假如我再次回到童年

If I were a boy again

If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was difficult or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “who can surmount the pyramids—the eagle and the snail.”

If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once. The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up people say “ I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so,” and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.

If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.

【助讀詞匯】

◇perseverance n. 堅定不移

◇surmount  vt. 越過，登上

◇sermon  n. 布道，講道

◇cultivation  n. 栽培，培養，教養

◇faculty  n. 能力；才能，天賦

【參考譯文】

假如我再次回到童年

假如我再次回到童年，我要加強磨練自己的毅力，決不因為事情艱難或者麻煩而放棄。如果我們要光明，我們就必須征服黑暗，毅力引出的結果有時能同天才相比。俗話說：“能登上金字塔的只有兩種動物——鷹和蝸牛。”

假如我又回到了童年，我要鍛煉我自己養成專心致志的習慣；我決不會讓任何事情阻礙我做事的就。我要牢記：優秀的滑冰手從不試圖同時滑向兩個方向。如果我們及早養成這種專心致志的習慣，它將成為我們生命的一部分。我常聽成年人說：“雖然我希望能集中注意力聽牧師講道或讀書，但這不過是我的希望。”而原因就是年輕時沒有養成這種習慣。

假如我現在能重新開始我的生命，我就要更注意記憶力的培養。我要采取一切可能的辦法，并且在一切可能的場合增強記憶力。剛開始要正確無誤地記住一些東西是需要做出一番努力的，但是不久記憶力本身就會起作用，使得問題迎刃而解，只需及早培養，記憶力就會成為一種力量。

【人生啟迪】

童年對于我們每個人來說都只有一次，并且是彌足珍貴的，有句老話叫做“三歲定八十”，可見童年時候的習慣是可以影響一輩子的。事實上，回到童年對我們來說只是一種奢望，但是只要我們抓住現在，從現在開始改變自己不良的生活習慣，那么相信在未來的日子里，我們的生活一樣會過得多姿多彩。