美文欣赏：It's harder to be kind than clever. harder, 美文欣赏

M_CARL

As a kid,I spent my summers with my grandparents on their big farmer in Texas.Every few summers,we'd join the caravan,a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the US and Canada.
  I loved traveling with my grandparents and I really looked forward to these travels.On one particular trip,I was about 10 years old and I was rolling around in the backseat.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She was smoking a cigarette,and I hated the smell.
  At that age,I'd take any excuse to make predictions and do minor arithmetic.I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarette per day,estimated the number of puffs each time she smoked and so on.When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number,I poked my head into the front of the car,tapped my grandmother on the shoulder,and proudly said,"At two seconds per puff,you've taken nine years off your life!"Because the ad said,"Every puff of a cigarette takes a certain number of time off a smoker's life."
  I expected to be praised for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.That's not what happened.Instead,my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.My grandfather was a highly intelligent,kind man.He had never said a harsh word to me.He pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He stopped and got out of the car,looked at me,and after a bit of slience,he gently and calmly said,"Jeff,one day you will understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."
                                                                                                                                           ---From a magzine

  Sometimes we just try to be smart and that admittedly earn others' respect.
  But,that's not our lives' meaning.I bet it.

chizhutianshi

明天来翻译。

chizhutianshi

As a kid,I spent my summers with my grandparents on their big farmer in Texas.Every few summers,we'd join the caravan,a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the US and Canada.
  I loved traveling with my grandparents and I really looked forward to these travels.On one particular trip,I was about 10 years old and I was rolling around in the backseat.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She was smoking a cigarette,and I hated the smell.
  At that age,I'd take any excuse to make predictions and do minor arithmetic.I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarette per day,estimated the number of puffs each time she smoked and so on.When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number,I poked my head into the front of the car,tapped my grandmother on the shoulder,and proudly said,"At two seconds per puff,you've taken nine years off your life!"Because the ad said,"Every puff of a cigarette takes a certain number of time off a smoker's life."
  I expected to be praised for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.That's not what happened.Instead,my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.My grandfather was a highly intelligent,kind man.He had never said a harsh word to me.He pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He stopped and got out of the car,looked at me,and after a bit of slience,he gently and calmly said,"Jeff,one day you will understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."
                                                                                                                                           ---From a magzine

  Sometimes we just try to be smart and that admittedly earn others' respect.
  But,that's not our lives' meaning.I bet it.

yolanda-zhang

good story!clever or kind?

sunny萝卜

回复 6# asd780001


    smart, boy!

work626

Sometimes we just try to be smart and that admittedly earn others' respect.
  But,that's not our lives' meaning.I bet it.__I agree.

asd780001

I ponder his grandmother has known the cigarette is harmful to herself ,however,his grandmother may have some painful things,then  she is addicted to smoking.
so it is harder to be kind than clever.

sunny萝卜

回复 3# wanxiaer113


    There has no mercy.

M_CARL

回复 3# wanxiaer113


    The key is the purpose.

wanxiaer113

tell the truth,i can't understand the grandmother's reaction.

take no offense at a child's babble

tingroom

a thought-provoking story