Sand and Stone 沙子和石头

 　　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.

　　两个朋友结伴穿越沙漠，旅途中二人突然吵了起来，其中一个掴了对方一记耳光。

　　The one who got slapped felt hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: Today my best friend slapped me in the face.

　　被打的人感到自己受了伤害，但什么也没有说，只是在沙地上写下了这样一句话：“今天我最好的朋友掴了我耳光。”

　　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.

　　他们继续前行，看见到处绿洲，他们正打算在那里洗澡时，刚才被打的人不小心陷入了泥潭，开始深陷，他的朋友救了他。

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

　　等他从几近淹死的边缘苏醒过来后，他在石头上刻下：“今天我最好的朋友救了我的命。”

　　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?

　　他的朋友问：“为什么我伤你之后，你在沙子上写字，现在却把字刻在石头上？”

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

　　他回答道：“当有人伤害了我们，我们应该把它写进沙里，宽恕的风会把仇恨抹去。而当有人为我们做了好事，我们应当把它刻在石头上，没有风可以将它抹去。”

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。