双语短文 · 最美丽的心

The Most Beautiful Heart　最美丽的心

◎ Alan Muskat

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The people stared—how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought. The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking.” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love—I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges—giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space in my heart. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.


一天，一个年轻人站在镇中心，宣称他的心是全山谷里最美的。一大群人围过来，都称赞他的心的确是最完美的，没有一点污渍或者瑕疵。是的，大家一致认为这确实是他们不曾见过的最美丽的心。年轻人非常得意，更起劲地大声吹嘘自己那颗美丽的心。
突然，一位长者出现在人群前，说：“你的心不如我的美丽。”人群和年轻人都把目光投向老人的心。他的心有力地跳动着，但是却布满了伤痕，有的地方被挖走了，虽然重新补上了，但又补得不甚完好，留下参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方甚至还露出很深的豁口。
大家瞪圆了眼睛，心想：他怎么敢说自己的心更美呢？年轻人看了看老人的心，见是这种情形，不禁笑道：“你一定在开玩笑，和你的心比起来，我的心这么完美，而你的却布满了伤疤和裂痕。”
“是的，”老人说，“你的心看上去如此完美，但我永远不会拿我的和你交换。你看，每一道伤疤都代表我为别人付出的一份爱——我掏出一块心给他们，他们通常也掏出一块回赠给我，但两块难免不能完全一样，所以伤口边缘就留下了疤痕，但我十分珍惜这些伤疤，因为它们能使我想起我们共同拥有的爱。有时我送出了心的碎片，对方却没有回赠，因此就产生了那些沟槽——付出爱本来就是一种冒险。尽管这些伤口很痛苦，并且终日敞开着，但它们时刻提醒着我对他们的爱。我希望有一天，他们会还给我，填补我心里的空缺。所以，现在你明白什么才是真正的美了吧？”
年轻人默默无语地站着，任泪水滑过脸颊。他走到老人面前，把手伸进自己那颗完美而年轻美丽的心里，撕下一块来，双手颤抖着，把它献给老人。
老人接过他的礼物，把它安置在自己的心里，然后他从自己伤痕累累的心上撕下一片，放在年轻人心里的伤口上。很合适，但不是完美吻合的，因为有的边缘凹凸不平。年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美，但比任何时刻都更加美丽，因为老人的爱也流淌到了自己的心里。他们拥抱在一起，然后肩并肩离开了。