谁为你编的降落伞？

　　Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam.

　　毕业于美国海军军官学校的查尔斯?普拉姆，在越战期间是一名喷气式战机飞行员。

　　After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile.

　　在完成75次作战任务后，他的飞机被地空导弹击落。

　　Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy's hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison.

　　他被抓获并在北越监狱待了六年。

　　He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

　　现在，他开始讲述自己在那段经历中的所得。

　　One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said,

　　有一天，当普拉姆和他的妻子在一家餐馆用餐时，另一张桌子的一个人走过来对他说：

　　You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!

　　你是普拉姆吧？在越南的时候你在小鹰号上驾驶喷气战机。后来你被击落了！

　　How in the world did you know that? asked Plumb.

　　你到底是怎么知道这些的？普拉姆吃惊地问。

　　I packed your parachute, the man replied.

　　你的降落伞就是我打的包，那个人回答，

　　Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.

　　普拉姆听后既大吃一惊又心怀感激。

　　The man pumped his hand and said, I guess it worked!

　　我想你的降落伞没出问题吧！

　　Plumb assured him, It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today.

　　普拉姆肯定地告诉他：一点问题也没有，不然，今天我也不可能在这儿了。

　　Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man.

　　那个晚上普拉姆辗转反侧。

　　Plumb says, I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers.

　　他说：我不停地想他穿海军制服时的样子。我很想知道在小鹰号上我有多少次经过他的身旁。

　　I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning, how are you?' or anything because,

　　我很想知道有多少次我可能看到过他却从没对他说一句早上好之类的问候。

　　you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.

　　如果说到原因，你看，仅仅因为我是飞行员而他是水手。

　　Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship,carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

　　普拉姆想那个水手不知道花了多少时间待在航母深处的某张长木桌旁， 在那儿他认真仔细地编织吊伞索并为每个降落伞打包。在他手里的每个降落伞都影响着那些与他素未相识的人的生命。

　　Now, Plumb asks his audience, Who's packing your parachute?

　　此刻，他问他的听众又是谁为你编的降落伞呢？

　　Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.

　　对每个人来说都有个人给他提供了能度过难关的东西。

　　He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory—he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute,and his spiritual parachute.

　　普拉姆还说当他的飞机在敌区被击中后他其实需要很多种降落伞，他需要身体上的，精神上的，情感上的，以及心灵上的。

　　He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

　　在安全之前，他需要所有这些支持。

　　Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important.

　　有时，在应对生活给予我们的日常挑战中，我们忽略了真正重要的东西。

　　We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them,give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

　　我们或许没能说声你会，有劳，或者谢谢，还有向遇到喜事的人说声祝贺，向别人说声赞扬的话，或者是不图任何回报做好事。

　　As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

　　所以当你度过这周，这个月，以及这一年时，请看清为你编降落伞的人吧。

　　1.lecture about 作报告，办讲座

　　We found the lecture about the manned spacecraft terrific.

　　我们发觉关于载人航天飞机的讲座太棒了。

　　Great way of having a lecture about local fauna and flora.

　　有关於地方动物群和植物的一个演讲的大师方法。

　　2.come up to 达到；将近；来到近旁

　　I find that people are just wonderful because people come up to me all the time and I think it is because the character is so accessible that they feel it is how I am, too.

　　我发现人们实在太好了，大家一直都来关心我，而我觉得这是因为这个角色很亲切所以都觉得我应该也是这个样子的。

　　Some parents, she said, would come up to her and ask about a magic pill or vitamin "to cure their child."

　　她说，有些家长会来找她，问她有没有特效药或者维生素“来医好他们的孩子。”

　　3.call on 号召；要求

　　One of Kenya's leading churchmen has called on the government to resign...

　　肯尼亚一位高级宗教人士要求政府下台。

　　Frequently he was called upon to resolve conflicts.

　　不断有人要求他出面解决冲突。

　　4.fail to 未能

　　Things change and when you fail to grasp that truth you suffer.

　　世事变迁，而且你也未能领会承受折磨的真相。

　　Every year flying cars fail to take to the skies is a disappointment.

　　每一年，天空中都未能出现飞翔的汽车，这真是令人失望。