A man walking in the night slipped from a rock. Afraid that he would fall down thousands of feet, because he knew that place was a very deep valley, he took hold of a branch that was hanging over the rock. In the night all he could see was a bottomless abyss. He shouted, his own shout reflected back--there was nobody to hear.

You can imagine that man and his whole night of scare. Every moment there was death. His hands were becoming cold and he was losing his grip...and as the sun came out he looked down and he laughed. There was no abyss. Just six inches down there was a rock. He could have rested the whole night, slept well—the rock was big enough—but the whole night was a nightmare.

Fear is only six inches deep. Now it is up to you whether you want to go on cling to the branch and turn your life into a nightmare, or whether you would love to leave the branch and stand on your feet.

There is nothing to fear.

【助读词汇】

abyss n. 深渊；无底洞

nightmare n.梦魇，恶梦；恐惧的经历，可怕的事件

【参考译文】

一个人在走夜路的时候从岩石上滑了下去，他赶紧抓住了岩石旁边的一根树枝，因为他知道这里是一个深谷，一不小心就会掉入千丈深渊。一整晚他能看到的就只有深不见底的峡谷。他大声叫喊，可惜听到的只有自己的回声——这里根本就没人听得见他的叫喊。

你可以想象得到，这个人整夜都处在惊恐之中。随时都有可能掉下去摔死。他的手渐渐变冷，快要抓不住了……当太阳升起的时候，他往下一看，笑了。这里根本就没有深谷。就在在他脚下6英尺的地方有一块石头。他本来可以好好睡一个晚上的，因为那块石头足够大，但是他却整晚都处在噩梦之中。

恐惧仅仅是因为那6英尺导致的。现在轮到你了，你是要紧抓着树枝，整晚都处在噩梦之中呢，还是希望把手从树枝上松开，稳稳地站在地上?

其实，没有什么好害怕的。

【人生启迪】

生活中其实没有什么可怕的，真正可怕的是失去自信！我们在遇到危险的时候千万不要自己吓自己，总往坏处想，应该保持冷静，尽量用乐观的心态去处理，这样会收到意想不到的好结果。