What’s a daffodil？ A pretty yellow flower， right？ Well， sometimes they arewhite too. And gardeners have experimented a bit， leading to mixtures of daffodilswith yellow， white， and pink flowers. Imagine their beauty on a hillside， especiallythere are more daffodils than just“bunch”.

水仙花是什么？很漂亮的黃色花，對吧？嗯，有時候它們也是白色的。園丁們做了一些實(shí)驗(yàn)，將黃、白、粉的花混在一起。想象它們在山坡上有多美，特別是水仙花遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不止一簇的時候。

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say， “Mother， you must come seethe daffodils before they are over.”I wanted to go， but it was a two-hour drive fromLaguna to Lake Arrowhead.

好幾次我女兒打電話來說：“媽媽，你一定要在水仙花凋謝之前過來看看?！蔽蚁肴ィ珡睦偶{到箭頭湖要開兩個小時的車。

“I will come next Tuesday，”I promised， a little reluctantly3， on her third call.

“我下個周二去。”在她第三次打電話時，我有點(diǎn)不情愿地答應(yīng)她。

The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still， I had promised， and so I drovethere. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted mygrandchildren， I said， “Forget the daffodils， Carolyn！ The road is invisible4 in theclouds and fog， and there is nothing in the world except you and these children thatI want to see bad enough to drive another inch5！ ”

下一個星期二的清晨，天氣寒冷，下著雨。我答應(yīng)了，所以我還是開車去了。當(dāng)我終于走進(jìn)卡洛琳的家，擁抱并問候我的孫子時，我說：“卡洛琳，忘掉那些水仙花吧！ 在云霧中，是看不見路的。除了你和孩子們，在這個世界上，我沒有什么特別想去看的，所以不想再開車了！ ”

My daughter smiled calmly and said， “We drive in this all the time，Mom.”

女兒平靜地笑著說：“媽媽，我們經(jīng)常在這樣的天氣里開車?！?/p>

“Well， you won’t get me back on the road until it clears， and then I’mheading for home！ ”I said.

“好吧，除非天氣放晴，否則你休想讓我回到路上，然后我就要回家了！ ”我說。

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“我希望你能送我去修車廠取我的車?！?/p>

“How far will we have to drive？”

“我們還要開多遠(yuǎn)？”

“Just a few blocks，”Carolyn said.“I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

“就幾個街區(qū)?！笨辶照f，“我來開車。我已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了?！?/p>

After several minutes， I had to ask， “Where are we going？ This isn’t the way to the garage！ ”

幾分鐘后，我不得不問：“我們要去哪里？這不是去修車廠的路！ ”

“We’re going to my garage the long way，”Carolyn smiled， “by way of the daffodils.”

“我們要走很遠(yuǎn)的路去我的修車廠，”卡洛琳笑著說，“路過水仙花?！?/p>

“Carolyn，”I said seriously，“please turn around.”

“卡洛琳，”我嚴(yán)肅地說，“請你掉頭?！?/p>

“It’s all right， Mom， I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

“沒事的，媽媽，我保證。如果你錯過了這次經(jīng)歷，你將永遠(yuǎn)不會原諒自己?！?/p>

After about twenty minutes， we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw asmall church. On the far side of the church， I saw a hand-lettered sign that read，“Daffodil Garden”. We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand， and Ifollowed Carolyn down the path. Then， we turned a corner of the path， and I lookedup and gasped6. Before me lay the most glorious7 sight. It looked as though someonehad taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak8 and slopes9. The flowers were planted in majestic10， swirling11 patterns—great swaths ofdeep orange， white， lemon yellow， salmon pink， saffron， and butter yellow. Eachdifferent-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like itsown river with its own unique color. There were five acres12 of flowers.

