种苹果

I realized I was holding an apple tree in the palm of my hand. A little seed with the potential to become a beautiful big tree—a tree that could grow thousands of apples in its lifetime. Thousands of apples， each containing several seeds， each capable of growing a new tree which again could produce thousands of apples. Why then the world wasnt filled with apple trees？

It is a rule of nature that only a few of these seeds grow. Most never do or are destroyed early on in their growth.

And it came to my mind that its quite often so with peoples dreams also. Wonderful ideas come to our minds but they die too soon—we dont tend to the little saplings； we dont protect them as we should. And then one day we wonder what happened to our dreams—why did they never come true？

I put the apple seed on the table， and bent down to see this natures tiny wonder. I wondered when someone was seriously growing apples， how many times they had to try to get a seed to germinate？ How much work did it require？

Maybe it was like with our dreams： the seeds of your dreams did not automatically grow. Planting an apple tree， it might take many tries. You might meet dozens of people until you met the true friend.

But if you kept on sowing the seeds of your dream， one day you would succeed. And after that others would comment you were lucky to be successful—when in fact you probably failed more often than you would like to count. But you were good at failing—you learned， you adapted， and then with your new knowledge you tried again and again. And one day success was yours.

I picked up the apple seed again—but instead of throwing it away I took an empty flower pot， poured some earth into it and planted the seed. Maybe one day it would grow into a proud tree. Id never know if I didnt try.

我意识到被我捧在手心的是棵苹果树。这粒小小的种子蕴藏着长成一棵美丽的大树的潜力——这棵大树在它的生命中又会结出成千上万个苹果。每个苹果里又有几粒种子，每粒种子又可以长成一棵新的苹果树，再结出成千上万个苹果。但是为什么世界上并没有到处都是苹果树呢？

因为在自然规律的作用下，只有一些种子能生长起来。大部分种子根本不能生长，即便生长起来也会夭折。

这让我联想到人们的梦想又何尝不是如此。我们常常有不错的想法，但这些想法只是昙花一现——我们没有照料这些“幼苗”，我们应该保护它们，但我们没有做到。然后有一天，我们感到很纳闷，我们的梦想为何从未实现？

我把这粒苹果籽放在桌上，弯下腰观察这个小小的大自然的杰作。我想，如果有人一心想种苹果的话，他要尝试多少次才能让种子发芽？他需要付出多少努力？

或许这就像我们的梦想：梦想的种子不会自己生長。种一棵苹果树需要付出许多辛劳。遇见一个知己需要在茫茫人海中寻寻觅觅。

但如果你坚持不懈地播种梦想的种子，总有一天你会成功。之后，人们会说你之所以成功是因为得到上天的眷顾——殊不知可能连你自己也不知道你成功之前经历过多少次失败。但是失败对你来说并非坏事——你会适应失败，并从中吸取经验教训，然后运用这些经验和教训反复地尝试。总有一天你会成功。

我再次拿起这粒苹果籽——这次我并未将它扔掉，而是找来一个空花盆，倒了些泥土进去，把这粒种子种在泥土里面。或许有一天它会长成一棵自豪的苹果树，只有试过才知道。

potential /p?'ten?l/ n. 潜力，可能性

The company certainly has the potential for growth.

capable /'ke?p?bl/ adj. 有能力的

The kitchen is capable of catering for several hundred people.

tend /tend/ v. 照顾，照料

Her mother was ill and she had to tend to her.

germinate /'d???m?ne?t/ v. 发芽，萌芽

comment /'k?ment/ v. 评论