The daffodil principle
水仙花法则
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, Mother, you must come and see the daffodils before they are over.
女儿打来好几次电话跟我说：妈妈，水仙花凋落之前，你一定得来看看。
I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.
我委实想去，只是从拉古纳到箭头湖得2个小时的路程。
I will come next Tuesday, I eventually promised though a little reluctantly.
女儿第三次来电，我勉强答应她说：我打算下星期二过去。
The rainy foggy Tuesday came, and I joined my lovely grandchild and Carolyn who then drove us onto a small gravel road after my long tedious journey.
结果星期二一早就下起了雨，还有点凉意。我已经承诺过女儿，便驱车前往。
Several minutes later, a small church came into my view.
几分钟以后，我眼前出现了一个小教堂。
On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that said, Daffodil Garden.
在教堂的对面，有一个手写的标牌：水仙花园。
We got out of the car, each taking one hand of the child.
下了汽车，我和女儿一人一手拽着孩子，
I followed Carolyn down the path.
由女儿带路沿着这条狭窄的小道走着。
Then, we turned a corner of the path.
转一个弯后，
As I looked up, something caught me in gasp.
我举目望去，不由得一惊。
Before me lay the most glorious sight.
眼前的景观瑰丽无比，
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes.
就好似有人把一桶碎金撒满了山顶和山坡。
The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns—great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow.
观其水仙栽植，有的如丝带数条，式样绝好，美丽壮观，摇曳生姿；有的像彩缎几匹，其色洁白、深橙、浅黄、橙红、橘黄、葱黄，一应俱全。
Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.
由于颜色不同，品种各异的水仙分片种植，所以随风摇摆，流动起来宛若花河，独具色调。
There were five acres of flowers.
这里整整有5英亩水仙花。
But who has done this? I asked Carolyn.
这些水仙都是谁种的？我问卡罗琳。
It’s just one woman, Carolyn answered. She lives on the property. That’s her home.
只是一个妇人。卡罗琳答道，她就住在这，看那是她的房子。
Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.
卡罗琳指向一座A字构架的屋子，在周围灿烂辉煌景象的映衬之下，这座房子显得矮小而又简陋。
We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster.
我们朝那间屋子走去，在门前的露台上看到一张海报，
Answers to the Questions I know You Are Asking was the headline.
标题是：我知道你们要问什么，这就是答案。
The first answer was a simple one. 50,000 bulbs, it read.
第一个答案比较简单：5万茎。
The second answer was, One at a time, by one woman.
第二个答案是：一次栽一茎，一名妇人所植，
Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.
用两只手，两条腿，还略动了点脑筋。
The third answer was, Began in 1958.
第三个答案是：开始于1958年。
There it was, The Daffodil Principle.
这就是水仙定律，
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.
对我来说，那一刻的经历使我对于生活有了新的认识。
I thought of this woman whom I had never met,who, more than forty years before, had begun—one bulb at a time—to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.
我想，这位素昧平生的妇人，早在40多年前就—一次一茎水仙—把自己对于美和快乐的理解与想象带给这座无名的小山之巅。
Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world.
每次仅仅栽种一茎，年复一年，却改变了世界。
This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.
这位无名的妇人永远改变了她所居住的世界。
She had created something of ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
她开创的事业雄伟壮观，美妙绝伦，而又鼓舞人心。
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
水仙花园给我们揭示伟大的礼赞法则之一。
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time—often just one baby-step at a time—and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.
即每次只求一步，学着朝着目标努力—也许只是一小步—学着乐于这样做，学会积累时间，
When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.
利用日常琐碎的时间每天努力一点，我们就会发现自己同样能干成大事。
We can change the world.
我们也可以改变世界。
It makes me sad in a way, I admitted to Carolyn.
这多少使我有点难过。我向卡罗琳坦承，
What I might have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years.
如果35或者40年前，我也想到一个宏伟的计划，并且这些年来一次一茎地努力，想一想，
Just think what I might have been able to achieve!
我该会取得多大的成就啊。
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way.Start tomorrow, she said.
女儿以她惯常直率的方式总结今天所得的教益说：那么就从明天开始吧。
词语解释
1.catch in 处于困境
But I have a train to catch in an hour. I'll give a lecture this evening and tomorrow.
不过我要赶火车，不到一小时了。今晚和明天都有课。
There is a catch in his question.
他的问话中有圈套。
2.as though 好像，仿佛
But the police never acted as though he was.
但警察的行为就好像他是非法的一样。
As though each of us were its first kill.
好像对于我们每个人它都是初试身手。
