第五课

The Treasure in the Orchard

An old gardener who was dying sent for his two sons to come to his bedside, as he wished to speak to them. When they came in answer to his request, the old man, raising himself on his pillows, pointed through the window towards his orchard.

\ \

\cherries bigger and brighter than rubies!\

\

The old gardener nodded his head, time and time again. He looked at his hands - they were worn from the spade that he had used all his life. Then he looked at the hands of his sons and saw that their nails were polished and their fingers as white as those of any fine lady's.

\if you ever will! But I have hidden a treasure in my orchard for you to find. You will never possess it unless you dig it up. It lies midway between two of the trees, not too near, yet not too far from the trunks. It is yours for the trouble of digging - that is all!

Then he sent them away, and soon afterwards he died. So the orchard became the property of his sons, and without any delay, they set to work to dig for the treasure that had been promised them.

Well, they dug and dug, day after day, week after week, going down the long alleys of fruit trees, never too near yet never too far from the trunks. They dug up all the weeds and picked out all the stones, not because they liked weeding and cleaning, but because it was all part of the hunt for the buried treasure. Winter passed and spring came, and never were there such blossoms as those which hung the orange and apple and cherry trees with curtains of petals pale as pearls and soft as silk. Then summer threw sunshine over the orchard, and sometimes the clouds bathed it in cool, delicious rain. At last the time of the fruit harvest came. But the two brothers had not yet found the treasure that was hidden among the roots of the trees.

Then they sent for a merchant from the nearest town to buy the fruit. It hung in great bunches, golden oranges, red apples, and cherries bigger and brighter than rubies. The merchant looked at them in open admiration.

\of money for it!\

Twenty bags of money were more than the two brothers had ever owned in their life. They struck the bargain in great delight and took the money - bags into the house, while the merchant made arrangements to carry away the fruit.

\How you must have dug and weeded and worked to get it!\

He went away, and the brothers sat eyeing each other over the tops of the money-bags. Their hands were rough and toil-worn, just as the old gardener's had been when he died.

\

than rubies,\have been digging for all year, the very treasure our father meant!\ 一个老园丁快死了，叫人把两个儿子叫到床边来，因为他想要对他们说话。两个 儿子应他的要求来了，老人坐直身子靠在枕头上，指向窗外的果园。 “你们看到果园了吗？”他说。 “是的，父亲，我们看到果园了。”

“多年来，它一直生产最好的水果——金黄的橘子、红艳艳的苹果和比红宝石 还要大还要晶莹鲜亮的樱桃！”

“的确是这样，父亲。它一直是个好果园！”

老园丁一次又一次地点头。他看看自己的双手——用了一辈子的铲子把他的手 都磨出了老茧。然后又看看儿子们的手，只见他们的指甲都修得光光的，他们的 手指像闲雅女士的手指一样白皙。

“你们一生从没有干过一天活，你们俩！”他说。“我怀疑你们以后会不会干活！ 但我已经在果园里藏了一笔金银财宝让你们去找。除非你们把它挖出来，否则你 们永远也不会拥有它。它就放在两棵树的中间，距离树干既不太近，也不太远。 只要花力气去挖它就是你们的——就这些！”

然后他就打发他们走了，之后不久他就死了。于是，果园就成了他两个儿子的财 产。他们毫不迟延，立即开始工作，挖找已经答应给他们的财宝。

他们挖呀，挖呀，一天又一天地挖，一周又一周地挖。沿着果树间长长的小径向 前挖，距离树干既不太近也不太远。他们掘起所有的野草，拣出所有的石块；不 是因为他们喜欢除草和清理石块，而是因为这是寻找埋藏的财宝必须做的事情。 冬去春来，橘子树上、苹果树上和樱桃树上开出了花，花瓣淡雅如珍珠，柔软如 丝绸，像窗帘一般挂在树上，那花从来没有这样盛开过。随后夏天把阳光洒满果 园，有时阴云又使果园沐浴在清凉可口的雨水中。终于，水果收获的季节到了， 但两兄弟还没有找到藏在树根之间的财宝。

后来他们派人从最近的镇上叫来了一个商人来购买这些水果。金黄色的橘子，红 艳艳的苹果和比红宝石还要大、还要晶莹鲜亮的樱桃一大串一大串地挂在果树 上。那商人看着那些水果毫不掩饰地大加赞赏。 “这是我见过的最好的收成，”他说。“我愿意给你们20 袋钱买下它！”

20 袋钱比两兄弟一辈子有过的钱还要多。他们非常高兴地达成协议成交，拿着 钱袋进了屋，而那位商人则安排把水果运走。 “我明年还来，”他说。“我总是高兴买这样的水果的。你们肯定花了大力气刨地、 除草、干活才种出这样的水果吧！” 26

商人走了。两兄弟坐在那儿，目光越过钱袋顶看着对方。他们的双手变得粗糙， 磨出了老茧，正像老园丁临死时的手那样。

“金黄色的橘子，红艳艳的苹果和比红宝石还要大、还要晶莹鲜亮的樱桃，”一 个兄弟轻声地说。“我想这就是我们整整一年来一直挖找的财宝，也就是我们父

亲所指的财宝。”

第六课Tracking Down My Dream

It was the district track meet — the one we had been training for all season. My foot still hadn’t healed from an earlier injury. As a matter of fact, I had debated

whether or not I should attend the meet. But there I was, preparing for the 3,200-meter run.

