評論
打印
By the time I left the service station, I was feeling a little uneasy. About a block away, I pulled over to the side of the road to look at my face in the mirror. How did I feel? Did I look that bad? Was everything all right? By the time I got home, I was beginning to feel a little sick. Did I have a bad liver? Had I picked up some rare disease?
在離開加油站的時候，我覺得有點心神不寧。駛出一個街區之后，我把車停在路旁，對著鏡子看著自己的臉。我感覺如何？我的臉色那么差嗎？一切都正常嗎？等我回到家里，我已經開始覺得有點想吐。我的肝臟出了毛病嗎？是不是染上了什么怪病？
The next time I went into that gas station, feeling fine again, I figured out what had happened. The place had recently been painted a bright but disgusting yellow, and the light reflecting off the walls made everyone inside look as though they had hepatitis! I wondered how many other folks had reacted the way I did. I had let one short conversation with a total stranger change my attitude for an entire day. He told me I looked sick, and before long, I was actually feeling sick. That single negative observation had a profound effect on the way I felt and acted.
再次光顧那個加油站時，我還是感覺很好，我弄明白了個中蹊蹺。這個地方不久前把墻漆上了一種搶眼但又難看的黃色，墻面反射的光線使里面的每一個人看起來都像得了肝炎。不知道有多少人有過與我類似的反應。和一個根本不認識的人的一次短短對話竟然改變了我整整一天的心情。他說我面帶病容，沒過多久，我就真的覺得不舒服。那一句消極的話大大影響了我的感覺和行為。
The only thing more powerful than negativism is a positive affirmation, a word of optimism and hope. One of the things I am most thankful for is the fact that I have grown up in a nation with a grand tradition of optimism. When a whole culture adopts an upward look, incredible things can be accomplished. When the world is seen as a hopeful, positive place, people are given the power to attempt and to achieve.
唯一比否定態度更有力量的是積極的肯定，充滿樂觀與希望的話語。最讓我心存感激的一件事情，就是我生長的這個國度有著偉大的樂觀主義傳統。如果一種文化從整體上采取積極向上的態度，不可思議的事情也能變成現實。人們若把世界看作光明與希望之地，他們將被賦予努力進取和成就功業的力量。
