生命需要等待 · 永清

为你读英语美文 · 第419期 
主播：永清

Life Resides in Waiting
《生命需要等待》节选
作者：詹克明，翻译：佚名

Many desert plants have a very brief life cycle: they can run through the whole course of life in just a few days after rain. As described by a friend from Gansu province, a certain flowering plant in the Gobi Desert, on the heels of a soaking rain, is able to sprout, take roots, grow leaves, blossom and bear fruit all within a lifespan of merely eight days. 

许多沙漠植物生命周期都很短促，他们能在下雨过后的短短几天内就完成一次生命全程。听甘肃的一位先生说，戈壁上有一种植物，只要一场雨，它就立即抽芽，急速地生根、长叶、开花、结果，仅在八天里就能完成一株显花植物全部的生命周期。

Then seeds of the new generation will enter the same inactive, waiting phase of existence. In the Gobi Desert, which seldom sees a single sufficient rain in a whole year, a plant may wait two years for only eight days' glory of life. For these desert plants, contrary to common sense, waiting constitutes the main part of life.

此后，新一代的种子又会重新归于安静的等待。在这片一年也未必能下场透雨的戈壁滩上，也许等待了两年时间就是为了这历时八天的生命辉煌。对这些沙漠植物来说，也许等待反倒是生命的主要存在方式。

All life involves a waiting phase. We can even go so far as to say that a living thing, without the ability to wait, is not qualified for existence in this world.

生命必须包含等待，甚至可以说，没有学会等待的生命就不具备生存的资格。

In addition, the waiting ones are sober-minded. They know the waiting phase of life calls for ready acceptance of silence and solitude, as well as a cool head to size up the situation and act at the right moment. This waiting includes the potential for action and embodies the tensions of life. There may of course be dead seeds, but otherwise, no seeds will oversleep and refuse to wake up or stay idle and hesitate over whether to take action. 

等待者永远醒着。生命的等待既需要一种安于寂寞的静守，又需要一种审时度势的清醒。这是一种伺机而发的等待，一种充满着生命张力的等待。可以有失去生命的种子，但决不会有睡过头、唤不醒的种子，也没有怠惰懒散、迷离惝恍的种子。

They are highly alert to the changing temperature and humidity with a view to seize the right chance. What is more surprising to us is that they even know the direction of gravity. By dint of a certain sense organ in them they let their young roots strike downward and their sprouts shoot upward. 

它们个个清醒，都对温度、湿度等重要环境因素常备不懈地保持高度警觉，时刻都在捕捉春天的信息。更令人不解的是，萌发的种子凭着什么感觉器官，竟然能够知觉地球引力方向，它会让先钻出来的胚根向“下”生长，而让随后长出的胚芽向“上”伸张。

Some seeds receive even more care from their mother plants. For instance, a species of toadflax boasts a sensitive mechanism which directs its stems to carry its capsules away from the light and release the seeds in places cool and moist, thus more congenial to germination. Doesn't this show a mother's affection towards her offspring?

它们有时还得惠于母本的高级知觉，例如常春藤叶彩雀花，母体茎干会带着蒴果避开亮光，爬到更适宜种子发芽的阴湿墙角处爆开种子，它竟然能对子代出世体现出一种充满母爱的关怀。

For all forms of life, the waiting phase can be seen as an arrow on a taut bowstring. Aimed at growth, it silently waits for the right signal from Nature.

对生命而言，等待永远是一支瞄向“发展”的满弓弦箭，它时刻都在屏息静听，候望天命信号。

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永清：born in 云南，graduate from 西安外国语大学

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