雙語哲理故事：一棵樹的四季

摘錄：不要只在某人某段艱難的歲月裏去判斷他的一生。

Don't judge a life by one difficult season.

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

不要只在某人某段艱難的歲月裏去判斷他的一生。

從前，一個父親有4個兒子。他希望兒子們能學會凡事勿匆下結論，於是輪番派遣他們到很遠的地方去尋一棵梨樹。

大兒子是冬天去的，二兒子春天啓程，老三去時已是炎熱的夏季，老麼於金秋時節踏上了征程。

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no - it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

待他們全都尋樹歸來以後，父親把他們叫到一起，聽他們各自描述自己的所見。

大兒子數落說大樹枝彎幹斜，很難看。二兒子連忙否認，說樹上發滿嫩綠的新芽，生機盎然。

老三不同意了，樹上明明開滿鮮花，吐露芬芳，漂亮極了。

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are - and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life - can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall. Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

他們的說法實在讓老麼啞然，枝頭上墜滿的難道不是累累果實，在彰顯生機與收穫嗎?

父親解釋說，兒子們的說法都沒錯，因爲他們看到的是大樹一年四個季節裏的不同情景。

他告訴兒子們說，不能以一季來判斷樹，更不能以一時來判斷人，因爲人之本質——源自他們喜、樂、愛的根本——只有在其生之了結時，纔可蓋棺論定。

倘若你在冬季就已放棄，那無疑會錯過春季的生機、夏季的美麗和秋季的收益。勿爲一季的痛苦而破壞了所有的歡樂。