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发表于 2003-12-12 00:07
Never Too Old to Live Your Dream
梦想终有成真时
By Dan Clark
夕阳无限好，是因为还有追求，还有梦想。相信读者会和我一样，从ROSE的故事中得到很多。
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The first day of school our professor introduced himself to our chemistry class and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.1
She said, "Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.2
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?"3 I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one !" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.4 We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized5 listening to this "time machine"6 as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the school year, Rose became a campus icon7 and easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students.8 She was living it up.9
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet and I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.10 As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three-by-five cards11 on the floor. Frustrated and a bit embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery.12 I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me!13 I'll never get my speech back in order to let me just tell you what I know." As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began:
"We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success.
"You have to laugh and find humor each and every day.
"You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and they don't even know it!
"There is a giant difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability.14 The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.
"Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.15
At year's end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to16 the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.
1. 我转身看见一个满脸皱纹的小老太太冲着我笑，那满脸的笑容使她整个人显得容光焕发。beam: （面）露喜色； light up:使容光焕发。
2. 她给了我一个着着实实的拥抱。
3. “您怎么会在这么年轻天真的年纪上大学？”（注意这里作者用的是开玩笑的口气。）
4. 课后我们一起走到学生会楼合喝了一杯巧克力奶昔。milkshake: 奶昔。
5. mesmerized: 着迷的。
6. time machine: 时间机器，一种科学幻想中的机器，可载人往返于现在、未来和过去之间。这里是指以Rose如此高龄，自然是已通晓过去、现在和将来。
7. icon: 偶像，崇拜对象。
8. 她陶醉在其他学生给她的关注中。revel: 陶醉，着迷； bestow upon: 把……给予。
9. live it up: ＜口＞充分享受生活乐趣。
10. podium: 讲台。
11. 3英寸宽 5英寸长的卡片。
12. jittery: ＜口＞紧张不安的。
13. 我不喝啤酒改喝Lent，这种威士忌酒要了我的命了！Lent:一种威士忌的牌子。
14 那不需要任何天赋和才能。
15 她鼓励我们每一个人学会歌词并且在日常生活中照此力行。lyrics:歌词； live out:实践，身体力行。
16 in tribute to :向……表示敬意。
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