The Donkey One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off! Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive. 2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happen. 3. Live simply and appreciate what you have. 4. Give more. 5. Expect less NOW -------- Enough of that crap . . The donkey later came back and bit the sh*t out of the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected, and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock. MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON: When you do something wrong and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you. 来源: http://www.jokeswarehouse.com
(转载自本人新浪博客: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4e4cb9a70100ahzd.html ) 英文meditation这个词有两次给我留下了深刻印象。 一次是听Sting演唱的《这个杀手不太冷》里的那首略显晦涩的歌曲Shape of My Heart,第一句就是He deals the cards as a meditation。歌词很有挑战性,害得我反复品嚼,一度欲罢不能。 再一次,就是今年《沉思录(Meditations)》一书的热卖。这一回,我是彻底看不懂了。不是书的内容看不懂,是何以热卖没搞懂。 我记得三联书店2002年出过一版,也是何怀宏教授译的,却没多少人知道。这次中央编译出版社一口气出了《沉思录》、《沉思录-中英双语典藏版》、《沉思录-青少版》多个版本,在各大书店都被摆在了明显的位置。出版社很善于赶趟儿,三联的自然也就再版了,甚至连梁实秋先生翻译的版本也出现了(江苏文艺出版社)。此外还有陕西师大版的《马上沉思录》等。同样的内容蜂拥而至,这样的景象在书界已是司空见惯。 中央编译版的《沉思录-中英双语典藏版》封面上有一行字:温总理读了百遍的案头书。这行字可不是放在腰封上、书签上或是什么附加材料上,而是真真地印在了封面上。看到这样的包装,我忽然想起在一期鲁豫有约里鲁豫坦诚敬告某位嘉宾的那句话:别拿总理说事儿!我觉得策划这本书的人是否也该沉思一下:这合适吗?领导人也能成为商业元素(和国际接轨?),也许只有中央编译社有这个底气。 不仅如此,在这行字的下面还有一句:每个人都会有需要读它的时候。这行字让我一阵恶心。把话说到极点是不负责任的商家惯用的伎俩,没想到在如此严肃的读物上也出现了。后来听说这句是从何老师的话里引出来的,我看了上下文,方才有些理解。 照这样看,策划者大概试图把这本书定位在大众励志读物上,这让我颇为困惑。问题是,从市场表现来看它还真的火了,这让我更加困惑。我本以为这种书应该是小众读物。我在想,读者的独立意识都到哪里去了?这么容易被忽悠?我实在看不出这本书对大众而言有多少可读性,让它承载类似普及或启蒙的重任恐怕谈不上。 说心里话,我觉得何老师的译文应属上乘,但我对诸如译文准确简练,优雅凝神的评价仍不敢苟同。作为两千多年前的古罗马帝王,马可奥勒留的原文我们不易看到也未必能看得懂,英文译本恐怕也不止一种,如今再转到中文,什么叫准确已经难以界定了。至于文笔,我看也不要期望能把它当成文学来读。这种古典作品,究竟有多少人有耐心去咀嚼它并且嚼得烂?网上已经有人在说看不太懂了。青少版当然读着省劲儿,但那已经不再是《沉思录》了。 我当然不否认这是一本好书,毕竟是伟人名著,密密麻麻的表述里满是真理和建言。杨绛先生在《走到人生边上》里写道:古罗马皇帝马可奥勒留的《自省录》(注:就是《沉思录》)是他和邻邦交战中写成的。我的《自问自答》是我和自己的老、病、忙斗争中写成的。在斗争中挣扎着写,也不容易。拉一位古代的大皇帝作陪,聊以自豪吧! 但是,宗教般的说教对自卑自责者是一种无上的精神营养,对不乏主见者不过是多余而分神儿的唠叨,而对凑热闹的却只能是一次走过场似的作秀。图书策划者非要不分高低地把大家都忽悠过来不可吗? 随着时间的推移,当它被越来越多的跟风购买者扔到一个角落并逐渐淡忘的时候,您是否觉得,对一本好书而言,有时候畅销也是一种伤害,相互的伤害。 出版者大可以因为商业上的成功而窃喜,但要真以为自己为民众提升智慧做出了贡献,那可就是太过自作多情了。 今天中午,我在书店又看到中央编译社出的《道德情操论》,和《沉思录》一样的包装风格,封面也印上了一句话,一样的火爆并且字体更大:温家宝总理五次推荐的大师巨著。我当然还会翻翻看看,但这次仅仅是翻翻足矣。 下班的路上,我听着MP3,还是那首Shape of My Heart。Sting沧桑而不失细腻的嗓音配上优美的曲调,才是我当下的心情最需要的。 我一直觉得,每一个时代都有属于自己的精神食粮,是多样性让我们的生活如此精彩。对于图书,在品种增长的同时,我们可否让每个品种都单纯一些、地道一些、独特一些,精英的归于精英,大众的归于大众,该厚的厚,该薄的薄,而不是像现在这样,一帮人用尽了智慧,结果却是让一些不伦不类的四不像充斥在我们的周围,甚至连严肃的话题也成了娱乐业的一部分。