The Most Beautiful Heart最美的心

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming （宣稱）that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired （稱贊） his heart for it was prefect. There was not a mark or a flaw （瑕疵） in it. Yes， they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted （自吹自擂）more loudly about his beautiful heart.

一天，一位年輕人站在城鎮的中心，宣稱他的心在整個山谷中是最美麗的。圍觀的人有很多，他們都稱贊他的心的確是完美無缺的，沒有一點傷痕或者瑕疵。他們都一致認為這是他們見過的最美麗的心。這個年輕人非常自豪，更加起勁地大聲吹噓起來。

Suddenly， an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said， “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly， but full of scars.It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in， but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged（鋸齒狀的） edges. In fact， in some places there were deep gouges（溝壑） where whole pieces were missing.

突然，一位老者出現在人群前，說道：“我的心比你的更美麗。”大家都看著這位老人的心。這顆心有力地跳動著，布滿了傷痕，有些地方被挖走了，雖然又重新補上，但并不完全吻合，依然有很深的鋸齒狀印跡，有的地方甚至還有很深的溝壑，那里的整個部分完全沒有了。

The people stared——how can he say his heart is more beautiful? The young man looked at the old man’s heart， saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking.” He said. “Compare your heart with mine， mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

人們凝視著，心想——他怎么能說自己的心更美麗呢？年輕人看著老人的心，大笑

起來。“您在開玩笑吧，”他說，“與我的心相比，您的布滿了傷疤和裂痕，而我的是那么完美。”

“Yes，” said the old man， “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see， every scar represents （代表） a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them， and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart， but because the pieces aren’t exact， I have some rough edges， which I cherish （珍愛）， because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away， and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges——giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful， they stay open， reminding me of the love I have for these people too， and I hope some day they may return and fill the space in my heart. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

“是的，”老人說，“你的心看起來是很完美，但我絕不與你交換。你看，每一個傷疤都代表著我對別人的愛——我付出一份真情，他們常會回贈一份，填在我的空白處，由于不是完全吻合，傷口的邊緣就會留下傷疤。我非常珍惜這些傷疤，它們常使我想起我們共有的愛心。有時，我付出了真心，但卻沒有得到回報，因此就出現了這些溝壑——獻出愛心其實也是一種冒險。這些溝壑整日敞著，雖然很疼痛，卻讓我想起曾給予別人的愛。我希望有一天，他們能回來填補我心上的空白。現在，你明白什么是真正的美麗了吧？”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his checks. He walked up to the old man， reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart， and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling（顫抖的） hands.

年輕人默默地站著，眼淚順著臉頰流下來。他走到老人身旁，把手伸進自己完美年輕的心，撕下一片，顫抖著雙手獻給了這位老人。

The old man took his offering， placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit， but not perfectly， as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart， not perfect any more but more beautiful than ever， since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced（擁抱） and walked away side by side.

老人接受了他的饋贈，把它放在心上，然而，又掏出自己的一片年老而又傷痕累累的心，放進年輕人的心里。很合適，但不完全吻合，因此有一些傷疤，年輕人看著自己的心，雖然不在那么完美，卻比以前更美麗了，因為老人心中流淌出來的愛流進了他的心里。他們互相擁抱，然后并肩離開了。