一個簡單的動作

A SIMPLE GESTURE

Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”

【日積月累】

◇generate v. 產生，導致，發生

◇trip v. 失足，絆倒

◇bat n. 球棒

◇scatter v. 散布，布滿；使……四散；分散

◇locker n. 衣物柜

【參考譯文】

一個簡單的動作

每個人都可以成為偉大的人……因為任何人都可以為他人效勞。為他人服務，你不要大學文憑，不需要語法無誤。你需要的僅是滿心的仁慈，還有愛心鑄成的靈魂。

——馬丁·路德·金

一天，馬克在放學回家的路上發現前面有個男孩絆了一跤，拿著的所有書，還有毛衣、棒球球拍、手套和小錄音機全掉地上了。馬克蹲下身幫男孩撿東西。因為順路，所以馬克幫他拿著。一起走的時候，馬克知道了那個男孩叫比爾，喜歡電動游戲、棒球和歷史，但他其他科目成績都不好，還剛和女朋友分了手。

他們先到比爾家。馬克被請進去喝可樂、看電視。那個下午過得很愉快，他們說了不少話，時不時還笑了起來。之后馬克就回家了。他們在學校也繼續見面，一起吃過一兩次飯，后來兩人都從那個初中畢了業，又進入了同一個高中，幾年里有過幾次短暫的交流。最后期待已久的高三到了，在畢業的三周前，比爾問馬克是否能談一談。

比爾提起多年前他們初次見面的那天。比爾問：“你想過為什么那天我要拿那么多東西嗎？我清空了我的柜子，因為我不要給別人留下一個爛攤子。我偷偷拿了一些我媽的安眠藥，正打算回家自殺。但是在我們待在一起說說笑笑之后，我發現如果自殺了，我將錯過和你度過的那段時間還有其他可能到來的經歷。所以，馬克，當你那天幫我撿起書時，你撿起的不僅僅是書，你還救了我的命。”

【人生啟迪】

子曰：“勿以善小而不為。”但是在現實生活中，我們卻常常認為諸如讓座這樣的小忙過于稀疏平常，而不肯出手。其實，一個在你看來微不足道的一個小忙，可能對對方來說卻無比重要。請隨時準備伸出你的援助之手吧。