One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The people stared — how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love — I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges — giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space in my heart. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.
【日积月累】
proclaim vt. 宣布，声明，显示，显露
jagged a. 锯齿状的，不整齐的
gouge n. (物体表面的)洞，口子
cherish vt. 珍爱，怀抱(希望等)
【参考译文】
最美的心
一天一个年轻人站在小镇的中央，宣布他的心是整个山谷中最美丽的心。大批的人聚集过来并且都称赞他的心的完美，上面没有一点伤痕或者瑕疵。是的，他们一致认为这实在是他们见过的最美丽的心。这个年轻人非常骄傲，更加大声地吹捧自己那颗美丽的心。
突然，一位老人出现在人群面前并且说道：“你的心远不如我的美丽。”围观群众和年轻人都朝老人的心看去，它有力地跳动着，却布满了伤疤，有些地方被挖走了，又被重新补上了，但却补得并不恰当，留下了参差不齐的疤痕。事实上，因为某些地方的残缺还露出很深的豁口。
人们注视着，心想：他怎能说自己的心更美丽呢?年轻人看了看老人的心，笑着说：“你一定是在开玩笑吧，”他说，“把你的心和我的比一下，我的心是那么完美，而你的心却布满了伤疤和裂痕。”
“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会跟你交换。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱——我掏出心的一部分给他们，他们也常常会掏出自己的一部分回赠给我，来弥补我心的缺陷，但是因为残缺并不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们能使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。有时我送出了心的一部分，而其他人并没有回赠给我，因此就出现了这些深孔——付出爱需要冒风险的。尽管这些伤口很疼，并且整日敞开着，但它能使我想起我给予那些人的爱。我希望有一天，他们能够回来填补上我心里的空白。所以你现在明白什么是真正的美丽了吧?”
年轻人沉默地站着，泪水顺着脸颊流下。他走到这位老人身边，把手伸进自己年轻美丽而完美的心里，撕下一块来。他用颤抖的双手把它献给这位老人。
老人接过年轻人的馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己布满伤痕的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。它正好可以放进去，但却不是特别吻合，因为有一些疤痕。年轻人看着自己的心，虽然看起来不再完美但比以前更美丽了，因为老人心中的爱也流淌到了他的心里。他们互相拥抱，然后肩并肩离开了。
【人生启迪】
从小到大，家长、老师们都教育我们心灵美的重要性，但是真正的心灵美并不在乎你的心是否看起来美丽，而是在于你是否懂得为别人奉献自己的一片爱心，如果你这样做了，那么虽然你的心会有短暂的残缺，但是总会有更好的来弥补它，这样你的心灵才是最美丽的。