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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
the Daffodil principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over. "I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful1 sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel2 road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I follow wed3 Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped4. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat5 of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic6 swirling7 patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon8 pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled9 and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue10. There were five acres of flowers.
"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed11 to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio12, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration .
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments13 of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world .
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished14 if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow" , she said.
1 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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2 gravel | |
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石 | |
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3 wed | |
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚 | |
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4 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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5 vat | |
n.(=value added tax)增值税,大桶 | |
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6 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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7 swirling | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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8 salmon | |
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的 | |
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9 swirled | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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11 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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12 patio | |
n.庭院,平台 | |
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13 increments | |
n.增长( increment的名词复数 );增量;增额;定期的加薪 | |
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14 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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