真正的勇敢

逞強(qiáng)好勝、過分自信并不是真正的勇敢。真正勇敢的人，敢于承認(rèn)自己的不足，虛心向人請(qǐng)教后再次整裝出發(fā)！

It was the first day of our youth group ski trip. While I waited for the ski lift， I saw a booth offering ski lessons. I considered taking an hour—long lesson， but then I heard my voice in my head： Nah1， you don’t need any help. After all， you’ve skied once before. You’ll be fine.

As I stood on the edge of the beginner’s slope， my confidence shrank. After all， I hadn’t skied for two years. And even then， I’d only taught myself to ski well enough to make it down once or twice without falling. But surely， I’d be able to figure it out 2.

So， I pushed off 3 and built up speed. I lasted about 15 feet before collapsing into the snow. No problem. That was just one mistake， I thought. You got this. I was just kidding myself. I was like an out—of—control moose4 on roller skates5. My skis crossed each other. I couldn’t stop or turn. I couldn’t even slow down to less than 120 miles an hour.

I fell about eight times on that beginner’s slope before I finally came to a stop at the bottom by hitting a small tree.

The second time down， I only fell four times so I figured I was getting better. I rode up the ski lift for a third try with my friend Mike. From up above the slope， I watched my friends gently gliding down the hill in wide， slow turns. All of a sudden I realized we were at the lift ramp6！I struggled to get my feet under me so I could hop off. But before I could get my footing7， the lift chair shoved8 me over some traffic cones and into a snowbank.

I yelled at the traffic cones， brushed snow off myself and then hobbled9 over to where a few of my friends waited.

“You guys are ready to go down？” I asked Mike and Jen.

Mike laughed. “We’re ready， but you seem to even have problems with traffic cones.”

“Oh， that wasn’t my fault，” I said.“Those cones were in the wrong place. Let’s go！”

Twenty seconds later， I was digging myself out of 3 feet of snow. Jen was there to help me. I asked her and Mike for advice on how to control myself and gently swoosh10 from one side of the hill to the other instead of rocketing at 300 miles per hour. Jen gave me some tips. That’s it， I thought. I am all set！

I pushed off like Jen showed me and tried to slowly turn into a gradual glide across the slope. Instead， my skis turned straight down the hill and I reached maximum speed. BOOM. I plowed into11 a fence.

“Todd， you might really hurt yourself，” Jen said gently. “I think you should take a lesson.”

I don’t need help！ I screamed in my head. With that， I stood up and rocketed down the hill. Near the bottom of the hill， my left ski flew out from under me. My upper body flew forward. My entire weight landed on my face， and I skidded down the hill about 10 feet.

My face hurt. My glasses were 3 feet away. My head throbbed12. There was blood all over the snow. People stopped to see if I was OK. “I’m fine，” I told the crowd without looking up at them. “I don’t need help.”

As my head pounded and my face started to swell， I finally admitted to myself that I couldn’t keep doing this. I was dangerous to myself and others. That’s when I finally admitted to myself that I should have taken lessons earlier that morning.

After stopping at the First Aid building for Advil13 and an ice pack， I swallowed my pride and marched up to the ski lessons booth. “I need lessons，” I said with my lips swollen to the size of bananas， bloody cuts all over my face and my right eye swelling shut.

As I waited for my lesson， I felt foolish for ever thinking I could’ve done this myself. But， still， I worried about what the instructor would think of me. At my lesson， though， the instructor complimented14 me for having the courage to try again after my accident. He watched how I skied and offered advice. Before I knew it， I could turn！ I could stop！ Instead of fear and panic， I felt confidence and enjoyment. I could actually ski—not just careen15 downhill！

After my lesson， I went down the “face plant16” hill and completely mastered it. At the bottom， Mike said， “I couldn’t believe that was you. You’re completely transformed！”

As he and I took the ski lift up to go again， I thought about my day. I thought about how much I’d fallen. I also thought about how stubborn I’d been through it all. Only when I’d really hurt myself， had I finally admitted I needed help. I realized that this doesn’t just happen with skiing. I’ve done it in other ways， too. When I’ve faced tough problems， or when I’ve wrestled with sin， way17 too many times I’ve thought， I can do it. I can handle this. And， then， it has only gotten worse. Real transformation， I thought to myself， only comes when I ask advice from others who are wiser than me and accept it with an open mind.

When I easily slid off the lift chair and past those troublesome traffic cones， I thanked for a lesson learned. I also thanked for learning to take the lesson to heart before I found myself， one more time， lying flat on my face.

這是我們青年團(tuán)滑雪之旅的第一天。我在等候滑雪纜車的時(shí)候，看見一個(gè)提供滑雪課程的亭子。我想去上一個(gè)小時(shí)的課，但是接著我聽到腦海中響起了自己的聲音：不，你不需要任何幫助。畢竟，你以前滑過一次雪。你不會(huì)有事的。

當(dāng)我站在初級(jí)道的斜坡上時(shí)，我膽怯了。畢竟，我已經(jīng)有兩年沒滑雪了。而且，即使是當(dāng)年滑雪的時(shí)候，我也只是自學(xué)，并且最多也就只有一兩次能滑到山底而中途不摔倒。但是當(dāng)然，我能自己搞明白的。

于是，我滑離雪坡，開始加速。我滑了大約15英尺遠(yuǎn)，就摔倒在雪中。沒關(guān)系，只是個(gè)失誤，我想。你明白了。我只是在哄騙自己。我像一只穿著溜冰鞋失去控制的駝鹿一樣。我的滑雪板交叉到了一起。我停不下來，也轉(zhuǎn)不了彎。我甚至無法將時(shí)速減至120英里以下。

在初級(jí)道上，我大約摔倒過八次，最后還是因?yàn)樽采狭艘豢眯洳旁谘┢碌撞客Ａ讼聛怼?/p>

在第二次下滑的過程中，我只跌倒了四次，所以，我認(rèn)為自己正在進(jìn)步。我和朋友邁克一起乘坐滑雪纜車上去，做第三次嘗試。從雪坡頂往下看，我看到我的朋友們正在輕輕地畫著弧線，慢慢地從山上滑下去。突然，我意識(shí)到我們正在滑雪纜車的坡道上！我使勁蹬了蹬雙腳，以便跳離坡道。但還沒等我的雙腳落地，滑雪纜車的升降椅就推著我越過一些路錐，把我推進(jìn)一道雪堤中。

我沖著那些路錐大喊，把雪從身上拂掉，然后一瘸一拐地走到幾個(gè)朋友那兒去。他們正在那兒等我。

“你們準(zhǔn)備滑下去了嗎？”我問邁克和耶恩。

邁克大笑起來。“我們準(zhǔn)備好了，但你似乎連路錐也不放過?！?/p>

“噢，那不是我的錯(cuò)?！蔽艺f?！澳切┞峰F放錯(cuò)了地方。我們走吧！”

20秒鐘后，我正在從三英尺高的雪堆中往外爬。耶恩在那兒幫我。我向她和邁克尋求建議，問他們我該如何掌握平衡，如何慢慢地從山的一邊滑向另一邊，而不是以每小時(shí)300英里的速度沖下去。耶恩告訴了我一些技巧。行了，我想。我準(zhǔn)備就緒了！

我像耶恩演示給我看的那樣出發(fā)了，盡量在雪坡上慢慢地下滑。但是，我的滑雪板轉(zhuǎn)頭筆直地向著山下沖去，速度達(dá)到了最大值。砰！我撞破了一道籬笆。

“托德，你可能真的會(huì)受傷的，”耶恩輕聲地說，“我想你應(yīng)該去上課?！?/p>

我不需要幫助！我腦中有個(gè)聲音在尖叫。于是，我站起來，急速向山下滑去?？斓缴降椎臅r(shí)候，我左邊的滑雪板從腳下飛了出去。我的上半身向前飛出，整個(gè)身體的重量都落在了我的臉上，我向山下滑出了大約10英尺遠(yuǎn)。

