禿鷹、蝙蝠和蜜蜂

The Buzzard, The Bat, and the Bee

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A bee if dropped into an open glass will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat and the bee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right there above them.

【助讀詞匯】

◇buzzard n. 禿鷹，美國紅頭鷲

◇pen n.（牛、羊、家禽等的）圈，圍欄

◇bat n. 蝙蝠

◇nimble  adj.靈敏的，靈活的，輕盈的

◇level adj. 平的，水平的

◇shuffle v. 拖步走，來回移動

◇frustration  n. 挫敗，挫折，失意

【參考譯文】

禿鷹、蝙蝠和蜜蜂

如果你把一只禿鷹放進一個六到八平方英尺的圍欄里，圍欄的頂部是空的，雖然鳥有飛的本領，可是這只禿鷹會變成一個絕對的囚犯。原因就是禿鷹在從地面起飛之前都會有一段10至12英尺的助跑，按照禿鷹的習慣，如果沒有足夠的空間助跑的話，它甚至都不會想到要試著去飛，而是會在這個沒有封頂的小監獄里當一輩子的囚犯。

普通的蝙蝠一般在晚上飛行，在空中行動非常敏捷，但是卻不能在平地上起飛。如果把它放在地板或者平地上，毫無疑問，它能做的就是痛苦而無助地徘徊，直到它找到一個稍稍有點高度的地方，它可以把自己扔進空中，它才會馬上像一道閃電一樣飛走。

如果一只蜜蜂掉進了一個開口的玻璃杯，除非有人把它拿出來，否則它就會待在那里直到死。它從來就沒有看到逃生的辦法就在頭頂，而是一直試圖在底部附近的四周找出口。它會一直尋找一個不存在的出路直到把自己徹底毀了。

很多時候，人就好像這禿鷹、這蝙蝠和這蜜蜂。人們總是與自己的問題和失意斗爭，卻從沒有意識到問題的答案就在自己的頭頂上。

【人生啟迪】

很多時候人在感到迷惑的時候，他們都只是把自己困在一個小天地里，不能抽身而出，看不到別處，找不到自己的出路，就好像是“不知廬山真面目，只緣身在此山中”一般。其實，有時候我們只要抬頭看看，就會發現原來答案離自己好近。