誰值得幫助

Who Deserves Help?

Many years ago, there lived a very rich man who wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help. So he placed a very large stone in the center of the main road into town. Then he hid behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

“Who put this stone in the center of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued his way. Another man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone in the center of the road, but not one of them tried to remove it. Late in the afternoon, a young man came along. He saw the stone and said, “The night will be very dark. Some neighbor will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

The young man then began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his strength to move it to one side. But imagine his surprise when under the stone he found a bag full of money and this message: “This money is for the thoughtful person who removes this stone from the road. That person deserves help.”

【參考譯文】

誰值得幫助

很多年以前，居住著一個非常富有的人，他想為城鎮里的人們做些事。但他首先想知道他們是否值得幫助。因此他在入城的主要道路中心放了一塊非常大的石頭，然后他藏在一棵樹的后面等著。很快一個老人帶著一頭母牛走過來了。

“誰在路的中心放這塊石頭呀？”老人說， 但他并沒有嘗試去移走那塊石頭。相反, 他比較困難地跨過石頭，繼續他的路程。另一個人走過來了，并且做了同樣的事；然后另一個又來了，每個都如此。他們全部都抱怨石頭擋在路的中心，但他們當中沒有試著移走它。下午過后, 一個年輕人走過來了。他看見了石頭說，“晚上會很黑的。哪個鄰居在天黑后路過這里，會給石頭絆倒的。”

年輕人于是開始移走石頭。他推呀推，用盡所有的力氣去把石頭推到一邊。結果他在石頭下面發現了一個裝滿金錢的袋子和這樣一個紙條：“這些錢是給那個從路中搬走石頭的體貼的人。那個人是值得幫助的。”你可以想像他有多驚喜!

【人生啟迪】

在生活中，有時對于我們只是舉手之勞的事，對幫別人可能是一個莫大的幫助。其實，當我們用滿腔的熱忱去幫助別人時，我們也會很開心；同時，當別人因得到幫助而開心時，我們就會感到無比的快樂——說不定因為你今天為別人伸出了一只手，明天回報你的可能是一個擁抱！