我的臉受傷了，眼鏡也跌落在三英尺開外的地方。我的腦袋悸跳著作痛，雪地上到處都是血。人們都停下來看我是否還好?！拔液芎?，”我看都沒看圍觀的人群就說，“我不需要幫助?！?/p>

當(dāng)我的腦袋嗡嗡作響，我的臉開始腫脹的時(shí)候，我終于對(duì)自己承認(rèn)不能再這樣下去了。我這樣做對(duì)自己和別人都很危險(xiǎn)。直到那時(shí)，我才終于向自己承認(rèn)我那天早晨應(yīng)該去上上滑雪課。

我去急救站取了一些止痛藥和一個(gè)冰袋。我收起自尊，來到上滑雪課的亭子?！拔倚枰险n?！蔽艺f，雙唇腫脹得像根香蕉那么粗，臉上到處都是血口子，右眼也腫得睜不開了。

在等著上課的時(shí)候，我為曾經(jīng)認(rèn)為能自學(xué)成材感到愚蠢。但是，我仍然在擔(dān)心教練對(duì)我的看法。但在上課的時(shí)候，教練稱贊我在出事之后仍然有重新嘗試的勇氣。他觀察我如何滑雪，然后給出建議。我還沒意識(shí)到是怎么一回事，就能夠轉(zhuǎn)彎了！也能夠停下來了！我不但沒有感到害怕和恐慌，反而感到了自信和喜悅。我真的會(huì)滑雪了——而不只是猛沖下山哦！

上過課之后，我從那個(gè)曾讓我“跌得鼻青臉腫”的小山上滑下來，完全征服了它。在山腳下，邁克說：“我簡直不能相信那是你。你完全變了一個(gè)樣！”

當(dāng)我又和他一起乘坐滑雪纜車上山的時(shí)候，我回想起我這一天的經(jīng)歷。我想到我摔得有多狠。我還想到在整個(gè)過程中我有多么頑固。只有當(dāng)我真正讓自己受了傷，我才終于承認(rèn)自己需要幫助。我意識(shí)到并不只是在滑雪的時(shí)候是這樣，我在其他方面也是如此。當(dāng)我遇到棘手的問題或者和不良思想作斗爭的時(shí)候，我也曾以為，我能行，我能搞定。然而，事情往往會(huì)變得更糟。我心里想，只有當(dāng)我能向比我更高明的人請(qǐng)教，并能虛心接受他們的建議時(shí)，我才會(huì)真正地改變。

當(dāng)我輕松地從滑雪纜車的升降椅上滑下來，繞開那些棘手的路錐時(shí)，我感激自己學(xué)到了這一課。我還感激自己懂得了在再次摔個(gè)臉朝地之前就去上課。

注釋

1. nah adv. <口> <粗> = no

2. figure out： <美口> 想出；理解，明白

3. push off： 離開；出發(fā)

4. moose n.【動(dòng)】駝鹿

5. roller skate： 旱冰鞋，四輪溜冰鞋，轱轆鞋

6. ramp n. （機(jī)動(dòng)車、輪椅等使用的）坡道

7. footing n. （在易滑或危險(xiǎn)表面的）站穩(wěn)，站住

8. shove vt. <口> 推，猛推

9. hobble vi. 跛行，一瘸一拐地行走

10. swoosh vi. 嘩嘩地迅速移動(dòng)（或灌注）等

11. plow into： 猛地沖入；猛撞；

plow = plough vi. 奮力前進(jìn)

12. throb vi. 抽動(dòng)，抽痛，跳動(dòng)著作痛

13. Advil： 一種解熱鎮(zhèn)痛藥

14. compliment vt. 贊美；恭維；祝賀

15. careen vi. 奔馳，猛沖

16. face plant： （在溜冰、騎車等運(yùn)動(dòng)中）臉朝下重

重摔了一跤

17. way adv. 遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地，大大地，非常