英语小达人 427 Sand and Stone

 Sand and Stone 沙子与石头

The story goes that two friends were walking through the desert.  两个朋友结伴穿越沙漠，

During some point of the journey they had an argument,  旅途中二人突然吵了起来，

and one friend slapped the other one in the face. 其中一个掴了对方一记耳光。

The one who got slapped felt hurt, but without saying anything,  被打的人感到自己受了伤害，但什么也没有说，

wrote in the sand: Today my best friend slapped me in the face. 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.  他们继续前行，看见到处绿洲，他们正打算在那里洗澡时，

The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire³ and started drowning,  刚才被打的人不小心陷入了泥潭，开始深陷，

but the friend saved him. 他的朋友救了他。

After he recovered from the near drowning,  等他从几近淹死的边缘苏醒过来后，

he wrote on a stone: Today my best friend saved my life. 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,  他的朋友问：

After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write on a stone. Why? 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: When someone hurts us  他回答道：当有人伤害了我们，

we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase⁴ it away.  我们应该把它写进沙里，宽恕的风会把仇恨抹去。

But when someone does something good for us,  而当有人为我们做了好事，

we must engrave⁵ it in stone where no wind can ever erase it. 我们应当把它刻在石头上，没有风可以将它抹去。

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN 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,  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，

a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.  爱上一个人需要一整天，忘记一个人却需要你一生的时间。

Send this phrase to the people you'll never forget.  将这句话发给你永远不会忘怀的人吧，

It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them. 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。