means of mum`s loveTime is running out for my friend. While we are sitting at lunch she casually mentions she and her husband are thinking of starting a family. "We're taking a survey,"she says, half-joking. "Do you think I should have a baby?" "It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. "I know,"she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous holidays..." But that's not what I mean at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be vulnerable forever. I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without thinking: "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die. I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for child care, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting, and she will think her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her child is all right.I want my friend to know that every decision will no longer be routine. That a five-year-old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at a restaurant will become a major dilemma. The issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in the lavatory. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive friend, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the added weight of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself. That her own life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. She would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years—not to accomplish her own dreams—but to watch her children accomplish theirs. I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to hit a ball. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it hurts.My friend's look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. "You'll never regret it," I say finally. Then, squeezing my friend's hand, I offer a prayer for her and me and all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this holiest of callings.時(shí)光任苒，朋友已經(jīng)老大不小了。我們坐在一起吃飯的時(shí)候，她漫不經(jīng)心地提到她和她的丈夫正考慮要小孩。“我們正在做一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，”她半開玩笑地說。“你覺得我應(yīng)該要個(gè)小孩嗎？”“他將改變你的生活?！蔽倚⌒囊硪淼卣f道，盡量使語氣保持客觀?！斑@我知道?！彼鸬?，“周末睡不成懶覺，再也不能隨心所欲休假了……”但我說的絕非這些。我注視著朋友，試圖整理一下自己的思緒。我想讓她知道她永遠(yuǎn)不可能在分娩課上學(xué)到的東西。我想讓她知道：分娩的有形傷疤可以愈合，但是做母親的情感傷痕卻永遠(yuǎn)如新，她會(huì)因此變得十分脆弱。我想告誡她：做了母親后，每當(dāng)她看報(bào)紙時(shí)就會(huì)情不自禁地聯(lián)想：“如果那件事情發(fā)生在我的孩子身上將會(huì)怎樣??！”每一次飛機(jī)失事、每一場(chǎng)住宅火災(zāi)都會(huì)讓她提心吊膽?？吹侥切┤甜嚢ゐI的孩子們的照片時(shí)，她會(huì)思索：世界上還有什么比眼睜睜地看著自己的孩子餓死更慘的事情呢？我打量著她精修細(xì)剪的指甲和時(shí)尚前衛(wèi)的衣服，心里想到：不管她打扮多么考究，做了母親后，她會(huì)變得像護(hù)崽的母熊那樣原始而不修邊幅。我覺得自己應(yīng)該提醒她，不管她在工作上投入了多少年，一旦做了母親，工作就會(huì)脫離常規(guī)。她自然可以安排他人照顧孩子，但說不定哪天她要去參加一個(gè)非常重要的商務(wù)會(huì)議，卻忍不住想起寶寶身上散發(fā)的甜甜乳香。她不得不拼命克制自己，才不致于為了看看孩子是否安然無羔而中途回家。