The Most Beautiful Heart　最美麗的心

The Most Beautiful Heart　最美麗的心

◎ Alan Muskat

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

一天，一個年輕人站在鎮(zhèn)中心，宣稱他的心是全山谷里最美的。一大群人圍過來，都稱贊他的心的確是最完美的，沒有一點污漬或者瑕疵。是的，大家一致認為這確實是他們不曾見過的最美麗的心。年輕人非常得意，更起勁地大聲吹噓自己那顆美麗的心。

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

突然，一位長者出現(xiàn)在人群前，說：“你的心不如我的美麗。”人群和年輕人都把目光投向老人的心。他的心有力地跳動著，但是卻布滿了傷痕，有的地方被挖走了，雖然重新補上了，但又補得不甚完好，留下參差不齊的疤痕。實際上，有的地方甚至還露出很深的豁口。

The people stared—how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought. The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking.” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

大家瞪圓了眼睛，心想：他怎么敢說自己的心更美呢？年輕人看了看老人的心，見是這種情形，不禁笑道：“你一定在開玩笑，和你的心比起來，我的心這么完美，而你的卻布滿了傷疤和裂痕。”

“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love—I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges—giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space in my heart. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

“是的，”老人說，“你的心看上去如此完美，但我永遠不會拿我的和你交換。你看，每一道傷疤都代表我為別人付出的一份愛——我掏出一塊心給他們，他們通常也掏出一塊回贈給我，但兩塊難免不能完全一樣，所以傷口邊緣就留下了疤痕，但我十分珍惜這些傷疤，因為它們能使我想起我們共同擁有的愛。有時我送出了心的碎片，對方卻沒有回贈，因此就產(chǎn)生了那些溝槽——付出愛本來就是一種冒險。盡管這些傷口很痛苦，并且終日敞開著，但它們時刻提醒著我對他們的愛。我希望有一天，他們會還給我，填補我心里的空缺。所以，現(xiàn)在你明白什么才是真正的美了吧？”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.

年輕人默默無語地站著，任淚水滑過臉頰。他走到老人面前，把手伸進自己那顆完美而年輕美麗的心里，撕下一塊來，雙手顫抖著，把它獻給老人。

The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

老人接過他的禮物，把它安置在自己的心里，然后他從自己傷痕累累的心上撕下一片，放在年輕人心里的傷口上。很合適，但不是完美吻合的，因為有的邊緣凹凸不平。年輕人看著自己的心，看起來不再完美，但比任何時刻都更加美麗，因為老人的愛也流淌到了自己的心里。他們擁抱在一起，然后肩并肩離開了。