雙語勵志故事：當夢想被生活打敗

摘錄：有錢不要隨便亂花，不然以後你需要錢做事業時，沒有人會幫你的。

Have you ever got beaten by money in realizing your dream and goal? I have ever met this issue when reading a famous magazine. The article i read talked about a young man who was compelled to give up his dream and career due to the lack of funds and who became an average worker eventually. The article did not mention whether the man got successful or not after years. The author only sighed about the cruelty of our reality. Accidentally, from my grandparents i know that my father had tried to engage in the real estate business many years ago. He was visionary then and visualized real estate must be a very hot and promising industry in the future. But also pitifully, my father did not realize his dream. When he tried to lobby and persuade his friends and relatives who were financially rich about his plan, he only got distrust and contempt. Now as we can see, the real estate industry is blooming. I am wondering what my father would think about when seeing this trend? He would sigh about his talent being neglected, or his destiny being played around? I have no idea. I only remember last year when he drove me to visit my grandmother during the Spring Festival, he said to me, “Do not lavish your money away or no one will help you when you need money to do your own business.”

你有沒有曾經被錢打敗過你的夢想和奮鬥的目標? 這個問題我曾經在《意林》的某一篇文章中看到過。 那篇文章講述的是一個想創業的青年因爲缺乏資金而最終被迫放棄他所鍾愛的事業，最後淪爲打工一族的經歷。多年後這個青年究竟有沒有成功，文章沒有提及，文章的作者只是對現實發出慨嘆。無獨有偶，從爺爺奶奶的口中，我也得知多年前，父親曾經想從事房地產的業務， 目光遠大的他覺得多年後房地產必是一個熱門的產業。然而同樣遺憾的是，父親沒能實現他的夢想，因爲他缺乏資金。當他向有資金的朋友和親戚遊說，試圖和別人合作時，得到的只是別人的不屑與不信任。如今， 房地產業發展得如火如荼。不知道父親內心會作何想法?是慨嘆自己的懷才不遇? 還是慨嘆造化弄人?我不得而知。我只是記得去年春節父親開車載着我去探望外婆時，在路上他和我說過一句話：“有錢不要隨便亂花，不然以後你需要錢做事業時，沒有人會幫你的。”

Until now, every time I think of that article and my father’s experience, i would still feel a bit sentimental. If there had been someone who owned enough capital to work with my father at that time, i believe with my father’s brain and talent, my family would be much better than it is today. Therefore, sometimes we have to admit that reality can shatter a person’s dream. However, not until the last moment shall we give up our dream easily. Instead, we should spare no effort to come up with the right solutions to tackle it. Actually, the reason why i would think of this issue is that some of my students in the BEC class sent me text messages telling me, “Dear teacher, i am eager to register for your grammar course this summer because i learnt from your class that my grammar is very poor and needs to be improve urgently. However, due to my lack of money, i have to give up this time .” Seeing these text messages, i replied to them, “My class will begin for sure regardless of the number of students. So if you have no money, you can take classes first and pays it back later. Or if you really have no money in the future, you do not need to pay for it because i treat you as friends. Once you are determined to learn, do not give up so easily.” Finally, one student promised me to come while others have not replied yet. But not matter what their decision is, i will not feel the least regretful as their teacher and friend because i have tried my best to help them.

時至今日，每當我想起那篇文章以及父親的經歷，我依舊感到百感交集。試想想，要是當初有人有資本和父親一起幹，憑着父親的頭腦和才幹，恐怕現在我的家庭境況早就不可同日而語了。 所以，有時現實真的可以把一個人的夢想打擊得支離破碎。但是，沒有到最後一刻，我們都不能隨意放棄自己的理想，而且要想方設法地去解決問題，而不是逃避問題。其實，我之所以想起這些東西，是因爲今天一連接到幾個BEC班的同學的信息。我們的BEC班上週已經上完了，這週六學生們就要參加考試了。今天早上我打開手機就接到幾個學生的信息，他們的內容大致都一樣： “老師，我想報你的暑假語法班，因爲上了你的課我才知道自己的語法很差，需要補習，但是我暫時拿不出錢來，所以只好放棄，等下次再說了。”看完這些信息，我回復他們說：“我的班始終是要開的，不管人多人少。所以你如果沒有錢，就先來上課，以後有錢再給，實在沒錢，就不用給了，因爲大家都是朋友了。 一旦你決定要繼續學下去，就不要輕言放棄。” 結果，有一個學生確定要來了，但是另外幾個學生還沒回復。但是不管他們最後決定怎樣，反正我覺得，不管是作爲老師還是作爲朋友，我都已經盡力了。

From my perspective, if you really want to learn something, do not give it up because of lack of money. If you want to go abroad to study, which needs almost half a million, and you have no money and do not want to borrow such a large sum of money from others, i think it is acceptable. But if you just want to learn a language or an employable skill and give it up because of money shortage, then it is unacceptable in my eyes. Why not think about some ways to solve this money, like borrowing money from your friends or classmates? Why not beg your teacher for payment in installments or even delaying your payment? To put it to an extreme, why not use your credit card or borrow loans from banks? I have mentioned a young man who is working in a factory in Baoan District in one of my previous diaries. He only earned a bit more than 2, 000 RMB a month, but now he is striving for his dream in my class. He has studied for nearly a month but has not paid his tuition fees due to lack of money. He had tole me clearly about this issue before he took classes and i did not urge him to pay. Every week he had to traveled a long distance in the metro from Baoan airport to my home in Luohu District to take classes. When i saw him sweating all over his face in front of my door, i could not help admiring him to the deepest of my heart!

