A Heart's-Ease 心安草

A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withered and dying.

He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine.The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes, like the vine.The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree.The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac……and so on all through the garden.

Coming to a heart's-ease, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever.“Well, heart's-ease, I'm glad, amidst all this discouragement, to find one brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened.”

“No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a vine, or a peach tree, or a geranium, or a lilac, you would have planted one；but as I knew you wanted a heart's-ease, I am determined to be the best little heart's-ease that I can.”

这个故事是这样的：一个国王清晨走进花园，发现所有的草木已经枯萎，奄奄一息了。

于是，他问门边的橡树究竟发生了什么事。原来是它们消极厌世、一心求死，因为橡树觉得自己不如松树般高大、秀丽；而松树为自己无法如葡萄藤那般结满果实而沮丧；葡萄藤则为自己无法直立，并且无法像桃树那样结出上好的果实而想结束生命；天竺葵也焦躁不安，因为它觉得自己不如紫丁香那样修长、芳香……于是，整个花园都了无生气。

国王走到一株心安草面前，发现它仍然神采奕奕，如从前般欢乐。“你好，心安草，我感到非常高兴，所有的草木都对自己失去了信心，只有你能勇敢地生活，没有丝毫气馁。”

“虽然我并没有什么值得骄傲的东西，但我想，如果你想要一棵橡树，或松树、葡萄，或桃树、天竺葵、丁香，你就会去种它们，而我知道你想要一株心安草，所以我决心尽我所能做一株最好的心安草。”

Practising&Exercise 实战提升篇

单词注解

humbIe['hʌmbl]a.卑微的；（身份）低下的

Iantern['læntən]n.灯笼；灯塔

determine[di'tə：min]v.（下）决心，做决定

disheartened[dis'ha：tnd]a.沮丧的，灰心的

实用句型

One day a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country.一天，一个富有的爸爸带着儿子进行了一次乡村之旅。

The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes.而松树为自己不如葡萄藤那般结满丰硕的果实而沮丧。

智慧点津

If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude toward life, you've got everything！You can't buy any of these things. You can have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing！

如果你拥有了爱情、朋友、家庭、健康、幽默和积极的生活态度，你就拥有了一切。这些东西是金钱买不到的。你可以拥有你想象中的任何物质财富和为将来做的储备，但假若你精神贫乏，将是一无所有的。

Others may do a greater work, but you have your part to do；and no one in all God's heritage can do it so well as you.

别人的工作或许比你更伟大，但你有你的职责，在上帝的子民中，没有人能比你做得更好！