幸福就在身邊

李起/編譯

當我們把5歲的瑪麗推進MRI（核磁共振成像）掃描室時，我試圖想象著她一定會有的感受。她因身患中風導致偏癱，被送往醫院作腦瘤的治療，而且她近來失去了父親、母親以及她的家庭。我們都想知道瑪麗會有怎樣的反應。

她極為配合地進入核磁共振成像掃描機，于是我們開始檢查。檢查的時候，每次成像的一系列過程，都要求病人一直保持平靜，時間大約是5分鐘。對每個人來說，這將是難以做到的——對一個遭受如此多痛苦的5歲孩子而言也定是如此。我們正在拍攝她頭部的影像，因此她面部的任何動作，包括講話，都能導致影像失真。

進入檢查第一階段大約2分鐘時，我們在錄像顯示器中注意到瑪麗的嘴在動。通過內部通話系統，我聽到輕微的聲音。我們暫停檢查，并溫和地提醒瑪麗不要講話。她微笑著，答應不講話。

我們調整機器，重新開始檢查。我們再一次看到她面部的活動，并且聽到她微弱的聲音。但聽不清她說的什么。每個人都有點不耐煩了。

我們又探進身去，讓她從機器中滑出來。她再一次尷尬地笑笑，看著我們，絲毫沒有不高興的表情。技術專家的態度可能有點生硬：“瑪麗，你又講話了，那會使影像不清晰的。”

瑪麗依然笑著回答：“我沒有講話，我是在唱歌。你們說過不能講話。”我們彼此看了看，感到有點兒荒唐。

“你唱的什么歌？”有人問他。

“《基督愛我》。”她的回答勉強能聽得見，“我幸福的時候總是唱《基督愛我》。”

房間里的每個人都不知道說什么好。幸福？這個小姑娘怎么會幸福呢？我和技術專家因為快要流淚了，不得不離開房間一會兒，以恢復鎮靜。

從那天以后，許多次在我對生活的某些方面感到焦慮、不悅或不滿時，都想到了瑪麗，覺得自己既自卑又得到了啟發。她的事例使我明白了幸福是一件奇妙的禮物——每個愿意接受它的人都可以擁有。

［編譯自美國《心靈雞湯》］

The Crooked Smile

By James C. Brown， M.D.

As we rolled five-year-old Mary into the MRI room， I tried to imagine what she must be feeling. She had suffered a stroke that left half of her body paralyzed， had been hospitalized for treatment of a brain tumor， and had recently lost her father， her mother and her home. We all wondered how Mary would react.

She went into the MRI machine without the slightest protest， and we began the exam. At that time， each imaging sequence required the patient to remain perfectly still for about five minutes. This would have been difficult for anyone—and certainly for a five-year-old who had suffered so much. We were taking an image of her head， so any movement of her face， including talking， would result in image distortion.

About two minutes into the first sequence， we noticed on the video monitor that Mary誷 mouth was moving. We heard a muted voice over the intercom. We halted the exam and gently reminded Mary not to talk. She was smiling and promised not to talk.

We reset the machine and started over. Once again we saw her facial movement and heard her voice faintly. What she was saying wasn’t clear. Everyone was becoming a little impatient.

We went back in and slid Mary out of the machine. Once again， she looked at us with her crooked smile and wasn誸 upset in the least. The technologist， perhaps a bit gruffly， said， “ Mary， you were talking again， and that causes blurry pictures.”

Mary誷 smile remained as she replied， “I wasn誸 talking. I was singing. You said no talking.” We looked at each other， feeling a little silly.

“what were you singing?” someone asked.

“‘Jesus Loves Me’，” came the barely perceptible reply. “I always sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ when I’m happy.”

Everyone in the room was speechless. Happy? How could this little girl be happy? The technologist and I had to leave the room for a moment to regain our composure as tears began to fall.

Many times since that day， when feeling stressed， unhappy or dissatisfied with some part of my life， I have thought of Mary and felt both humbled and inspired. Her example made me see that happiness is a marvelous gift—free to anyone willing to accept it.