英語故事:覆水難收
【英文原文】
Feather in the wind
摘要：一位善良的女人一天說了一些話傷害了她最好的有多年友情的朋友；她話一出口就後悔了，她想做任何事來收回她的話。她的話傷害朋友如此之深，以至於這個善良的女人爲自己給朋友造成痛苦而傷心不已。
A certain good woman one day said something that hurt her best friend of many years. She regretted immediately and would have done anything to have taken the words back . What she said hurt the friend so much that this good woman was herself hurt for the pain she caused . In an effort to undo what she had done , she went to an older ,wise woman in the village, explained her situation ,and asked for advice.
Listening to her ，the older woman sensed the younger woman's distress and knew she must help her . She also knew she could never alleviate the pain , but she could teach . She knew the outcome would depend solely on the character of the younger woman . She said ,"Tonight ,take your best feather pillows and put single feather on the doorstep of each house in the town before the sun rises."
The young woman hurried home to prepare for her chore ,even though the feather pillows were very dear to her night long ,she labored alone in the cold. Finally the sky was getting light ,she placed the last feather on the steps of the last house as the sun rose, she returned to the older woman.
"Now", said the wise woman,"go back and refill your pillows with the feather you have put on the steps everything will be as it was before."
"You know that's impossible! the wind blew away each feather as fast as I placed them on the doorsteps!" the young woman was surprised .
"That's true," said the older woman."never forget. each of your words is like a feather in the wind. once spoken, no amount of effort, regardless how heartfelt or sincere, can never return them to your mouth. Choose your words well and guard them most of all the presence of those of you love. "
【中文譯文】
一位善良的女人一天說了一些話傷害了她最好的有多年友情的朋友；她話一出口就後悔了，她想做任何事來收回她的話。她的話傷害朋友如此之深，以至於這個善良的女人爲自己給朋友造成痛苦而傷心不已。爲了努力消除自己所做錯事的影響，她拜訪本村一位有智慧的年長婦女，介紹她的現狀，尋求解決辦法。
聽着年輕女的述說，年長女感覺到年輕女的憂傷，並且意識到自己得幫助年輕女。年長女知道她不可能減輕年輕女的傷痛，但她可以讓年輕女從中吸取教訓。她明白事情的結果只能是取決於年輕女的性格。她說：“今晚，拆開你最好的羽毛枕頭，在太陽升起之前，在本鎮每家的門階上放一根羽毛。”
年輕女匆匆回家準備這事，儘管這些枕頭是她非常心愛的。一整夜，她獨自在嚴寒中勞動。最後，天放亮時，她終於將最後一根羽毛放在最後一家的臺階上。太陽升起時，她回到年長女的家。
“現在”，年長女說道，“回去再用你放在每家臺階上的羽毛把枕頭填滿，然後，一切事情就象是沒有發生過，一如往昔。
“你知道這是不可能的！我把羽毛一放在臺階上，風就把它們吹跑了！”年輕女非常驚訝年長女這個建議。
“沒錯。”年長女說道，“你要永遠記住，你的每句話就象是風中的羽毛，覆水難收。一旦不計後果，話已說出，儘管你的願望是如何真心、如何誠意，但說話如沷水不可收回。適當選擇你的話，並且當心你的話，特別特別是在那些爲你所愛的人面前。”
