Follow Your Dream—the Monty　Roberts Story 為夢想而堅持的羅伯茨

Follow Your Dream—the Monty　Roberts Story 為夢想而堅持的羅伯茨

◎ Jack Canfield

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.

我有個朋友叫曼迪·羅伯茨，他在圣思多羅有座牧馬場。他常把他的房子借我用來舉辦籌款活動，所籌得的錢作為青少年的計劃籌備基金。

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.”

上次活動時，他在引薦我時說：“我想告訴你我把房子借給杰克是有原因的。一切都得回到這樣一個故事上：有一個男孩，他的父親是位馬術(shù)師，他從小就必須跟著父親東奔西跑，從這個比賽到那個比賽，從這個農(nóng)場到那個牧場。男孩的求學生涯總是因此被打斷。當他還是個高中生時，有次老師要求全班同學寫一篇文章，題目是長大后的志愿。

That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4 000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.”

“那天晚上他洋洋灑灑地寫了七頁紙，描述他的偉大志愿，那就是有朝一日擁有一座屬于自己的牧馬農(nóng)場。他寫下了關(guān)于這個夢想的所有細節(jié)，甚至畫了一張兩百畝的農(nóng)場設(shè)計圖，上面標有馬廄、跑道等所有建筑的位置。然后，在這一大片農(nóng)場中央，他還要建造一棟占地四千平方英尺的豪宅。

“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’”

“他花了好大心血把報告完成了，第二天交給了老師。兩天后，他拿回了報告，第一頁上打了一個又紅又大的F，旁邊還寫了一行字：‘下課后來見我?！?

“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive a F?’”

“腦中充滿幻想的他下課后帶著報告去找老師：‘為什么給我不及格？’

“The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’”

“老師說：‘你一個年紀輕輕的小男孩，不要老做這種白日夢。你沒錢，沒家庭背景，什么都沒有。蓋座農(nóng)場養(yǎng)馬可是個花錢的大工程；你要購買土地，你得購買純種馬匹，花錢照顧它們，繳納一大筆費用。你別太好高騖遠了?！缓笏又f，‘如果你肯重寫一個更加實際的志愿，我會重新考慮給你打分?！?

“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’”

“這男孩回家后，反反復復思量了好久。然后他去詢問父親的意見。父親告訴他：‘看哪，兒子，這是一個很重要的決定，你必須自己作決定?！?

“Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.’”

“最后，一個星期后，他決定把原稿交回，一個字都不改。他告訴老師：‘你可以就給我那個不及格的分數(shù)，我也會一直堅持我的夢想?！?

Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4 000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.’”

曼迪轉(zhuǎn)向眾人，說：“我告訴你們這個故事，是因為各位現(xiàn)在就坐在那兩百畝農(nóng)場內(nèi)，那占地四千平方英尺的豪宅里。那份高中時寫的文章我現(xiàn)在還留著呢?！彼D了一下，補充道：“最有意思的是，兩年前的夏天，那位老師帶了三十個學生來我農(nóng)場露營一星期。離開之前，他對我說：‘曼迪，現(xiàn)在我有些話要對你說。當我做你的老師時，我是一個盜夢者。這些年來，我拿走了不少學生的夢想。不過幸好，你有足夠的進取心堅持自己的夢想?！?

Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

不要讓任何人偷走你的夢想。不管發(fā)生什么事，跟隨自己的心，勇往直前。

超多雙語閱讀，盡在聽力課堂