Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

 

好几次了,我女儿打电话来说：“妈妈，你务必得在那些水 仙花凋谢之前来看看它们。”我是想去，可从拉古娜到箭头湖要开两个小时的车。

“I will come next Tuesday,” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

“那我下周二去吧。”在她第三次打来电话时，我极不情愿 地答应道。

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there.

到了那个周二，清晨很冷又下着雨，不过既然答应了， 我还是开车去了。

When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said,

等我终于到了卡罗琳家，拥抱问候过我的外 孙们，说:

“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”

“卡罗琳，别想那水仙了！天阴又有雾，路都看不清。 这世上除了你和这些孩子，没有什么能让我为想去看他们再开一 步车了！ ”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, mother.”

女儿平静地笑着说：“妈妈，我们一直都在这种天气里开车 的呀！ ”

“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“那反正你甭想让我再开车上路了，除非天晴了，然后我就 直接开车回家！ ”我重申道。

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“我本来指望你能开车捎我去修车厂取我的车呢！ ”

“How far will we have to drive?”

“我们得开多远啊？ ”

“Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive, I’m used to this.”

“就几条街，”卡罗琳说，“我来开，反正我习惯了这种天气。”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!”“We ‘re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

过了几分钟，我不得不问：“我们这是去哪儿啊？这不是去修车厂的路啊！ ”卡罗琳笑了，“我们要去的那个修车厂很远， 要经过水仙花。”

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.”

“卡罗琳，”我严厉地说，“请你掉头回去。”

“It’s all right, mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

“没事的，妈妈，我保证。如果你错过了这次经历，你永远不会原谅自己的。”

After about 20 minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, “Daffodil Garden.”

大概过了 20分钟，我们转到了一条碎石小路上，我看到一个小教堂。在教堂的稍远一侧，我看见一个手写的牌子，上面写着：“水仙花园”。

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

我们走下车，一人领着一个孩子。我跟着卡罗琳顺小道而行， 转到小道的一角，我抬头一看，惊住了。

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

在我面前是极为壮观的 景象，看上去仿佛有人把一大缸金子倾倒下来，覆盖了峰顶和山 坡。那些花栽种成宏伟的漩涡图案——宽宽窄窄的条纹有很多颜 色，有深橘、白、柠檬黄、橙红、番红和乳黄。每种不同色系的 多种颜色种植为一组，这样看上去每组都用自己独特的色调一圈 圈地在自己的河流中流淌。那有五亩花。

“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.

“这是谁种的呢？”我问卡罗琳。

Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in nidst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

“就一个女人，”卡罗琳回答，“她就以这片花为生。那是 她的家。”卡罗琳指着一个整修得很好的A字形房子，在一片 壮丽的景象当中，这房子看起来小而朴素。我走到房子跟前’ 在院子里，我看到一张海报，标题是“答案-我知道你要问的这些问题”。

The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read.

第一个答案很简单，写着：“50，000株”。

The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.”

第二个答案是：“一次种一株，一个女人，两只手，两只脚，不需多动脑”

The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

第三个答案是：“开始于1958年”

There it was. The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than 35 years before, had begun—one bulb at a time—to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.

这就是“水仙定律”。对于我，那一刻是一次改变生活的经历。我在琢磨这个我从未谋面的女人，她，在35年前，开始一次种一株——给她自己带来了美的景象和花满山顶的快乐。

Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

就这样一次种一株，年复一年，这个不知名的女人永远地 改变了她所居住的世界，她创造了无法形容的壮丽、美好和感动。

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is , learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time—often just one baby-step at a time—and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.

在这个水仙花园中得出的定律是值得庆祝的最伟大的定律 之一。那就是，懂得向我们的目标迈进，只求一步一个脚印——懂通常一次就一小步——懂得去热爱正在做的事，懂得利用时间的 积累。

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magenificent things. We can change the world.

当我们把时间的碎片叠加，再加上每天的一点努力，我们 会发现我们也能成就辉煌。我们也能改变这个世界。

It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

“这让我在某种意义上有点丧气。”我跟卡罗琳说，“如果我 35年前有一个宏伟的目标，然后也像这样，次种一株’地做 下去，这些年我会有什么成就呢？想想我到底能做成什么！ ”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

女儿直截了当地总结了那天的收获。她说：“从明天开始。”