Man Is Like a Fruit Tree by Elmer H. Bobst

人像一棵果树 埃尔默.霍姆斯.博布斯特

Once, while taking my boat down the inland waterway to Florida, I decided to tie up at Georgetown, South Carolina, for the night and visit with an old friend. As we approached the Esso dock, I saw him through my binoculars standing there awaiting us. Tall and straight as an arrow he stood, facing a cold, penetrating wind - truly a picture of a sturdy man, even though in his eighties. Yes, the man was our elder statesman, Bernard Baruch.

He loaded us into his station wagon and we were off to his famous Hobcaw Barony for dinner. We sat and talked in the great living room where many notables and statesmen, including Roosevelt and Churchill, have sat and taken their cues. In his eighty-second year, still a human dynamo, Mr. Baruch talked not of the past but of present problems and the future, deploring our ignorance of history, economics and psychology. His only reference to the past was to tell me, with the wonderful sparkle in his eyes, that he was only able to get eight quail out of the ten shots the day before. What is the secret of this great man's value to the world? The answer is his insatiable desire to keep being productive.

有一次，我沿着内河独自驾船前往佛罗里达州。到达南卡洛来纳的乔治敦时，我决定靠岸过夜，顺便去拜访一位老朋友。船一进埃松港，我就从望远镜中看到他站在那里等我们。朋友高而挺拔的身影像一支箭一样，站立在刺骨的寒风中，简直一幅健壮男子汉的画面，虽然画面中人已年过八旬。没错，他就是我们的老一辈政治家，伯纳德.巴鲁克。

伯纳德.巴鲁克的旅行轿车载着我们，径直驶向他那著名的霍布考大庄园用餐。我们就座谈话的大客厅，曾有包括罗斯福和丘吉尔在内的许多贵客与政治家光临，与他交谈，倾听他的意见。如今，巴鲁克先生虽已82岁，却依然活力充沛。他对过去缄口不提，只谈论现在与将来的问题，并为我们对历史学、经济学和心理学知识的匮乏而深表遗憾。他告诉我，昨天他只用10发子弹就射中了8只鹌鹑，这也是他提到的唯一一件“往事”。说话时，他的双眼闪烁着令人愉快的光芒。这位伟大的人物对世界充满价值的奥秘何在?答案就是他对成就一如既往的追求。

Another friend of mine, the head of one of our largest corporations, a great steel company, is approaching his middle seventies, and he is still a great leader. He, too, never talks of the past. Instead, he tackles the problems of each day in his stride, brims with plans for the future and, incidentally, shoots in the low seventies on any golf course. He is a happy man because he is productive.

Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently, I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables, talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity were the chief requisites for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased. When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.

我的另一位朋友领导着一家最大的公司——一个大钢铁公司。年近75岁的他，依然是位优秀的领导者。他也从不谈及往昔，而是游刃有余地处理着每天的问题，头脑中想的满是对未来的计划。并且值得一提的是，70多岁的他，还会不时打打高尔夫球。他是个幸福的人，因为他有所成就。

人生在世最难完成的两件事就是：用诚实的努力获得财富，以及拥有财富后，学会如何正确地运用。最近，在一个相当知名的高尔夫俱乐部，我打完一轮球后走进衣帽间。当时已近黄昏，多数俱乐部成员都已经回家。然而，六七位年过中旬的人依然坐在桌边，漫无目的地闲聊着，喝得烂醉如泥。他们每天都是如此。令我无比惊奇的是，他们个个都曾是家财万贯，事业成功，在圈内备受尊敬的人。如果幸福的首要因素是物质财富，那么他们每个人都应该很幸福。+但是，我想，对他们来说，某种非常重要的东西已经失去了，不然他们又怎会逃避现实，每天用苏打水和苏格兰威士忌将自己灌得烂醉如泥?他们明白，自己已经无法突破现有的成就。一棵果树若不再结果便会枯死，人也如此。

What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eyes while I was thumbing through my Bible. The words were few but they became indelibly impressed on my mind: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread."

To me that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections. In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight - have finished the course - I have kept the faith.

如何才能幸福长寿地生活在世上呢?我想，很早之前在翻阅《圣经》时，我就找到了答案。《创世纪》中有一段话引起了我的注意，它虽然简短，却在我脑海中留下了深刻的印象：“要想糊口，必要汗流满面。”

对我而言，它是最初的记忆，也是始终的挑战。实际上，对每个人来说，人生之役，生存之役，都是一种挑战。圣.保罗不朽的教诲，也一直并将永远鼓舞着我。但愿，在到达生命之途的终点时，我能够认为自己打了漂亮的一仗，不仅走完了人生的旅程，而且一如既往地坚持着自己的信仰。