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Important than Presents - 比礼物更重要

更新:2015-05-29 17:01:49  |  分享:Candy ( V364 )  |  来源:转载  |  阅读:97
标签:礼物

A man going abroad to work leaves his fiancee crying. “Don’t worry, I will write you everyday,” he said. For years he did write her. But since he was happy with his job, he had no immediate plans of going home. One day, he received a wedding invitation. His girl friend was scheduled to be married. To whom? To the mailman bringing regularly the letters of her boy friend! Indeed, distance does make hearts flounder.

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The poor boyfriend surely explained, “What went wrong? I sent her letter, chocolates, and flowers.” When relationships go wrong, the list of things given and done for the person usually crops up. We say, “I have given you this and that… I have done these things for you.” It seems that love is simply proven by the bestowal of gifts and favors.

But while presents are important, love demands what is basics: presence of the beloved. I have observed for instance, the orchids of my mother. When she’s away for a longtime, they are unhealthy and many of them wither. But when she is around, they bloom with beautiful flowers. My mother does nothing exceptional. She just spends much time talking and caressing them.

I guess persons all the more require a caring presence. Love is fundamentally a commitment to a person. We may be committed to our business, job, hobby, sports and clubs, but strictly speaking, they cannot love us back. Only a person can love us in return, and for that matter the highest commitment as human beings is spending time with those persons we love . And since people need affection and nourishment, material things can only help up to a certain degree in fostering love. But it can never replace the greatest gift of presence.

译文:

一个男人出国工作了,留下未婚妻在国内暗自神伤。“别担心,我会每天给你写信的。”他说。几年过去了,他真的一直坚持给她写信。他对自己的工作很满意。因此不打算短期内回国。一天,他收到了一封结婚请柬,他的女朋友要结婚了!她要和谁结婚呢?居然是那个每天来送信的邮差!是的,距离疏远了他们彼此的心。

那个可怜的男朋友一定会说:“哪里出错了呢?我给她写信,寄巧克力和花啊。” 当感情出了问题,人们通常会想起之前为对方所做的事和所馈赠的礼物。我们会说:“我给过你这个、那个……我曾经为你做过这么多事。”似乎爱情就是靠那些礼物和事情体现出来的。

尽管礼物很重要,但是爱仍然需要最基本的要素:只要心爱的人常伴左右。比如,我曾经观察过母亲养的兰花。当她长期外出的时候,兰花就会渐渐憔悴,甚至枯萎。但是当她在家的时候,这些话便会盛开出美丽的花朵。母亲并没有做什么特别的事情。她只是花了一些时间同它们聊天,抚摩它们。

我想大部分人都需要关心自己的人常伴左右。爱是对一个人彻底地付出。我们也许会专注于自己的事业、工作、兴趣;乐衷于运动或参加俱乐部。但是严格来说,它们却不能对我们的爱做出任何回应。只有人才能对我们所付出的爱给予相同形式的回报。因此,于我们相爱的人厮守是最值得做的事情。既然人是需要关爱和慰藉的,所以物资只能在某种程度上维系爱情,却永远无法取代爱人常伴身旁这般重要的事。

——摘自《精彩英文晨读之触动心底的幸福》王亚非 刘晓媛◎编译

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