英语专业晨读美文-哲理篇 9 Growing Roots

[00:02.06]Growing Roots
[00:03.37]When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs.
[00:09.17] He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known.
[00:12.12] He never yelled at us for playing in his yard.
[00:14.97] I remember him as someone
[00:16.61] who was a lot nicer than circumstances warranted.
[00:19.57]When Dr. Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees.
[00:24.16]His house sat on ten acres,
[00:26.79]and his life's goal was to make it a forest.
[00:29.52]The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant husbandry.
[00:33.56]He came from the "No pain, no gain" school of horticulture.
[00:38.27]He never watered his new trees,
[00:40.46]which flew in the face of conventional wisdom.
[00:42.97]Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them,
[00:48.22]and that if you water them,
[00:49.64]each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker.
[00:53.14]So you have to make things rough for them
[00:55.66]and weed out the weenie trees early on.
[00:57.91]He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots,
[01:02.07] and how trees that weren't watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture.
[01:07.10]I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
[01:10.27]I planted a couple of trees a few years back.
[01:13.22]Carried water to them for a solid summer.
[01:15.62] Sprayed them. Prayed over them.
[01:17.81]The whole nine yards.
[01:19.45]Two years of coddling has resulted in trees
[01:22.41]that expect to be waited on hand and foot.
[01:25.79] Whenever a cold wind blows in,
[01:28.09]they tremble and chatter¹ their branches. Sissy trees.
[01:32.25]Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs'.
[01:35.31] Adversity and deprivation² seemed to benefit them
[01:38.81]in ways comfort and ease never could.
[01:41.65]Every night before I go to bed,
[01:43.63] I check on my two sons.
[01:45.37]I stand over them and watch their little bodies,
[01:48.21] the rising and falling of life within.
[01:50.73]I often pray for them.
[01:52.38]Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy.
[01:55.54]But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer.
[01:59.59]This change has to do with the inevitability³ of cold winds
[02:03.64]that hit us at the core.
[02:05.50]I know my children are going to encounter hardship,
[02:08.67] and I'm praying they won't be naive⁴.
[02:11.44]There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere.
[02:14.28]So I'm changing my prayer.
[02:16.91]Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not.
[02:21.17]Too many times we pray for ease,
[02:23.25]but that's a prayer seldom met.
[02:25.97]What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal,
[02:30.57]so when the rains fall and the winds blow,
[02:34.06]we won't be swept asunder⁵.
 

1 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

2 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

3 inevitability   

n.必然性

参考例句：

• Evolutionism is normally associated with a belief in the inevitability of progress. 进化主义通常和一种相信进步不可避免的看法相联系。
• It is the tide of the times, an inevitability of history. 这是时代的潮流，历史的必然。

4 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

5 asunder   

adj.分离的，化为碎片

参考例句：

• The curtains had been drawn asunder.窗帘被拉向两边。
• Your conscience,conviction,integrity,and loyalties were torn asunder.你的良心、信念、正直和忠诚都被扯得粉碎了。