A young and successful manager was traveling down a neighborhood street in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jaguar back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”
The young boy was apologetic. “Please mister...please, I'm sorry... I didn't know what else to do,” he begged. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop...” With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It's my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the road and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up.”
Now sobbing, the boy asked the manager, “Would you please help me get him back? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.” Moved beyond words, the driver hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his beautiful handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
“Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!
【日积月累】
-Jaguar 捷豹汽车（有“英国骑士”之称，是有80余年历史的世界一流名车品牌）
-slam v. 猛然关上
-apologetic adj. 道歉的
-dab v. 轻拍
-scrape n. 擦痕
-dent v.弄凹
【参考译文】
新车与砖头
一个年轻有为的经理开着他的新捷豹汽车在附近一条街道上奔驰着，他时刻注意着可能从停着的汽车中间突然跑出来的小孩子，每当他觉得有点不对劲时，他就会减速。但是，当他的车子经过时，出现的不是小孩子，而是一块砖砸在了车门上。他猛地把车停下来，并倒回那块砖出现的地方。盛怒之下，他跳下车，揪住最近的那个孩子，把他推在一辆停着的车上，吼道：“这是怎么回事？你又是谁？你在做什么？那是一辆新车，你扔的那块砖头会带来不少的损失！你为什么要那么做？”
小男孩感到非常抱歉。“对不起，先生……对不起，我很抱歉……我不知道除此之外我还能怎么办，”他请求道，“因为没有人愿意停下来帮我，我才扔砖头的。”眼泪不停地从小男孩的脸上滑到下巴上，再从下巴上滴了下去，他指着离一辆停着的车不远处的一个地方说：“我的哥哥，他从路边上滚下来，掉下了轮椅，我抱不动他。”
小男孩一边抽泣，一边请求这个经理：“可不可以请您帮我把他放回轮椅上去？他受伤了，我又抱不动他。”年轻的经理被感动得说不出话来，很快他就把那个残疾的男孩放回他的轮椅上，然后拿出自己那条漂亮的手绢给他轻轻擦了擦那些新的刮伤，很快他就发现男孩不会有什么问题。
“谢谢您，愿上帝保佑你。”男孩很感激地对这个陌生人说。年轻的经理在回到自己的捷豹的路上，感觉到这段路程是那么的遥远又漫长，车上的刮伤非常醒目，但是他从没去修理这车门上的凹痕。他要留着那个凹痕时刻提醒自己：生活中不要总是埋头向前冲，不要总是要等别人对你扔了砖头才能引起你的注意。
【人生启迪】
现在的生活节奏非常的快，快到我们常常忽视了聆听别人。就好像文章中的经理一样，我们总是没有想到别人也有可能需要我们的帮助，直到遭遇那块砖头才猛然醒悟。我们是否也应该像他一样把车门上的凹痕流下来时刻提醒自己要聆听别人的需要呢？