The Daffodil Principle水仙花原则

What’s a daffodil？ A pretty yellow flower， right？ Well， sometimes they arewhite too. And gardeners have experimented a bit， leading to mixtures of daffodilswith yellow， white， and pink flowers. Imagine their beauty on a hillside， especiallythere are more daffodils than just“bunch”.

水仙花是什么？很漂亮的黄色花，对吧？嗯，有时候它们也是白色的。园丁们做了一些实验，将黄、白、粉的花混在一起。想象它们在山坡上有多美，特别是水仙花远远不止一簇的时候。

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say， “Mother， you must come seethe daffodils before they are over.”I wanted to go， but it was a two-hour drive fromLaguna to Lake Arrowhead.

好几次我女儿打电话来说：“妈妈，你一定要在水仙花凋谢之前过来看看。”我想去，但从拉古纳到箭头湖要开两个小时的车。

“I will come next Tuesday，”I promised， a little reluctantly3， on her third call.

“我下个周二去。”在她第三次打电话时，我有点不情愿地答应她。

The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still， I had promised， and so I drovethere. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted mygrandchildren， I said， “Forget the daffodils， Carolyn！ The road is invisible4 in theclouds and fog， and there is nothing in the world except you and these children thatI want to see bad enough to drive another inch5！ ”

下一个星期二的清晨，天气寒冷，下着雨。我答应了，所以我还是开车去了。当我终于走进卡洛琳的家，拥抱并问候我的孙子时，我说：“卡洛琳，忘掉那些水仙花吧！ 在云雾中，是看不见路的。除了你和孩子们，在这个世界上，我没有什么特别想去看的，所以不想再开车了！ ”

My daughter smiled calmly and said， “We drive in this all the time，Mom.”

女儿平静地笑着说：“妈妈，我们经常在这样的天气里开车。”

“Well， you won’t get me back on the road until it clears， and then I’mheading for home！ ”I said.

“好吧，除非天气放晴，否则你休想让我回到路上，然后我就要回家了！ ”我说。

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“我希望你能送我去修车厂取我的车。”

“How far will we have to drive？”

“我们还要开多远？”

“Just a few blocks，”Carolyn said.“I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

“就几个街区。”卡洛琳说，“我来开车。我已经习惯了。”

After several minutes， I had to ask， “Where are we going？ This isn’t the way to the garage！ ”

几分钟后，我不得不问：“我们要去哪里？这不是去修车厂的路！ ”

“We’re going to my garage the long way，”Carolyn smiled， “by way of the daffodils.”

“我们要走很远的路去我的修车厂，”卡洛琳笑着说，“路过水仙花。”

“Carolyn，”I said seriously，“please turn around.”

“卡洛琳，”我严肃地说，“请你掉头。”

“It’s all right， Mom， I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

“没事的，妈妈，我保证。如果你错过了这次经历，你将永远不会原谅自己。”

After about twenty minutes， we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw asmall church. On the far side of the church， I saw a hand-lettered sign that read，“Daffodil Garden”. We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand， and Ifollowed Carolyn down the path. Then， we turned a corner of the path， and I lookedup and gasped6. Before me lay the most glorious7 sight. It looked as though someonehad taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak8 and slopes9. The flowers were planted in majestic10， swirling11 patterns—great swaths ofdeep orange， white， lemon yellow， salmon pink， saffron， and butter yellow. Eachdifferent-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like itsown river with its own unique color. There were five acres12 of flowers.

大约20分钟后，我们拐进一条小石子路，我看到了一座小教堂。在教堂的另一边，我看到一个手写的牌子，上面写着“水仙花花园”。我们下了车，每个人都拉着一个孩子的手，我跟着卡洛琳沿着小路走下去。然后，我们拐了一个弯，我抬头一看，深吸了一口气。在我面前展现着最绚丽的景象。就好像有人把一大桶金子倒在山顶和山坡上。这些花被种植成壮观的旋转图案——一大片深橙色、白色、柠檬黄、橙红色、橙黄色和奶油黄色。每一种不同颜色的品种作为一组种植，所以它们像河流一样蜿蜒流淌，有着自己独特的色调。那里的水仙花有五英亩。

“But who has planted this？”I asked Carolyn.

“这是谁种的？”我问卡洛琳。

“It’s just one woman，”Carolyn answered. “She lives here. That’s her home.”Carolyn pointed to a well kept wooden house that looked small and modest13 in themidst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio， we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”was the headline.

“一位女士。”卡洛琳回答，“她就住在这里。这是她的家。”卡洛琳指着一座保存完好的木屋，在一片壮观景象之中，它显得又小又简陋。我们朝房子走去。在院子里，我们看到了一张海报，标题是“我知道你在问的问题的答案”。

The first answer was a simple one.“50，000 bulbs，”it read.

第一个答案很简单，上面写着“50000株”。

The second answer was，“One at a time， by one woman. Two hands， two feet.”

第二个答案是，“一次一株，靠一位女士的双手双脚。”

The third answer was，“Began in 1958.”

第三个答案是，“始于1958年”。

There it was， The Daffodil Principle. For me， that moment was a life-changingexperience.

这就是水仙花原则。对我来说，那一刻是改变我一生的经历。

I thought of this woman whom I had never met， who， more than forty yearsbefore， had begun one bulb at a time to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure14 mountain top. Still， just planting one bulb at a time， year after year， hadchanged the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in whichshe lived. She had created something of indescribable15 magnificence16， beauty，and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatestprinciples.

我思考着这个我素未谋面的女士，四十多年前，她开始一株一株地种植水仙花，把她对美丽和快乐的憧憬带到一座无名的山顶。就这样，年复一年，每次只种植一株，改变了世界。这个不知名的女士永远地改变了她生活的世界。她创造了一种难以形容的壮丽、美好和鼓舞人心的东西。她的水仙花花园所传授的原则是最伟大的原则之一。

That is， learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time—often just one baby step at a time and learning to love the doing， learning to usethe accumulation17 of time. When we multiply18 tiny pieces of time with smallpieces of daily effort， we too will find we can achieve great things. We can changethe world.

也就是说，学会朝着我们的目标前进，希望一步一个脚印——通常只是一小步，并且学会热爱正在做的事情，学会利用时间的积累。当我们把碎片化的时间乘以每天的微小努力，我们也会发现我们可以完成伟大的事情。我们可以改变世界。

“It makes me sad in a way，”I said to Carolyn.“Whatmight I have achieved if I had thought of a wonderful goalthirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it‘one bulb at a time’through all those years. Just thinkwhat I might have been able to achieve！ ”

“在某种程度上，这让我很伤心。”我向卡洛琳说道，“如果35 年前或40 年前我也能想出一个绝妙的目标，然后多年来‘一次一株’地干下去，我会取得什么成就呢？想想看我可能会取得什么样的成就吧！ ”

My daughter summed up the message of the day inher usual direct way. “Start tomorrow，”she said. It’s sopointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The wayto make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a causefor regret is to only ask， “How can I make the most oftoday？”

我女儿以她一贯直率的方式总结了今天的启示。“从明天开始。”她说。再去想昨天逝去的时光是毫无意义的。要让学习成为一门值得庆祝的课程而不是让你后悔的原因，只需要问：“我如何充分利用今天？”

（英语原文选自：atimetolaugh.org）