如果你的夢想夠遠大

If your dream is big enough

A school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids from my window as they played basketball. One day, a little girl caught my attention. She seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys. Running circles around the other kids, she managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net with no one to stop her. Sometimes, I saw her play alone. She would practice dribbling and shooting over and over again, until dark.

One day I asked her why she practiced so much. Without hesitation, she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is that I get a scholarship. I like to play basketball. If I can play basketball well enough, I can get a scholarship. My Daddy told me that if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” Then she smiled and ran towards the court to do practice.

I watched her through junior school and into high school. Every week, she led her varsity team to victory.

One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head cradled in her arms. I went over there and sat down beside her. Quietly I asked her what was wrong. “Oh, nothing,” she replied softly, “I am just too short.” The coach told her that at 5’5” she would probably never get to play for a top ranked college team —much less be offered a scholarship —so she should stop dreaming about college.

She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to play for a good college, and if she truly wanted a scholarship, nothing could stop her except one thing —her own attitude. He told her again, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”

The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was seen by a college recruiter, and was offered a full scholarship to a NCAA women’s basketball team. She was going to college, which she had dreamed of and worked toward for all those years.

It’s true: If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.

【助讀詞匯】

◇muscle v. 使勁行進

◇dribble v.運球

◇varsity n. 大學運動代表隊

◇recruiter n. 征兵人員，招聘人員

◇NCAA (美國)全國大學生體育協會(＝National Collegiate Athletic Association)

【參考譯文】

如果你的夢想夠遠大

我家街對面有所學校，我常常從窗戶往外看孩子們打籃球。有一天，一個小女孩引起了我的注意。她在一群男孩子中穿梭，看起來那么嬌小。她在男孩旁邊跑來跑去，沒人擋得住她，她越過他們的頭頂進行跳投。有時候，我會看見她一個人在打。她會一遍一遍地練習運球投籃直到天黑。

有一天，我問她為什么如此努力練習。她馬上回答說：“我想上大學。上大學的唯一一條路就是獲得獎學金。我喜歡打籃球。如果我打得夠好，我就能獲得獎學金。我爸爸告訴我：“如果你夢想夠遠大，現實都不足為掛。”說完，她笑著又跑回球場練習去了。

我看著她從初中升入高中。每周，她的球隊都在她帶領下取得勝利。

在她讀高三的那年，有一天我看見她坐在草坪上，雙臂抱著頭。我走過去，坐在她旁邊。我輕聲問她出什么事了。“噢，沒事，”她小聲回答說：“我太矮了。”教練告訴她五英尺五英寸的身高可能打不進重點大學的籃球隊——更不用說贏得獎學金了——所以叫她放棄上大學的夢想。

她很難過。當我感覺到她的失望，我的喉嚨有點哽咽。我問她是否跟她爸說過這事。她說爸爸告訴她這些教練都錯了。他們不懂夢想的力量。他跟她講如果她真想為一所好大學打籃球，如果她真想獲得獎學金，沒什么能阻擋她除了——她自己的態度。他又跟她說了一遍，“如果你的夢想夠偉大，現實就不足為掛。”

第二年，當她和她的球隊參加北加州冠軍賽時，她被一所大學的招生人員相中，獲得了全額獎學金，并進入美國全國大學體育協會中的一支女子籃球隊。她就要上大學去了，這些年來她一直夢寐以求并不懈努力的夢想。

“如果你夢想夠遠大，現實都不足為掛。”這話沒錯。

【人生啟迪】

有句耳熟能詳的廣告詞：“心有多大，舞臺就有多大。”夢想的大小決定你未來的大小。但是夢想只是那遠遠地燈塔，只有你不斷地努力才能抵達。