評論
打印
More Than One Way to the Square
通往廣場的路不止一條
We were standing at the top of a church tower. My father had brought me to this spot in a small Italian town not far from our home in Rome. I wondered why."Look down, Elsa," Father said. I gathered all my courage and looked down. I saw the square in the center of the village. And I saw the crisscross of twisting, turning streets leading to the square.
當(dāng)時我們正站在一個教堂塔樓的頂上，是父親把我從羅馬的家里帶到這個離家不遠(yuǎn)的意大利小鎮(zhèn)樓頂上來的，我不明白他要做什么。"向下看，埃爾莎，"父親對我說。我鼓足勇氣向下看去，看到了村子中央的廣場，還看到蜿蜒曲折的街道交錯著通向這個廣場。
"See, my dear," Father said gently. "There is more than one way to the square. Life is like that. If you can't get to the place where you want to go by one road, try another."
爸爸語氣溫和地對我說："明白了吧，親愛的，通向廣場的路不止一條，生活也是如此，如果一條路走不到想去的地方，就試著走另一條路。"
Now I understood why I was there. Earlier that day I had begged my mother to do something about the awful lunches that were served at school. But she refused because she could not believe the lunches were as bad as I said.
現(xiàn)在我明白我為什么會到這兒來了。那天早些時候我請求媽媽為學(xué)校提供的難吃午餐想點兒辦法，但她拒絕了我的要求，她不相信學(xué)校的午餐會像我說的那樣糟。
When I turned to Father for help, he would not interfere. Instead, he brought me to this high tower to give me a lesson. By the time we reached home, I had a plan.
我轉(zhuǎn)向爸爸求援，他不想干預(yù)此事，卻把我?guī)У竭@個高塔上，給我上了一課。到家時，我已經(jīng)有了主意。
At school the next day, I secretly poured my luncheon soup into a bottle and brought it home. Then I talked the cook into serving it to Mother at dinner. The plan worked perfectly. She swallowed one spoonful and sputtered, "The cook must have gone mad!" Quickly I told what I had done, and Mother stated firmly that she would take up the matter of lunches at school the next day!
第二天在學(xué)校吃午餐時，我偷偷地把我的那份午餐湯倒進(jìn)一個瓶子，把它帶回了家，然后說服廚師，讓她在晚餐時把湯端給媽媽。我的計劃進(jìn)行得很成功。媽媽喝了一勺湯，就吐了出來，說："廚師一定發(fā)瘋了！"我馬上告訴媽媽這是我安排的，媽媽斬釘截鐵地表示她第二天就去學(xué)校就午餐問題提出交涉。
In the years that followed I often remembered the lesson Father taught me. I knew where I wanted to go in life. I wanted to be a fashion designer. And on the way to my first small success I found the road blocked. What could I do? Accept the roadblocks and fail？Or use imagination and wits to find another road to my goal？
隨后的這些年里，我時常記起爸爸給我上的這一課。我知道我的人生目標(biāo)：我想當(dāng)時裝設(shè)計師！就在我走向第一個小小的成功之路時，卻遇到了阻礙。怎么辦呢？是承認(rèn)此路不通，敗下陣來；還是發(fā)揮想像力和智慧，去尋找通向目標(biāo)的另一條道路呢？
I had come to Paris, the center of the world of fashion, with my sketches. But none of the famous fashion designers seemed interested in buying them.
我?guī)е业脑O(shè)計草圖來到世界時裝中心巴黎，但是好像沒有一個著名的時裝設(shè)計師有興趣購買。