在我看來，一個人如果想學習，千萬不要因爲缺錢而放棄了學習。 如果你說是出國留學需要幾十萬的，自己沒錢也難向別人借，這還說得過去。但是如果說學一門外語或者一門技術卻因爲缺錢放棄了，那在我的眼裏，是怎麼也說不過去的。難道自己沒有錢了就不能想想辦法?比如說向同學朋友借?向培訓老師要求分期甚至延遲付款?甚至說得誇張點，刷信用卡或者向銀行貸款?我之前日記中提到過一個在寶安的工廠裏打工，一個月才掙二千多的青年，如今他正在我這裏勇敢地向夢想前進，從上課至今已經差不多一個月了，他因爲缺錢還沒有交學費，他明確地和我說了他需要慢慢付清，我也沒催他交。他每週要坐地鐵從寶安機場那邊坐到羅湖我家來上課。每次看到他大汗淋漓地趕到我家門口，我都禁不住從心底裏佩服他。

Many people give up studies because of money, but they have not got the realization that they need studies more than ever because of their poverty. Without studying, how could you change your fate? The final result may be that you are always short of money . I have been long holding a view that you can save money in every aspects in your life but not in your study. I used to save every penny when i was studying abroad and bought everything as cheap as possible. When it came to textbooks, i would never thing about saving money but bought it without the least hesitation even though it might cost me almost 70 Euros. My classmates might borrow my books to copy, but i thought it to be time-consuming and would easily get some pages lost. Besides, it was because i knew that the book was bought at a high price that i would try my best to finish it, while my classmates might put it away after flipping through a few pages. It is the same with studies. When you use a lot of money trying to learn a language or a skill, and the money was earned with your hard work or was even borrowed from others, would you give it up easily? For a rich student and a poor student who spent the same money for a course, will their attitudes towards the course are the same? Definitely not! And i can claim for sure that the poor student would study harder than the rich student.

很多人因爲缺錢放棄學習，是因爲他們沒有認識到，正是因爲自己缺錢，所以才更要學習。不通過學習，如何能改變自己的命運?最後的結果中會是永遠缺錢。我一直都有這麼一個理念：生活中什麼都可以省，唯有放在學習上的投資是萬萬省不得的。曾經我在國外時因爲缺錢而省吃儉用，買什麼都是買最便宜的，但是關於買學校的教材，我是從來不會吝嗇的，六七十歐元(當時接近六七百塊錢人民幣)的一本書我也會毫不猶豫把它買下。別的同學可能經常借我的書去複印，但是這樣麻煩而且會浪費很多時間，另外也容易遺失個別頁碼。另外，正是因爲我知道書是自己花了高價買回來的，所以更有把它讀完的慾望。所以別的同學可能看了幾頁就不想看了，我卻可以從頭到尾把書都讀完，原因很簡單：我爲它花了太多的錢了。 其實學習何嘗不是如此呢? 當你花了很多錢去學習某一門語言或者技能，而且這些錢都是你辛辛苦苦存下來或者是借來的，你能不認真嗎? 一個富家子弟和一個窮學生在對待同樣花了幾千塊錢的課程上的態度會是一樣的嗎? 肯定是不同的，而且我幾乎可以肯定地說：窮學生的態度一定會比富家子弟更認真。

Moreover, from my students’case i also see a common problem in our society: when coming across difficulties, the first thing popping up in our mind is not to think about how to try them, but to give up. Giving up is our instinct and needs not be taught, but it is by no means what we need. Many people would feel headache when meeting a small problem and then amplify the problem to find an excuse of giving up. Actually what we need to do is not fearing the problem but trying every means to solve it. If we fear it, it will be amplified by us unconsciously and we would get defeated in the very beginning. This common wisdom can also apply to our study, life and work. When you get addicted to this habit, no matter what you do, you will not succeed, because everything you do will have its own problems, whether small or big.

另外，從學生因爲沒有錢而放棄學習這件事情也可以看出我們普遍存在的一個問題：遇到困難首先想到的不是如何解決困難，而是先想到放棄。想放棄永遠是我們的天性，這是不需要人教的，但是卻不是我們所需要的。很多人遇到一點困難就開始頭痛，想到前路漫漫，荊棘遍野，然後就開始打退堂鼓。其實我們遇到困難首先想到的不是害怕它，而是想辦法克服它! 如果我們害怕它，它就無形中被我們無限地放大，然後我們也就不戰而敗。學習如此，生活如此，工作也是如此。一個人養成了遇到困難就放棄的習慣，那麼他不管做什麼事情都不會成功，因爲世間上沒有任何事情是沒有困難的，只在於困難的大小難易而已。

What is dream? Dream is what we are thinking and desiring. But if we want to turn our dream into reality, we need unyielding bravery and perseverance. If we fear difficulties and give up easily, then our dream will only remain as a dream.

什麼叫夢想? 夢想就是要敢夢敢想，但是夢想要想成爲現實，還需要不屈不撓的勇氣和毅力。害怕困難而輕言放棄，夢想也僅僅只是夢想而已。