精美英文欣赏:沙子与石头

The story goes that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

话说两个好朋友正在穿越一个沙漠。途中他们忽然争吵了起来，其中一个一巴掌扇在另外一个人的脸上。

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."

被扇的那个人受了伤害，但他一句话也没有说，只是在沙子上写道：“今天我最要好的朋友打了我一个耳光。”

They kept on walking until they found an oasis¹, where they decided² to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire³ and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

他们继续走下去，后来发现了一片绿洲，他们于是决定洗个澡。先前被打的那个人这时不小心陷入了一个泥潭里面，差点被淹死了，幸运的是他的朋友把他给救了出来。

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

他苏醒过来后，立刻在一块石头上写道：“今天我最要好的朋友救了我一命。”

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?"

扇过他耳光又救过他性命的朋友于是问他说：“我打了你之后你在沙子上写字，而现在你却在石头上写，为什么呢？”

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in the sand where winds of forgiveness can erase⁴ it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave⁵ it in a stone where no wind can ever erase it."

写字的那个人回答说：“当我们被别人伤害了之后，我们应该把它写在沙子上，那样，宽容的风就很快就会将其抹去，但当我们受到别人的帮助之后，我们必须将它刻在石头上，那样，风就不会轻易把它磨灭。”

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

学会将你所受到的伤害写在沙子上，把别人给你的帮助记在石头上。

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.

人们常说发掘一个特别的人需要一分钟，欣赏一个人需要一个小时，爱上一个人需要一整天，但忘记一个人却需要你一生的时间。

Send this phrase to the people you'll never forget. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.

将这句话发给你永远不会忘怀的人吧，让他们知道你将永远把他们放在心上。

1 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 mire   

n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境

参考例句：

• I don't want my son's good name dragged through the mire.我不想使我儿子的名誉扫地。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

4 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

5 engrave   

vt.（在...上）雕刻，使铭记，使牢记

参考例句：

• It is difficult to engrave in marble.在大理石上雕刻是困难的。
• The jeweller will engrave the inside of the ring with her name.珠宝匠将在戒指的内表面上刻上她的名字。