Ｔｉｍｅ ａｎｄ Ｌｏｖｅ

Once upon a time， there was anisland where all the feelings lived:Happiness， Sadness， Vanity， and all ofthe others， including Love. One day itwas announced to the feelings that theisland would sink， so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the lastpossible moment.

When the island had almost sunk， Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said， “Richness， can youtake me with you?”

Richness answered， “No， I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat.There is no place here for you.”

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel.“Vanity， please help me! ”

“I can't help you， Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat.”Vanityanswered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked， “Sadness， let me go with you.”

“Oh...Love， I am so sad that I need to be by myself! ”

Happiness passed by Love， too， but she was so happy that she did not even hearwhen Love called her.

Suddenly， there was a voice， “Come， Love， I will take you.”It was an elder. Soblessed and overjoyed， Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going.When they arrived at dry land， the elder went her own way.

Love asked Knowledge， another elder， “Who helped me?”

“It was Time.”Knowledge answered.

“Time?”asked Love. “But why did Time help me?”

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered， “Because only Time iscapable of understanding how valuable Love is.”

譯文：

時間和愛

從前有一個島，所有的情感都住在那里：幸福、悲傷、虛榮和所有其他的，愛也不例外。一天，所有的情感聽說小島即將沉沒，便紛紛建造小船離開了，除了愛。

愛是唯一留下來的，因為它希望能堅持到最后一刻。

小島即將沉沒了，愛決定請求幫助。

寓有駕著一艘大船從愛身邊經過，愛說：“富有，你能帶上我么?”

富有回答說：“不行，我的船上載滿金銀財寶，沒有你的地方。”

虛榮坐在漂亮的小船中從愛身邊駛過，愛請求道：“虛榮，請幫幫我!”

虛榮說：“不行，你全身濕透，會弄臟我的船。”

悲傷的船靠近了，愛請求道：“悲傷，請帶我走吧。”

“哦……愛，我太難過了，想一個人呆著。”

幸福經過愛的身邊，它太開心了，根本沒聽見愛在呼喚。

突然，一個聲音喊道：“來，愛，我帶你走。”聲音來自一位老者。愛太高興了，甚全忘了問他們即將去何方。當他們來到岸上，老者自己離開了。

愛問另一個老者——知識：“誰幫助了我?”

知識說：“是時間。”

“時間?”愛問，“但是時間為什么幫助我?”

知識睿智地微笑道：“因為只有時間了解愛的價值。”

責任編輯／張彩萍