本帖最后由 ヮ成熟、羙° 于 2014-2-16 19:31 编辑
鼓励的力量
荷叶/译
一些历史上最伟大的成功故事,是继亲人或挚友一句鼓励的话或一个信任的行为之后才诞生的。如果没有索菲亚这个一直信任他的妻子,我们可能就不会把纳撒尼尔·霍桑列入最伟大的文学家之中了。当伤心欲绝的霍桑回家告诉妻子他是个失败的人,他被海关解雇了的时候,她的一声欣喜的惊呼令他大吃一惊。
“现在,”她得意地说:“你可以写书了。”
“是的,”信心不足的霍桑回答说:“但当我写书时,我们何以为生?”
令他惊奇的是,妻子拉开抽屉,取出一大笔钱。
“你究竟从哪里搞到这些钱的?”他惊叫道。
“我一直认为你是个天才,”她说:“我知道有一天你会写一部杰作。因此,我每天从你给的家用开支中,积攒下一点点。于是,这就足够我们维持一年的了。”
由于妻子的信任和信心,美国文学中最伟大的一部长篇小说《红字》诞生了。
附:原文 Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend. Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia, we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Nathaniel, a heartbroken man, went home to tell his wife that he was a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse, she surprised him with an exclamation of joy.
"Now," she said triumphantly, "you can write your book!"
"Yes," replied the man, with sagging confidence, "and what shall we live on while I am writing it?"
To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money.
"Where on earth did you get that?" he exclaimed.
"I have always know you were a man of genius," she told him. "I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So every week, out of the money you gave me for housekeeping, I saved a little bit. So here is enough to last us for one whole year."
From her trust and confidence came one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Scarlet Letter. |