The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life.But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
同样的没精打采恐怕也代表了我们使用所有官能与感官的特点。只有聋子才珍惜听觉, 只有盲人才意识到视觉所蕴涵的多种幸福。这一说法尤其适用于那些成年之后才丧失视觉和听觉的人。但那些视觉或听觉从未遭受过伤害的人却很少最充分地利用这些天赐的官能。他们的眼睛和耳朵模模糊糊地接受所有的景象和声音,漫不经心,毫不在意。这正像老话所说的,直到失去了我们所有的东西我们才会感激上帝的恩赐,直到病魔缠身我们才意识到健康的重要。
I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaffor a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight, silence would tech him the joys of sound.
我常想,如果每个人在其成年之初的某个时刻突然失明失聪几天,那倒是一件幸事。黑暗将使他更加珍惜视力,沉寂将教给他声音的欢乐。
Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friends who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. "Nothing in particular,"she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such reposes, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.
我不时地测试我的看得见的朋友们,想发现他们看到些什么。最近,一个很要好的朋友来看我,她刚从树林里长时间漫步回来,我便问她看到些什么。“没什么特别的,”她回答说。要不是我对这种回答已经习以为常,我也许难以相信,事实上我早已确信,有视觉的人几乎看不到什么东西。
来源:可可英语 http://www.kekenet.com/daxue/201612/467428.shtml