)金盧布!”