Too Busy for a Friend ...

　　             别因忙碌而忘了赞赏朋友

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

课堂上,一位老师要她的学生们分别在两张纸上列出教室里其他学生的名字,并在名字之间留下空间。然后她要他们在每个名字后面写一句有关这位同学最美好的语言。那堂课的剩余时间都用来完成这项任务。下课离开教室的时候,同学们都交上了所写的名单。

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much." were most of the comments. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

星期六，老师把每位学生的名字分别写在一张纸上，再把同学们对该同学的评语整理在名字后面,并在星期一上课时分发给每位学生。不久，全班同学都露出了笑脸。 “真的吗 ?" 她听到了学生们的窃窃私语。“我从未察觉到我在同学们心目中有何地位。”“我也不知道同学们会这么喜欢我。”   如此等等。之后的课堂上没有人再提起那些赞赏语。她也不知道学生们是否在课后,或回家后与父母讨论过此事。其实这已无关紧要。因为,这个小小的举动让学生们相处得更加愉快,也更加自信。那群学生继续着他们的人生道路。

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet Nam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

数年后，一名当年的学生在越南阵亡，老师特意参加了这位学生的葬礼。她以前从未见过躺在军用棺木中的军人，他看上去如此英俊, 如此成熟。教堂里挤满了他的生前好友。那些爱戴他的人依次走过灵柩向他告别。老师最后一个向他致意，当她站立在灵柩前时,一位护灵者走上前来，“你是马克的数学老师吗?" 她点头道: "是的". 然后他又说道: “马克常常谈论起你呢。"

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."

葬礼后，大多数马克的生前同学都一起去参加午宴了。马克的母亲和父亲也在那里,显然是在等候着和他的老师说话。 “我们想请您看一样东西,"他的父亲说着就从口袋里掏出一个皮夹来。 “马克牺牲后, 他们在他身上发现了这个。我们想你可能认得出它来。"他打开皮夹,小心翼翼地取出两张发黄的笔记本纸笺，很明显是用胶带粘过,多次反复折叠过的。老师一眼就看出那正是她写上去的同学们有关马克的赞赏语。“多谢您这么做,"马克的母亲说道， "您看得出,马克非常珍惜它"。

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists." That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

所有马克的老同学都开始聚拢过来。查理羞怯地微笑着说,“我仍然保存着我的赞赏录。它就放在我家中书桌的高层抽屉里。”查克的妻子说,“查克要求我把他的放在我们的婚礼相册中。"“我也有我的赞赏录,"马瑞林说，“它夹在我的日记中"。随后, 另一位同学维克从皮夹里的钱包中取出破旧的赞赏录展示给同学们，“ 我一直把它带在身上,"维克眼睛一眨不眨地继续道: “我想我们都珍藏着我们的赞赏录。"此时，老师坐在那儿已禁不住泪流满面。她为马克，为再也不能见到马克的在场同学们失声痛哭。

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

芸芸众生，忙于生计；人终西去，有谁铭记。我们无法预知这一天会何时到来。因此，请告诉那些你所爱戴，你所关心的人，他们独一无二且至关重要。现在就告诉他们,以免为时过晚。