The Wise Man Ended the Rumor

楊禮根

Life is often like a game of cards—you can’t help the hand you’re dealt， but you can help the way you play it. It is easy for us to do something without careful thinking， but it’s hard for us to take back what we have done.

人生如一場紙牌游戲，手中的牌無法更改，怎么玩卻由自己決定。我們往往會(huì)不經(jīng)認(rèn)真思考就做出一些事情，但是做出的事將覆水難收。

There was once a woman who repeated a rumor about a neighbour. Within a few days， the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The victim2 it concerned was deeply hurt and annoyed. Later， the woman who was responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to make up for the damage.

從前，有個(gè)婦人到處說她鄰居的謠言。沒過幾天，整個(gè)街坊都知道這件事。受害人飽受傷害和困擾。之后，散布了這個(gè)謠言的婦人發(fā)現(xiàn)謠言并不屬實(shí)。她為此感到很抱歉，于是向一位智慧的長者尋求幫助，看看自己還能做些什么來彌補(bǔ)已造成的傷害。

“Go to the marketplace，” he said， “and buy a chicken， and have it killed. Then on your way home， pluck3 its feathers and drop them one by one along the road.” Although surprised by this advice， the woman did what she was told.

他說：“你去集市上買只雞，把它殺了?；貋淼穆飞?，你拔下雞毛，沿路一根一根地撒下來?！眿D人對這個(gè)建議很是詫異，不過她還是照做了。

The next day， the wise man said， “Now， go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me.”

第二天，智者說：“現(xiàn)在，你去找到你昨天撒下的所有雞毛，帶回來給我?！?/p>

The woman followed the same road， but to her disappointment4， the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours， she returned with only three in her hand. “You see，” said the wise man， “It’s easy to drop them， but it’s impossible to get them back. So it is with rumor. It doesn’t take much to spread a rumor， but once you do， you can never completely make up for the wrong behavior.”

婦人沿著昨天的路，卻失望地發(fā)現(xiàn)，大風(fēng)已經(jīng)把雞毛都吹跑了。四下尋找了幾個(gè)小時(shí)之后，她的手里只拿著三根雞毛回來。智者說：“你看吧，把雞毛撒出去很容易，要收回它們就不大可能了。正如謠言一樣，你可以毫不費(fèi)力就散布一個(gè)謠言，但是一旦你這么做了，你可能將永遠(yuǎn)無法彌補(bǔ)這種錯(cuò)誤的行為所造成的傷害?！?/p>