双语心灵美文：仙女的礼物

　　in the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:"here are gifts. take one, leave the others. and be wary, choose wisely! for only one of them is valuable."

　　在生命之初，一位仙女带着篮子走来，对一位年轻人说道：“这里有几份礼物，你可以从中选一份，留下其它的。你要小心，做一个明智的选择；啊，你要明智地进行选择！因为这里面只有一份礼物是珍贵的。”

　　the gifts were five: fame, love, riches, pleasure, death.the youth, said, eagerly:"there is no need to consider"; and he chose pleasure。

　　一共有五份礼物：名声，爱情，财富，快乐，还有死亡。年轻人迫不及待地说：“没有必要多想。”他选了快乐。

　　he went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in. but each in its turn was short-lived and disappointing, vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him. in the end he said:"these years i have wasted. if i could but choose again, i would choose wisely."

　　此后他就开始步入世界，追逐年轻人所喜爱的快乐。然而每一种快乐都是如此短暂，令人感到空虚和失望。每当一种快乐弃他而去时，还要把他嘲弄一番。最后，年轻人感叹道：“这些年我都浪费了。如果我可以再选一次，我一定会做一个明智的选择。”

　　the fairy appeared, and said:"four of the gifts remain. choose once more: and oh, remember--time is flying, and only one of them is precious."

　　这时仙女又出现了，她说：“这里还有四份礼物。再选一次吧。噢，记住时间飞逝，而其中只有一件是珍贵的。”

　　the man considered long, then chose love; and did not mark the tears that rose in the fairy's eyes. after many, many years the man sat by a coffin, in an empty home. and he communed with himself, saying:"one by one they have gone away and left me; and now she lies here, the dearest and the last. desolation after desolation has swept over me; but each hour of happiness the treacherous trader, love, sold me i have paid a thousand hours of grief! out of my heart of hearts i curse him!"

　　他思考了很久，最终选择了爱情；他没有注意到仙女眼里泛起的泪光。许多许多年之后，这个人坐在一口棺材旁边，屋子里空荡荡的。他自言自语道：“他们一个一个地走了，只剩下我。现在，她就躺在这儿，我最亲爱的人儿，我最后的亲人。孤独一次又一次把我包围。都是因为爱情这个阴狡诈的商人，他出售给我的每个甜蜜的小时，我现在都要用数千个小时的悲伤来偿还！我从心底里诅咒他！”

　　"choose again."it was the fairy speaking."the years have you wisdow-surely it must be so.there gifts remain.only one of them has anyworth-remember it ,and choose warily."

　　“你在选一次吧。”仙女又一次说话了，“这些年已经教予你智慧——也理当如此。这里还有三份礼物，其中只有一份是有价值的——切记，你好好挑吧。”

　　the man reflected long, then chose fame; and the fairy, sighing, went her way. years went by and she came again, and stood behind the man where he sat solitary in the fading day, thinking. and she knew his thought:"my name filled the world, and its praises were on every tongue, and it seemed well with me for a little while. how little a while it was! then came envy; then detraction; then hate; then persecution. then derision, which is the begining of the end. and last of all came pity,which is the funeral of fame. oh, the bitterness and misery of renown!"

　　他想了很久，然而选择了名声。仙女叹了口气，径自离开了。岁月流转，仙女又回来了，站到他的身旁。已迈入迟暮之年的他孑然一身，心情重重。他在想些什么，她都了然于心。“我的名字传遍世界，每个人都争相赞颂，有一阵子好像让我心满足。可那是多么短暂的一阵子啊！随之而来的是妒忌；然后是诋毁；然后是憎恶；然后是迫害。之后是嘲讽，从一切开始步入完结。最后便是怜悯，这也是我的名声的葬礼。啊，名声原来是这般苦涩和痛苦！”