STANDING ON THE PEAK

　　立足巅峰

　　Once, Einstein gave a lecture in a university, where the large classroom was full of teachersand students who respected him. After his speech, the audience on the scene started to askquestions.

　　A girl got up and asked, “You are known as a giant of science. Do you think you are agiant?”

　　Einstein said with a smile, “A giant isn't a person who is tall in height. You see I am so small,how can I have the image of a giant? Maybe I see a bit farther, only because I stand higher.”

　　Then a boy asked, “You mentioned you stand higher than others. It reminds me that you hada long talk with a lady on the peak of Alps. I don't want to ask what you talked, but I want toknow whether you realized you have been a peak in the history of science when you stood on thepeak.”

　　Looking at the boy carefully, Einstein asked, “Do you think I am like a peak? Anyhow, myheight cannot become a peak. And what's more, there is no peak that no one can conquer, so wedon't want to be a peak, but we want to be a person to climb the summit.”

　　Then, he took up a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard, “Standing on the peak, youare not tall, but even smaller!”

　　He then turned to the audience and said, “Although I stand tall, in the eyes of the world I amstill small! Finally, I can tell you the sentence, which was the last one I told the lady on the peak ofthe Alps: ‘Any peak can be conquered, for there is no giant in the world but the one who standshigher!’”

　　A storm of applause sounded. The lady who listened to Einstein's conversation on the Alpsthat year was no other than Madam Curie!

　　有一次，爱因斯坦在一所大学里演讲，大教室里坐满了崇拜他的老师和学生。演讲结束，在场听众开始提问。

　　一个女孩站起来问：“大家都叫您科学巨人。您觉得自己是巨人吗？”

　　爱因斯坦笑着说：“巨人指的不是个头高的人。你看，我是个小个子，形象上怎么可能是巨人呢？可能我就是看得远一点儿，那是因为我站得高一些。”

　　又有一个男孩发问：“您说到您比别人站得高。这让我想起了您曾经和一位女士在阿尔卑斯山的最高峰上展开过一番长谈。我不是想问您当时都说了些什么，我只想知道您是否意识到当您站在顶峰的时候，您自己就是科学史的一座高峰了呢？”

　　爱因斯坦仔细地端详了一下男孩，问道：“你觉得我像高峰吗？无论如何，我的身高当不了高峰。而且啊，没有征服不了的高峰，所以我们不是想要成为高峰，而是要成为问鼎山巅的那个人。”

　　之后，他拿起一支粉笔，在黑板上写下一句话：“立足巅峰，你不会感到高大，相反，你会感到自己更加渺小！”

　　他转身面向听众说：“尽管我站得高，可是在世界的眼里，我还是个小矮子。最后，我要送给大家一句话，这句话是我站在阿尔卑斯山巅和那位女士说的最后一句话：“任何山峰都会被征服，因为世上没有巨人，只有站在更高处的人。”

　　教室里掌声雷动。当年在阿尔卑斯山上聆听爱因斯坦教诲的女士不是别人，正是居里夫人。