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The daffodil principle
水仙花法則
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, Mother, you must come and see the daffodils before they are over.
女兒打來好幾次電話跟我說：媽媽，水仙花凋落之前，你一定得來看看。
I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.
我委實想去，只是從拉古納到箭頭湖得2個小時的路程。
I will come next Tuesday, I eventually promised though a little reluctantly.
女兒第三次來電，我勉強答應她說：我打算下星期二過去。
The rainy foggy Tuesday came, and I joined my lovely grandchild and Carolyn who then drove us onto a small gravel road after my long tedious journey.
結果星期二一早就下起了雨，還有點涼意。我已經承諾過女兒，便驅車前往。
Several minutes later, a small church came into my view.
幾分鐘以后，我眼前出現了一個小教堂。
On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that said, Daffodil Garden.
在教堂的對面，有一個手寫的標牌：水仙花園。
We got out of the car, each taking one hand of the child.
下了汽車，我和女兒一人一手拽著孩子，
I followed Carolyn down the path.
由女兒帶路沿著這條狹窄的小道走著。
Then, we turned a corner of the path.
轉一個彎后，
As I looked up, something caught me in gasp.
我舉目望去，不由得一驚。
Before me lay the most glorious sight.
眼前的景觀瑰麗無比，
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes.
就好似有人把一桶碎金撒滿了山頂和山坡。
The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns—great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow.
觀其水仙栽植，有的如絲帶數條，式樣絕好，美麗壯觀，搖曳生姿；有的像彩緞幾匹，其色潔白、深橙、淺黃、橙紅、橘黃、蔥黃，一應俱全。
Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.
由于顏色不同，品種各異的水仙分片種植，所以隨風搖擺，流動起來宛若花河，獨具色調。
There were five acres of flowers.
這里整整有5英畝水仙花。
But who has done this? I asked Carolyn.
這些水仙都是誰種的？我問卡羅琳。
It’s just one woman, Carolyn answered. She lives on the property. That’s her home.
只是一個婦人。卡羅琳答道，她就住在這，看那是她的房子。
Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.
卡羅琳指向一座A字構架的屋子，在周圍燦爛輝煌景象的映襯之下，這座房子顯得矮小而又簡陋。
We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster.
我們朝那間屋子走去，在門前的露臺上看到一張海報，
Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking was the headline.
標題是：我知道你們要問什么，這就是答案。
The first answer was a simple one. 50,000 bulbs, it read.
第一個答案比較簡單：5萬莖。
The second answer was, One at a time, by one woman.
第二個答案是：一次栽一莖，一名婦人所植，
Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.
用兩只手，兩條腿，還略動了點腦筋。
The third answer was, Began in 1958.
第三個答案是：開始于1958年。
There it was, The Daffodil Principle.
這就是水仙定律，
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.
對我來說，那一刻的經歷使我對于生活有了新的認識。
I thought of this woman whom I had never met,who, more than forty years before, had begun—one bulb at a time—to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.
我想，這位素昧平生的婦人，早在40多年前就—一次一莖水仙—把自己對于美和快樂的理解與想象帶給這座無名的小山之巔。
Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world.
每次僅僅栽種一莖，年復一年，卻改變了世界。
This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.
這位無名的婦人永遠改變了她所居住的世界。
She had created something of ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
她開創的事業雄偉壯觀，美妙絕倫，而又鼓舞人心。
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
水仙花園給我們揭示偉大的禮贊法則之一。
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.
即每次只求一步，學著朝著目標努力—也許只是一小步—學著樂于這樣做，學會積累時間，
When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.
利用日常瑣碎的時間每天努力一點，我們就會發現自己同樣能干成大事。
We can change the world.
我們也可以改變世界。
It makes me sad in a way, I admitted to Carolyn.
這多少使我有點難過。我向卡羅琳坦承，
What I might 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.
如果35或者40年前，我也想到一個宏偉的計劃，并且這些年來一次一莖地努力，想一想，
Just think what I might have been able to achieve!
我該會取得多大的成就啊。
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way.Start tomorrow, she said.
女兒以她慣常直率的方式總結今天所得的教益說：那么就從明天開始吧。
