Dr. Gibbs 吉布斯医生

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Dr. Gibbs 吉布斯医生

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. 

小时候，我有一个叫吉布斯的医生老邻居，
He was very nice, and never yelled at us for playing in his yard.

他人很好，我们在他的院子里玩耍的时候，他从不对我们大喊大叫。
When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. 

吉布斯医生不拯救人性命的时候就去种树，
His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.

他的住所占地10英亩，他的人生目标就是将这10英亩土地变成一片森林。
He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. 

他从不浇灌他新种的树，这显然有驳常理。

Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them, 

有一次我问为什么，他说浇水会毁了这些树，
and that if you water them, each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. 

如果你给它们浇水，每一棵成活的树的后代会变得越来越娇弱，
So you have to make things rough for them and weed out the weenie trees early on.

所以，你得把它们的生长环境变得艰苦些，尽早淘汰那些弱不禁风的树。

He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, 

他还告诉我用水浇灌的树的根是如何的浅，
and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. 

而那些没有被浇水的树的根必须钻入深深的泥土获得水分。
I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.

我将他的话理解为：根深蒂固是十分宝贵的，
So he never watered his trees. 

所以他从不给他的树浇水。
He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. 

他种了一棵橡树，每天早上，他不但不给它浇水，还用一张卷起的报纸抽打它。
Smack! Slap! Pow!

“啪！噼！砰！”

I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

我问他为什么这样做，他说是为了引起树的注意。

Dr. Gibbs went to glory a couple of years after I left home. 

在我离家两年后，吉布斯医生就去世了，
Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. 
我常常经过他的房子，看着那些25年前，我曾看着他种下的那些树。

They’re granite strong now. Big and robust.

如今它们很强壮，枝繁叶茂、生气勃勃。
I planted a couple of trees a few years back. 

几年前我也种了几棵树。
Carried water to them for a solid summer. Sprayed them. Prayed over them. 整整一个夏天我都坚持为它们浇水，为它们喷杀虫剂，为它们祈祷。
The whole nine yards. 

这块9平方码大的地方，

Two years of coddling has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. 

经过我两年的悉心呵护，结果却是两棵树弱不禁风。
Whenever a cold wind blows in, they tremble and chatter their branches.
每当寒风吹起，它们就颤抖起来，枝叶打战。

Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs’. 

吉布斯医生的树真是有趣,
Adversity and deprivation seemed to benefit them in ways comfort and ease never could.

逆境和折磨带给它们的益处，似乎是舒适和安逸永远无法给予的。
Every night before I go to bed, I pray for my two sons. 

每天晚上睡觉前，我都要为两个儿子祈祷，
Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. 

总是祈祷他们的生活能一帆风顺，
But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer.

但后来我想是该改变我的祈祷词的时候了。
So I’m changing my prayer. Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not. 

所以我改变了我的祈祷词，因为不管我们愿不愿意，生活总是艰难的，

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