| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Smile 微笑
◎ Mother Teresa
Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at
each other—it doesn’t matter who it is—and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each
other.
Many Americans are familiar with The Little Prince, a wonderful book by Antoine de Saint-
Exupery. This is a whimsical and fabulous1 book and works as a children’s story as well as a thought-
stories.
World War II, he fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists4. He wrote a fascinating story
based on that experience entitled The Smile. It is this story which I’d like to share with you now. It
isn’t clear whether or not he meant this to be autobiographical or fiction. I choose to believe it to be
the former.
He said that he was captured by the enemy and thrown into a jail cell. He was sure that from the
contemptuous looks and rough treatment he received from his jailers he would be executed the next
day. From here, I’ll tell the story as I remember it in my own words.
pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because
of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those.
“I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. After all, one does
not make eye contact with a thing, a corpse6. I called out to him ‘Have you got a light?’ He looked at
“As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I
smiled. I don’t know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you
get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was
as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he
didn’t want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my
cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.
“I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me
seemed to have a new dimension, too. ‘Do you have kids?’ he asked.
He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My
eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I’d never see my family again, never have the chance to
see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too.
“Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail,
quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without
another word, he turned back toward the town.
“My life was saved by a smile.”
Yes, the smile is the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people. I tell this story
in my work because I’d like people to consider that underneath9 all the layers we construct to protect
ourselves, our dignity, our titles, our degrees, our status and our need to be seen in certain ways—
underneath all that remains10 the authentic11, essential self. I’m not afraid to call it the soul. I really
believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn’t be
enemies. We couldn’t have hate or envy or fear. I sadly conclude that all those other layers, which we
so carefully construct through our lives, distance and insulate us from truly contacting others. Saint-
Exupery’s story speaks of that magic moment when two souls recognize each other.
I’ve had just a few moments like that. Falling in love is one example. And looking at a baby.
Why do we smile when we see a baby? Perhaps it’s because we see someone without all the
defensive13 layers, someone whose smile for us we know to be fully12 genuine and without guile14. And
that baby-soul inside us smiles wistfully in recognition.
经常保持笑容，对你的另一半、你的孩子微笑，甚至对陌生人也不要吝惜你的微笑，因
为小小的微笑就能大大增进人与人之间的感情。
法国作家安东尼·德·圣埃克絮佩里所著的《小王子》是本很多美国人都熟悉的极好的书。
这本书表面上看来是童话故事，但世故的成人读来也觉寓意深远。很少有人知道，除了《小
王子》，圣埃克絮佩里还创作过其他小说和短篇故事。
圣埃克絮佩里是名飞行员，在第二次世界大战中对抗纳粹分子时被击落身亡，之前他也
曾参加西班牙内战打击法西斯分子。他根据这次经验写了一篇精彩的故事《微笑》，现在要
提的就是这部作品。这是真实的自传故事还是虚构的故事，没人能下定论，但我宁可相信这
是作者的亲身体验。
故事的前段大意是作者被敌军俘虏，关进一间单人监牢。狱卒们一脸凶相，态度极为恶
劣，他受到了粗暴的对待。他心想，明天绝对会被拖出去枪毙。以下是我所记得的所有关于
这个故事的话。
“我确信自己明天就没命了，一想到这个，我就变得极度惶恐与不安。我翻遍了口袋，终
于找到一支逃过搜查的香烟。但我的手紧张得不停发抖，几乎都无法将烟送进嘴里。而我的
火柴也在搜身时被拿走了。
“我透过铁栅栏望着狱卒。他并没有注意到我在看他。毕竟，我只是他看守的一样‘物
品’、一具‘尸体’。我叫了他一声，‘能跟你借个火吗？’他转头望着我，耸了耸肩，然后走了过
来，点燃我的香烟。
“当他帮我点火时，他的眼光无意中与我相接触。这一刻，我微笑了一下。我不知道自己
为什么会笑。也许是过于紧张，或者是当你如此靠近另一个人，你很难不对他微笑。不管是
何理由，我对他笑了一下。就在这一刹那，这抹微笑如同一粒火星般，打破了我们心灵间的
鸿沟。我知道他并不想这样，但我的微笑越过了牢房的铁栅栏，他的嘴角不自觉地也现出了
笑容。点完火后他并没立刻离开，而是两眼盯着我瞧，脸上仍带着微笑。
“我也以笑容回应，仿佛他是个朋友，而不是个守着我的警卫。他看着我的眼神也少了当
初的那股凶气，‘你有小孩吗？’他开口问道。
“‘有，你看。’我拿出了皮夹，手忙脚乱地翻出了我的全家福照片。他也掏出了照片，并
且开始讲述他对家人的期望与计划。这时我眼中充满了泪水，我说我怕再也见不到家人了。
我害怕没机会看着孩子长大。他听了也热泪盈眶。
“突然间，他二话不说地打开了牢门，悄悄地带我从后面的小路逃离了监狱，出了小镇，
就在小镇的边上，他放了我，之后头也不回地转身走了，不曾留下一句话。
“一个微笑居然能救自己一条命。”
是的，微笑是人与人之间最自然真挚的沟通方式。我在我的作品中讲这个故事，因为我
希望人们能仔细想想以下的事情：人常常为自己建立层层保护膜，为了维护尊严、头街、身
份、形象等，而必须有所隐藏。我相信在这些掩饰下，每个人都有一个真实、不虚伪的灵
魂。如果我们能用心灵去认识彼此，世间不会有结怨成仇的憾事。仇恨、妒嫉、恐惧也会不
复存在。遗憾的是：人小心翼翼为自己所建造的保护膜，却阻隔了自己与他人真诚相对的机
会。圣埃克絮佩里的这则故事，让我们见到了两颗心灵相互交流的神奇时刻。
我也曾有过如此神奇的时刻。坠入情网是其中一刻，而看着婴儿的脸是另外一例。为什
么我们见到婴儿会微笑？也许是因为我们在他们身上见到没有设防的灵魂。他们纯真无邪的
笑容，引起了我们内心深处的共鸣。
点击  收听单词发音
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 发表评论
-
- 最新评论 进入详细评论页>>
