第2章 真正的朋友

Real Friends

佚名/Anonymous

第一次世界大战期间，当一位士兵眼睁睁地看着自己相知相伴的朋友倒下时，恐惧顿时遍布全身。尽管他身处战壕中，头顶上子弹来回穿梭，士兵还是去请求中尉允许他去战壕间的“无人区”，把倒下的伙伴带回来。

“可以，”中尉答道，“不过我认为不值得。要知道，你的朋友可能已经死了，你想白白送死吗？”

士兵并没有听从中尉的话，义无反顾地去了。他竟奇迹般地靠近了伙伴，并用肩膀将他扛回了战壕。中尉检查了那名战士的伤势后，和蔼地望着他的这位朋友说：

“我说过，这不值得，他已经死了，而你也伤得很严重。”

“尽管这样，我这么做还是值得的，长官。”士兵答道。

“值得？你知道自己在说什么吗？”中尉反驳道，“你的朋友已经死了！”

“是的，是值得的，长官。因为当我找到他时，他还活着。而且，我很欣慰地听到他对我说：‘吉姆，我知道你会来的。’”士兵回答道。

人生中，很多时候对于一件事情是否值得去做，取决于你如何去评判它的价值。鼓起勇气，做你内心指引你做的事情，这样，日后你就不会为没有行动而后悔。

愿天下每个人都有真正的朋友相伴左右。

Horror gripped the heart of the World War I soldier， as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head， the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the "No Man's Land" between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back.

"You can go，" said the lieutenant， "but I don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away."

The lieutenant's words didn't matter， and the soldier went anyway. Miraculously he managed to reach his friend， hoist him onto his shoulder， and bring him back to their company's trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench， the officer checked the wounded soldier， then looked kindly at his friend.

"I told you it wouldn't be worth it，" he said，"your friend is dead， and you are mortally wounded."

"It was worth it， though， sir." the soldier said.

"How do you mean， 'worth it'？" responded the lieutenant. "Your friend is dead ！"

"Yes， sir，" the private answered， "but it was worth it because when I got to him， he was still alive， and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say， 'Jim， I knew you'd come.’"

Many times in life， whether a thing is worth doing or not really depends on how you look at it. Take up all your courage and do something your heart tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in life.

May each and every one of you be blessed with the company of real friends.