Learn to Be Grateful

◎供稿：鄧 明

One day, two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend1)slappedthe other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”

They kept on walking until they found an2)oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the3)mireand started4)drowning,but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life.”

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you,you wrote in the sand and now you write on a stone. Why?”

The other friend replied, “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in the sand where winds of forgiveness can5)eraseit away. But when someone does something good for us, we must6)engraveit in a stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in the stone.

1) slap [sl?p] v.扇耳光

2) oasis [??'e?s?s] n. 綠洲

3) mire ['ma??(r)] n. 泥潭

4) drown [dra?n] n. 淹死

5) erase [?'re?z] vt. 抹去

6) engrave [?n'gre?v] vt. 雕刻，銘記

參考譯文

一天，兩個好朋友正在穿越一個沙漠。途中他們忽然爭吵了起來，其中一個一巴掌扇在另外一個人的臉上。被扇的那個人受了傷害，但他一句話也沒有說，只是在沙子上寫道：“今天我最要好的朋友打了我一記耳光。”他們繼續走下去，后來發現了一片綠洲，他們于是決定洗個澡。先前被打的那個人這時不小心陷入了一個泥潭里面，差點被淹死了，幸運的是他的朋友把他給救了出來。他蘇醒過來后，立刻在一塊石頭上寫道：“今天我最要好的朋友救了我一命。”扇過他耳光又救過他性命的朋友于是問他說：“我打了你之后你在沙子上寫字，而現在你卻在石頭上寫，為什么呢？”寫字的那個人回答說：“當我們被別人傷害了之后，我們應該把它寫在沙子上，那樣，寬容的風就很快就會將其抹去，但當我們受到別人的幫助之后，我們必須將它刻在石頭上，那樣，風就不會輕易把它磨滅。”

學會將你所受到的傷害寫在沙子上，把別人給你的幫助記在石頭上。