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A New Car and a Brick
A young and successful manager was traveling down a neighborhood street in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jaguar back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”
The young boy was apologetic. “Please mister...please, I’m sorry... I didn’t know what else to do,” he begged. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop...” With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the road and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”
Now sobbing, the boy asked the manager, “Would you please help me get him back? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.” Moved beyond words, the driver hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his beautiful handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
“Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!
【日積月累】
Jaguar 捷豹汽車（有“英國騎士”之稱，是有80余年歷史的世界一流名車品牌）
slam v. 猛然關上
apologetic adj. 道歉的
dab v. 輕拍
scrape n. 擦痕
dent v.弄凹
【參考譯文】
新車與磚頭
一個年輕有為的經理開著他的新捷豹汽車在附近一條街道上奔馳著，他時刻注意著可能從停著的汽車中間突然跑出來的小孩子，每當他覺得有點不對勁時，他就會減速。但是，當他的車子經過時，出現的不是小孩子，而是一塊磚砸在了車門上。他猛地把車停下來，并倒回那塊磚出現的地方。盛怒之下，他跳下車，揪住最近的那個孩子，把他推在一輛停著的車上，吼道：“這是怎么回事？你又是誰？你在做什么？那是一輛新車，你扔的那塊磚頭會帶來不少的損失！你為什么要那么做？”
小男孩感到非常抱歉。“對不起，先生……對不起，我很抱歉……我不知道除此之外我還能怎么辦，”他請求道，“因為沒有人愿意停下來幫我，我才扔磚頭的。”眼淚不停地從小男孩的臉上滑到下巴上，再從下巴上滴了下去，他指著離一輛停著的車不遠處的一個地方說：“我的哥哥，他從路邊上滾下來，掉下了輪椅，我抱不動他。”
小男孩一邊抽泣，一邊請求這個經理：“可不可以請您幫我把他放回輪椅上去？他受傷了，我又抱不動他。”年輕的經理被感動得說不出話來，很快他就把那個殘疾的男孩放回他的輪椅上，然后拿出自己那條漂亮的手絹給他輕輕擦了擦那些新的刮傷，很快他就發現男孩不會有什么問題。
“謝謝您，愿上帝保佑你。”男孩很感激地對這個陌生人說。年輕的經理在回到自己的捷豹的路上，感覺到這段路程是那么的遙遠又漫長，車上的刮傷非常醒目，但是他從沒去修理這車門上的凹痕。他要留著那個凹痕時刻提醒自己：生活中不要總是埋頭向前沖，不要總是要等別人對你扔了磚頭才能引起你的注意。
【人生啟迪】現在的生活節奏非常的快，快到我們常常忽視了聆聽別人。就好像文章中的經理一樣，我們總是沒有想到別人也有可能需要我們的幫助，直到遭遇那塊磚頭才猛然醒悟。我們是否也應該像他一樣把車門上的凹痕流下來時刻提醒自己要聆聽別人的需要呢？
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