不久前，我在北大又聽到一個有關季先生的清新而感人的新故事。一批剛剛走進校園的年輕人，相約去看季羨林先生，走到門口，卻開始猶豫，他們怕冒失地打擾了先生，最后決定每人用竹子在季老家門口的地上留下問候的話語，然后才滿意地離去。
Before long, I heard another fresh and touching story about Ji Xianlin in Peking University. A group of freshmen made an appointment to visit Ji. But when they got Ji’s house, they felt worried that their visit might disturb his work. Finally, all of them used a bamboo stick to write their best wishes to Ji on the ground by the door and then left satisfactorily.

這該是怎樣美麗的一幅畫面！在季老家不遠，是北大的伯雅塔在未名湖中留下的投影，而在季老家門口的問候語中，是不是也有先生的人格魅力在學子心中留下的投影呢？
What a beautiful picture it is! Not far from Ji’s home is the famous Weiming Lake in Peking University, and the Boya Pagoda standing by the lake was mirrored by the water. Those wishes from students also reflected the grand profile of Ji embedded in students’ hearts.

聽多了這樣的故事，便常常覺得自己像只氣球，仿佛飛得很高，仔細一看卻是被浮云托著；外表看上去也還飽滿，但肚子里卻是空空。這樣想著就不免有些擔心：這樣怎么能走更長的路呢？于是，“渴望老年”四個字，對于我就不再是幻想中的白發蒼蒼或身份證上改成60歲，而是如何在自己還年輕的時候，能吸取優秀老人身上所具有的種種優秀品質。于是，我也更加知道了卡薩爾斯回答中所具有的深義。怎樣才能成為一個優秀的主持人呢？心中有個聲音在回答：先成為一個優秀的人，然后成為一個優秀的新聞人，再然后就會成為一名優秀的節目主持人。
Having heard so many stories like this, I just feel I am like a balloon, which is seemingly flying high but is actually upheld by the cloud, and which is seemingly “full” but actually very “empty”. Then I could not help feeling concerned: how can I go better in the long way of my life in the future? Then I would no longer yearn for getting old to accumulate experience, but yearn for learning all the virtues and great personalities in those great minds. So now, I think I have a far better understanding of Casals’ remarks. For me, how can I become a super host in CCTV? The answer echoing in my heart is: you should first learn to be an excellent and good-virtue man, then learn to be an excellent and good-virtue journalist, and finally become an excellent and good-virtue host of TV programs!

（作者: 白巖松 譯者: 愛爾蘭都柏林大學 賴小琪）