品味人生篇10：The Touchstone 试金石的故事

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers¹.
故事从亚历山大图书馆被付诸一炬开始。有一本书在大火中幸存了下来，但这不是一本贵重的书，一个文化程度并不高的穷人用几块铜板把书买了下来。

The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip² of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!
书的内容算不上精彩，但书中夹了一张小纸条，上面的内容还是挺吸引人的——关于试金石的小秘密！

The touchstone was a small pebble³ that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles⁴ that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
试金石是一种能把普通金属变成纯金的小鹅卵石。书中写道，试金石通常与普通的鹅卵石混在一起，从外表看很难区分出来，但秘诀是当握在手里，试金石是暖的，而普通鹅卵石则是冷的。

So the man sold his few belongings⁵, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles.
这个穷人变卖了他为数不多的家产，购买了一些基本的生活必需品，在海边安营扎寨，开始寻找试金石。

He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. – Cold. - Throw it into the sea. – Pick up another. – Cold. – Throw it into the sea.The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months.
他知道，如果自己把拾到的普通鹅卵石又放回原地，那他可能会无数次拣起同一块石头。于是，一旦捡到冷的鹅卵石，他就把它扔进大海里。就这样，他捡了整整一天的石头，也没碰到一块试金石。但他不气馁，依然执著的重复着这套机械的动作——拣起一块鹅卵石，摸到是冷的，扔进大海里,捡起另一块，仍是冷的，扔进大海……日复一日，很快几周过去了，然后几个月也过去了。

One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
然而有一天，大概下午两三点的时候，他捡起了一块暖的鹅卵石，但他习惯性地用力把它抛进了大海，等意识到扔出去的是一块试金石时，已经为时过晚。他已经习惯了顺手把拣起来的每一块鹅卵石扔进大海，甚至当试金石出现时，也不例外。

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant⁶, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.
机会也是如此。如果我们不时刻保持警惕，那么有一天，我们也会很自然地任由手中的大好机会白白溜走。

1 coppers   

铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币

参考例句：

• I only paid a few coppers for it. 我只花了几个铜板买下这东西。
• He had only a few coppers in his pocket. 他兜里仅有几个铜板。

2 strip   

n.长条，条状；连环漫画；n.脱衣舞；vt.脱衣，剥夺；挤干(牛奶)；vt.拆卸；去除(烟叶的茎)；vi.脱衣，表演脱衣舞；剥落

参考例句：

• I need one more strip of cloth to finish this decoration.我还要一根布条来完成这个装饰品。
• We had to strip the old paint from the doors.我们只好把门上的旧漆刮掉。

3 pebble   

n.卵石，小圆石

参考例句：

• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。
• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。

4 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

5 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

6 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。