by Jack Canfeld and Mark V. Hansen

翻譯：和歌

On e at a Time

勿以善小而不為

by Jack Canfeld and Mark V. Hansen

翻譯：和歌

俗話說得好：勿以惡小而為之，勿以善小而不為。即使我們的力量有限，我們依然要盡自己能力多做好事，努力把這世界變得更加美好。

As our friendwalked along, he began to see another manin the distance. As he went nearer, he noticed that the local native kept picking things up and throwing them out into the water.

As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up1)starfishthat had beenwashed upon the beach, and one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.

Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, “Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing.”

“I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low2)tideright now and all of these starfsh have been washed up onto the3)shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’lldieup herefromlack of4)oxygen.”

“I understand,” my friend replied, “but there must be thousands of starfsh on this beach. You can’t possiblyget toall of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches allup and downthis coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possiblymake a difference?”

The local native smiled,bent downand picked upyet anotherstarfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, “Made a difference to that one!”

詞組加油站

walk along散步，向前走

in the distance在遠(yuǎn)處

wash up將……沖上岸

die from死于……

lack of缺乏……

get to接觸到

up and down到處

make a difference有（重要）作用，有影響

bend down蹲下，彎腰

yet another另一，又一

1) starfsh [,stɑ?f??] n. 海星

2) tide [ta?d] n. 潮水，潮汐

3) shore [???] n. 岸，海濱

4) oxygen [,?ks?d??n] n. 氧氣