Ｔｈｅ Ｍｏｓｔ Ｂｅａｕｔｉｆｕｌ Ｈｅａｒｔ（最美的心）

严双红

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 flaw in it.

一天，一位年轻人站在城镇的中央，宣称他的心在整个山谷中是最美丽的。很多人来围观，齐声称赞年轻人的心的确是完美无缺，连一点伤痕瑕疵都没有。

Suddenly，an old man appeared and said，“Why，your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”

突然，一位老人从人群中站出来说：“你的心不如我的心美丽。”

The crowd and the young man looked at the old mans heart. It was full of scars，and it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in，but they didnt fit quite right，and there were several jagged edges. In fact，in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

围观者和年轻人都朝老人的心看去：这颗心布满了伤疤，其中有的地方已被挖去又重新填补上，但修补得不甚完整，留下一些参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方缺失了整块，甚至露出很深的豁口。

The young man laughed，“Comparing your heart with mine，mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars.”

年轻人笑了起来：“我们两人的心相比，我的心完美无缺，而你的心却是伤痕累累。”

“Yes，” said the old man. “Yours looks perfect 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 that fits into the empty place in my heart. But because the pieces arent exact，I have some rough edges，which I cherish，because they remind me of the love we shared.”

“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会拿我的心换你的心。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱——我掏出一块心给他们，他们也常常会掏出自己的一块心回赠给我，以填补我心上的空缺。但由于这两块心不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。”

“Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away，and the other person hasnt returned a piece of his or her 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 those people too，and I hope some day they may return and fill the space I have. So now do you see what true beauty is？”

“有时我送出了一片片心，其他人并没有回赠给我什么，因此就出现了这些豁口——献出爱也是需要冒风险的。尽管这些豁口很疼，我还是让它们敞开着，因为它们能使我想起我付出的爱。我希望将来有一天，得到爱的人们能够回来填补上我心里的空间。你现在该明白什么是真美了吧？”

The young man walked up to the old man，reached into his perfect heart，and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man.

年轻人默默地走近老人，把手伸进自己完美的心中，撕下一块来，献给老人。

The old man placed it in his heart，then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young mans heart. It fitted，but not perfectly，as there were some jagged edges.

老人接过馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己疤痕累累的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。能放进去，但不是特别吻合，也出现了一些疤痕。

The young man looked at his heart，not perfect any more but more beautiful than ever，since love from the old mans heart flowed into his.

年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美但比以前更美了，因为老人心中的爱流淌到了他的心里。

They embraced and walked away side by side.

他们拥抱了一下，接着肩并肩地离开了。