THE SAND AND THE LEAVES 沙子和叶子

Ayer lived a rich life, so his friends wanted to know the secret of his wealth. One day, Ayer would go to the market to handle affairs, when one of his friends happened to go the same way. So they went along.

It was terribly sultry . When they went halfway, they were so tired and thirsty that they stopped and sat down under a big tree by the roadside. Ayer took out two bowls from his backpack, placed before them then untied the water bag and filled the bowls with water.

They carried the bowls and were about to drink off when a gust of wind suddenly blew, making them not open their eyes. After the wind stopped, his friend found a lot of sand dropped in his bowl, even with some leaves on it. The friend frowned, poured away the water in the bowl without hesitation , picked up Ayer's water bag conveniently, poured himself another bowl and drank off without a break. When he put down his bowl, he found Ayer's bowl was also muddy, but Ayer only carefully picked up the fallen leaves, threw them off and put the bowl on the ground.

After a while, the water was gradually clean and clear, when Ayer carried the bowl and drank slowly.

His friend laughed at his misery , for he even regarded a bowl of water as a treasure. After hearing that, Ayer said with a smile, “Each bowl of water is drawn by me from the well, which I took pains to dig. How can't I regard it as a treasure?”

When sand and leaves dropped into a bowl, what Ayer's saw was still the water, but what his friend saw nothing but the sand and leaves. Maybe it was the secret of Ayer's wealth.

艾尔是个有钱人，朋友们都想知道他的致富之道。一天，艾尔要去集市办事儿，一个朋友碰巧跟他同路，于是两人同行。

天气湿热难耐。半路上两人又累又渴，于是停下来坐在路边的大树下。艾尔从背包里拿出两只碗放在身前，然后解开水袋往碗里倒水。

他们端起碗正准备喝水，这时，突然刮来一阵风，弄得两人都睁不开眼睛。风停了，朋友发现碗里落进了很多沙子，甚至还有树叶。这位朋友皱起了眉头，毫不犹豫地倒掉了碗里的水，顺手拿起艾尔的水袋重新给自己倒了一碗水一饮而尽。当他放下碗的时候，他发现艾尔的碗同样脏兮兮的，可他却仔细地把落叶捡了出来扔掉，然后把碗搁在了地上。

不一会儿，碗里的水渐渐清澈起来，艾尔端起了碗，慢条斯理地喝着水。

朋友见他居然拿一碗水也当宝贝，嘲笑起他的惨状。艾尔听了笑着说：“每一碗水都是我从辛辛苦苦挖的井里打上来的，我怎么可能不把它当宝贝呢？”

尽管碗里落进了沙子和叶子，艾尔看到的仍然是碗里的水，可他的朋友却只能看到沙子和叶子。也许这就是艾尔的致富之道吧。

-sultry [ˈsʌltrɪ] adj. (指天气)湿热难耐的

-hesitation [ˌhezɪˈteɪʃn] n. 犹豫

-misery [ˈmɪzərɪ] n. 痛苦

就像牛顿看到苹果掉落而发现万有引力，阿基米德看到洗澡水溢出而发现浮力原理，认知角度成就不同人生。