我想告訴朋友，有了孩子后，她將再也不能按照慣例做出決定。在餐館，5歲的兒子想進(jìn)男廁而不愿進(jìn)女廁將成為擺在她眼前的一大難題：她將在兩個(gè)選擇之間權(quán)衡一番：尊重孩子的獨(dú)立和性別意識(shí)，還是讓他進(jìn)男廁所冒險(xiǎn)被潛在的兒童性騷擾者侵害？任憑她在辦公室多么果斷，作為母親，她仍經(jīng)常事后后悔自己當(dāng)時(shí)的決定。注視著我的這位漂亮的朋友，我想讓她明確地知道，她最終會(huì)恢復(fù)到懷孕前的體重，但是她對(duì)自己的感覺已然不同。她現(xiàn)在視為如此重要的生命將隨著孩子的誕生而變得不那么寶貴。為了救自己的孩子，她時(shí)刻愿意獻(xiàn)出自己的生命。但她也開始希望多活一些年頭，不是為了實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的夢(mèng)想，而是為了看著孩子們美夢(mèng)成真。我想向朋友形容自己看到孩子學(xué)會(huì)擊球時(shí)的喜悅之情。我想讓她留意寶寶第一次觸摸狗的絨毛時(shí)的捧腹大笑。我想讓她品嘗快樂，盡管這快樂真實(shí)得令人心痛。朋友的表情讓我意識(shí)到自己已經(jīng)是熱淚盈眶?！澳阌肋h(yuǎn)不會(huì)后悔，”我最后說。然后緊緊地握住朋友的手，為她、為自己、也為每一位艱難跋涉、準(zhǔn)備響應(yīng)母親職業(yè)神圣的召喚的平凡女性獻(xiàn)上自己的祈禱A Box Full Of Kisses Once upon a time, a man punished his 5-year-old daughter for using up the family's only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve, he saw that the child had pasted the gold paper so as to decorate a shoebox to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, "This is for you, Daddy!" As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction. But when he opened it, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you know, young lady,” he said harshly, “when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package!" The little girl looked up at him with tears rolling from her eyes and said: "Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full." The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger. An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept that little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there. In a very real sense, each of us as human beings have been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.從前,一位父親懲罰了自己5歲的女兒,因?yàn)樗霉饬思依飪H有的一卷昂貴的金色包裝紙。家中余錢無多，在圣誕前夜來臨時(shí)，父親變得更加心煩意亂，他看到了圣誕樹下的一個(gè)鞋盒，女兒原來把金紙貼在了這個(gè)鞋盒上做裝飾。然而，圣誕日的早上，小女孩滿是興奮得把這個(gè)圣誕禮盒呈到了父親面前，說到：“爸爸，這個(gè)送給你！”當(dāng)父親打開禮盒時(shí)，他為自己先前的過度反應(yīng)而局促不安著。但是當(dāng)他打開盒子后，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面是空的，他的怒火再次爆發(fā)了?！澳悴恢绬?，小丫頭，”他嚴(yán)厲地說，“當(dāng)你送人禮物時(shí)，盒子里面應(yīng)該是有東西的！”小女孩抬頭看著氣頭上的父親，淚水在她的眼眶中打圈：“爸爸，它不是空的。這里面裝滿了我的吻。”男人頓時(shí)被擊垮了。他跪下雙膝，雙手環(huán)抱著自己珍愛的小女孩，祈求她的原諒。之后不久，一場(chǎng)事故奪走了小女孩的生命。據(jù)說，父親便將那個(gè)小金盒子放在床頭，一直陪伴著他的余生。無論何時(shí)他感到氣餒或者遇到難辦的事情，他就會(huì)打開禮盒，取出一個(gè)假想的吻，記起漂亮女兒給予了自己特殊的愛。從一個(gè)非常真實(shí)的意義上說，我們每個(gè)人都被贈(zèng)與過一個(gè)無形的金色禮盒，那里面裝滿了來自子女，家人，朋友及上帝無條件的愛與吻。人們所能擁有的最珍貴的禮物莫過于此了。Love and Time Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,"Richness, can you take me with you?"Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!""I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you.""Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her. Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder, Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?""It was Time," Knowledge answered."Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."從前有一個(gè)島，所有的情感都住在那里：幸福、悲傷、知識(shí)和所有其它的，愛也不例外。一天，所有的情感聽說小島即將沉沒，因此建造小船，紛紛離開，除了愛。愛是唯一留下來的，因?yàn)樗Ｍ軋?jiān)持到最后一刻。小島即將沉沒了，愛決定請(qǐng)求幫助。富有駕著一艘大船從愛身邊經(jīng)過，愛說，“富有，你能帶上我么？”富有回答說：“不行，我的船上載滿金銀財(cái)寶，沒有你的地方。”虛榮坐在漂亮的小船中從愛身邊駛過，愛問：“虛榮，你能幫助我么？”虛榮說：“不行，你全身濕透，會(huì)弄臟我的船。”悲傷的船靠近了，愛問：“悲傷，請(qǐng)帶我走吧。”“哦... 愛，我太難過了，想一個(gè)人呆著。”幸福經(jīng)過愛的身邊，它太開心了，根本沒聽見愛在呼喚。突然，一個(gè)聲音喊道：“來，愛，我?guī)阕?。?聲音來自“年老”。愛太高興了，甚至忘了問他們即將去何方。當(dāng)他們來到岸上，年老自己離開了。愛突然意識(shí)到“年老”給了它多大的幫助。于是，愛問另一位老者--知識(shí)：“誰幫助了我？”知識(shí)說：“是時(shí)間?！薄皶r(shí)間？”愛問：“但是時(shí)間為什么幫助我？”知識(shí)睿智地微笑道：“因?yàn)橹挥袝r(shí)間了解愛的價(jià)值?！盩he paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more but enjoy less. 我們這個(gè)時(shí)代在歷史上的說法就是我們擁有更高的建筑，但是有更暴的脾氣；我們擁有更寬闊的高速公路，卻有更狹隘的觀點(diǎn)；我們花費(fèi)得更多，擁有得卻更少；我們購買得更多卻享受得更少。 We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. 我們的房子越來越大，家庭卻越來越?。槐憷絹碓蕉?，時(shí)間卻越來越少；學(xué)位越來越多，感覺卻越來越少；知識(shí)越來越多，觀點(diǎn)卻越來越少；專家越來越多，問題也越來越多；藥物越來越多，健康卻越來越少。 We drink too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. 我們喝得太多，花錢大手大腳，笑得太少，開車太快，易怒，熬夜，賴床，書讀得越來越少，電視看得越來越多，卻很少向上帝祈禱。 We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years. 我們常常夸夸其談，卻很少付出愛心，且常常心中充滿了仇恨。我們學(xué)會(huì)了如何謀生，而不知如何生活。我們延長了生命的期限，而不是生活的期限。 We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space; we’ve done larger things, but not better things. 我們登上了月球，并成功返回，卻不能穿過街道去拜訪新鄰居。我們已經(jīng)征服了太空，卻征服不了自己的內(nèi)心；我們的事業(yè)越做越大，但質(zhì)量卻沒有提高。 We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. 我們清潔了空氣，卻污染了靈魂；我們分離了原子，卻無法驅(qū)除我們的偏見；我們寫得更多，學(xué)到的卻更少；我們的計(jì)劃更多，完成的卻更少。 We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but, lower morals. 我們學(xué)會(huì)了奔跑，卻忘記了如何等待；我們的收入越來越高，道德水平卻越來越低。 We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality. 我們制造了更多的計(jì)算機(jī)來存儲(chǔ)更多的信息，制造了最多的副本，卻減少了交流；我們開始渴望數(shù)量，但忽視了質(zhì)量。 These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but more broken homes. 這個(gè)時(shí)代有雙收入，但也有了更高的離婚率；有更華麗的房屋，卻有更多破碎的家庭。 These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. Where are we heading...? 這個(gè)時(shí)代有了快速旅游，免洗尿布，卻拋棄了道德、一夜情、超重的身體，以及可以從快樂中走向靜止和自殺的藥物。我們將走向何方……？ If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. 如果我們明天就死掉，我們?yōu)橹ぷ鞯墓究赡軙?huì)在一天內(nèi)很輕易地找人代替我們的位置。但是當(dāng)我們離開家人后，他們的余生將會(huì)在失落中度過。 And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family an unwise investment indeed. 考慮一下吧，我們將自己的時(shí)間更多地投入到工作中，而放棄與家人在一起的時(shí)光，實(shí)在并非明智之舉。 So what is the morale of the story?那么這則故事的主旨是什么呢?Don’t work too hard... and you know what’s the full word of family? 不要工作得太辛苦，你知道家的全稱嗎？ FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU.