Six Billion Worlds

沐光

I can still recall1 the day when I sat on the stairs of a temple in Nepal. The square before the temple became very muddy as a result of the rain. We had to walk on a path made by a line of bricks2 on the muddy ground.

A friend of mine complained3 all the way while she stepped on the bricks walki-ng towards me. Looking around she said very impatiently4， “disgusting indeed！ What if I fall into the dirty water？”

Since I knew her very well， I nodded cautiously5， hoping to comfort6 her by my silent sympathy7.

A few minutes later another friend of mine came to the same scene. She stepped on the brickpath dancing briskly8 and singing， “Jump， jump， jump！” until she reached the dry ground. She couldnt help shouting， “What a fun it is！” Eyes beaming with joy， she made the remarks， “The most pleasant thing of the rainy season is that one can enti-rely be free from dust.”

In the eyes of the two there were two different worlds. As the world has a population of 6 billion， it follows that there should be 6 billion worlds.

記得某個下午，我坐在尼泊爾寺廟的樓梯上。雨水把整個寺廟廣場弄得泥濘不堪，我們在地上鋪磚塊作走道。

一位朋友邊抱怨邊踏著磚塊走來。她走到我面前，以一種極為不耐煩的態(tài)度環(huán)顧四周，然后說：“真惡心！如果我掉進(jìn)這些臟水里怎么辦？”

因為十分了解她，所以我謹(jǐn)慎地點點頭，希望通過這些無言的同情，令她舒服些。

幾分鐘后，另一個朋友也來到這個泥濘的廣場，她一面在磚塊上跳著，一面唱著：“跳，跳，跳！”最后踩到干地上時，還大呼：“真好玩！”她的雙眼閃爍著喜悅的光芒，然后說：“雨季最棒的就是沒有灰塵?！?/p>

兩個人，兩種不同的看世界的方式；60億人，60億個世界。

1. recall [r??k??l] vt. 召回；恢復(fù)；回想起 n. 回憶；取消；召回

2. brick [br?k] n. 磚，磚塊；磚狀物

3. complain [k?m?ple?n] vi. 抱怨；控訴；訴說

4. impatiently [?m?pe??ntli] adv. 不耐煩地，急躁地

5. cautiously [?k????sli] adv. 謹(jǐn)慎地，小心地

6. comfort [?k?mf?t] vt. 安慰；使舒服 n. 安慰；舒適

7. sympathy [?s?mp?θi] n. 同情，同情心

8. briskly [?br?skli] adv. 輕快地；活潑地endprint