“Ready… set…” The gun popped and we were off. The other girls darted ahead of me. I realized I was limping and felt humiliated as I fell farther and farther behind.

The first place runner was two laps ahead of me when she crossed the finish line.“Hooray!” shouted the crowd. It was the loudest cheer I had ever heard at a meet.

“Maybe I should quit,”I thought as I limped on.“Those people don’t want to wait for me to finish this race.” Somehow, though, I decided to keep going. During the last two laps, I ran in pain and decided not to compete in track next year. It wouldn’t be worth it, even if my foot did heal. I could never beat the girl who had lapped me twice.

When I finished, I heard a cheer — just as enthusiastic as the one I’d heard when the first girl passed the finish line. “What was that all about?” I asked myself. I turned around and, sure enough, the boys were preparing for their race. “That must be it; they’re cheering for the boys.”

I went straight to the bathroom where a girl bumped into me. “Wow, you’ve got courage!” she told me.

I thought,“Courage? She must be mistaking me for some one else. I just lost a race!”

“I would never have been able to finish those two miles if I were you. I would have quit on the first lap. What happened to your foot? We were cheering for you. Did you hear us?”

I couldn’t believe it. A complete stranger had been cheering for me — not

because she wanted me to win, but because she wanted me to keep going and not give up. Suddenly I regained hope. I decided to stick with track next year. One girl saved my dream.

That day I learned two things:

First, a little kindness and confidence in people can make a great difference to them.

And, second, strength and courage aren’t always measured in medals and

victories. They are measured in the struggles we overcome. The strongest people are not always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose.

I dream only that someday — perhaps as a senior — I will be able to win a race with a cheer as big as the one I got when I lost that race as a freshman.

追寻我的梦想

这是地区的田径运动会——我们整个季节都在为之训练的田径运动会。我的脚 早些时候受了伤，此时还没有痊愈。实际上，我一直在考虑是否应该参加这次运 动会。但我还是去了，准备参加3200 米跑。

“各就各位……跑……”发令枪砰的一响，我们就出发了。别的女孩子都冲到了

我前面。我意识到我在一瘸一拐地跑，并且因为越来越落在后面而感到很丢脸。 跑第一的选手冲过终点线时领先了我两圈。“好哇！”观众喊道。这是我在田径运 动会上听到过的最响亮的欢呼声。

“也许我应该放弃,” 我一边一瘸一拐地往前跑一边在想。“那些人并不想等着 我跑完全程。”可是不知怎么的，我还是决定继续跑下去。在最后两圈，我跑得 很痛苦，决定下一年不参加田径比赛了。即使我的脚真的好了，这也不值得。我 永远也不可能战胜那个领先我两圈的女孩。

当我跑完时，我听到了一片欢呼声——就像第一个女孩冲过终点线时我听到的 欢呼声一样热烈。“这是怎么回事？”我问自己。我转过身去，果然，是男孩子 们正在准备开始比赛。“这肯定没错：他们在为那些男孩子欢呼。” 我径直向盥洗室走去，在那里一个女孩跟我撞了个满怀。“哇，你真有勇气！”她 对我说。

我想:“勇气？她一定是把我误认为别人了。我刚输掉了一场比赛！”

“如果我是你的话，我绝不可能跑完那两英里。我第一圈就会放弃。你的脚跟怎 么啦？我们都在为你欢呼。你听到我们的欢呼吗？” 31

我真不敢相信。一个完全陌生的人在为我欢呼——并不是因为她想要我获胜， 而是因为她希望我坚持跑下去不要放弃。突然我重新获得了希望。我决定下一年 继续参加田径比赛运动。一个女孩挽救了我的梦想。 那一天我认识到两件事。

第一，对别人表示一点好意和信任可以对他们产生很大的影响。

第二，力量和勇气并非总是以奖牌和胜利来衡量的。它们是以我们进行的拼搏和 战胜的困难来衡量的，最坚强的人并不总是赢得胜利的人，而是那些在失败时不 放弃的人。

我只是梦想将来某一天——也许在大四时——我能赢得比赛，得到与我在大一

输掉比赛时得到的同样热烈的欢呼。

第七课课文The Smile

Many Americans are familiar with The Little Prince, a wonderful book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This is a whimsical(异想天开的) and fabulous(寓言般的) book and works as a children’s story as well as a thought-provoking(发人深省的) adult fable. Far fewer are aware of Saint-Exupery’s安东尼·圣艾修伯other writings, novels and short stories.

Saint-Exupery was a fighter pilot who fought against the Nazis(纳粹) and was killed in action. Before World War II, he fought in the Spanish Civil War西班牙