书城教材教辅英语诵读文萃Ⅱ
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第18章 Growing older and growing up

在无情的岁月面前,一位智慧老人即使 满头白发也仍然可以成长,而一位风华正茂 的少年如果放弃追求,也会迅速变老。

On the first day of college our profes- sor challenged us to get to know someone we had not met yet. Then a gentle hand touched my shoulder. It was an old ladysmiling at me. She said”,Hi! Handsome. Iam Rose,87 years old, can I give you a hug?“ I laughed, “Of course!” Then I asked,“Why are you here?”She jokinglyreplied,“I am here to meet a rich husband,get married, have two children, and then retire and travel.”She continued,“In fact, I always dreamed of having a college edu- cation! “One day we invited Rose to give a speech. She said,”We do not stop playing because we are old, we grow old because we stop playing. You need laughter and humor ev- ery day. You need dreams. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and do not even know it! There is a big differ- ence between growing older and growing up. Anybody can grow older. The idea is togrow up by always finding the opportunityto change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually do not have regrets for what they did, but rather for things they did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets .“One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over 200 college students attended her funeral. This won- derful woman taught us by example that it is never too late to be all you can possibly be.