大約20分鐘后，我們拐進(jìn)一條小石子路，我看到了一座小教堂。在教堂的另一邊，我看到一個手寫的牌子，上面寫著“水仙花花園”。我們下了車，每個人都拉著一個孩子的手，我跟著卡洛琳沿著小路走下去。然后，我們拐了一個彎，我抬頭一看，深吸了一口氣。在我面前展現(xiàn)著最絢麗的景象。就好像有人把一大桶金子倒在山頂和山坡上。這些花被種植成壯觀的旋轉(zhuǎn)圖案——一大片深橙色、白色、檸檬黃、橙紅色、橙黃色和奶油黃色。每一種不同顏色的品種作為一組種植，所以它們像河流一樣蜿蜒流淌，有著自己獨(dú)特的色調(diào)。那里的水仙花有五英畝。

“But who has planted this？”I asked Carolyn.

“這是誰種的？”我問卡洛琳。

“It’s just one woman，”Carolyn answered. “She lives here. That’s her home.”Carolyn pointed to a well kept wooden house that looked small and modest13 in themidst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio， we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”was the headline.

“一位女士?！笨辶栈卮?，“她就住在這里。這是她的家。”卡洛琳指著一座保存完好的木屋，在一片壯觀景象之中，它顯得又小又簡陋。我們朝房子走去。在院子里，我們看到了一張海報，標(biāo)題是“我知道你在問的問題的答案”。

The first answer was a simple one.“50，000 bulbs，”it read.

第一個答案很簡單，上面寫著“50000株”。

The second answer was，“One at a time， by one woman. Two hands， two feet.”

第二個答案是，“一次一株，靠一位女士的雙手雙腳?！?/p>

The third answer was，“Began in 1958.”

第三個答案是，“始于1958年”。

There it was， The Daffodil Principle. For me， that moment was a life-changingexperience.

這就是水仙花原則。對我來說，那一刻是改變我一生的經(jīng)歷。

I thought of this woman whom I had never met， who， more than forty yearsbefore， had begun one bulb at a time to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure14 mountain top. Still， just planting one bulb at a time， year after year， hadchanged the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in whichshe lived. She had created something of indescribable15 magnificence16， beauty，and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatestprinciples.

我思考著這個我素未謀面的女士，四十多年前，她開始一株一株地種植水仙花，把她對美麗和快樂的憧憬帶到一座無名的山頂。就這樣，年復(fù)一年，每次只種植一株，改變了世界。這個不知名的女士永遠(yuǎn)地改變了她生活的世界。她創(chuàng)造了一種難以形容的壯麗、美好和鼓舞人心的東西。她的水仙花花園所傳授的原則是最偉大的原則之一。

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 usethe accumulation17 of time. When we multiply18 tiny pieces of time with smallpieces of daily effort， we too will find we can achieve great things. We can changethe world.

也就是說，學(xué)會朝著我們的目標(biāo)前進(jìn)，希望一步一個腳印——通常只是一小步，并且學(xué)會熱愛正在做的事情，學(xué)會利用時間的積累。當(dāng)我們把碎片化的時間乘以每天的微小努力，我們也會發(fā)現(xiàn)我們可以完成偉大的事情。我們可以改變世界。

“It makes me sad in a way，”I said to Carolyn.“Whatmight I have achieved if I had thought of a wonderful goalthirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it‘one bulb at a time’through all those years. Just thinkwhat I might have been able to achieve！ ”

“在某種程度上，這讓我很傷心?！蔽蚁蚩辶照f道，“如果35 年前或40 年前我也能想出一個絕妙的目標(biāo)，然后多年來‘一次一株’地干下去，我會取得什么成就呢？想想看我可能會取得什么樣的成就吧！ ”

My daughter summed up the message of the day inher usual direct way. “Start tomorrow，”she said. It’s sopointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The wayto make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a causefor regret is to only ask， “How can I make the most oftoday？”

我女兒以她一貫直率的方式總結(jié)了今天的啟示。“從明天開始?！彼f。再去想昨天逝去的時光是毫無意義的。要讓學(xué)習(xí)成為一門值得慶祝的課程而不是讓你后悔的原因，只需要問：“我如何充分利用今天？”

（英語原文選自：atimetolaugh.org）