A friend of mine met with fortunes in succession after he signed with The Reader,a highly popular magazine in China.First he was admitted into the Provincial Writer’s Association,and a cashier as he was ,he then became a teacher in a literature institute.That year ,however,he was only 28,and had already published in the newspaper articles of about 60,000 Chinese characters.
Many students admired and thought highly of his achievements.A lot of the literature lovers turned to him for advice.
“Well,Sir,there must be knack for your success,right?Could you share them with us?”they asked.
“Just one word:passion,”candidly,he replied.
“But how deep passion if one want to write as well as you do ,”they continued their question.
“one –foot deep,”said my friend.
One-foot deep passion?Perplexity was written all over them.My friend invited the students home and pulled out a bundle of writing paper from under his bed.Those paper sheets were full of small and closely-written characters,which were his rejected manuscripts and a good foot in thickness!
“If you really want to achieve something in writing,you have to maintain one-foot deep passion,and that is to say you will persist until you have written one-foot thick rejected manuscripts. During that period of time,no inpatience and desperation but expectation, passion , full confidence with the future as well as hope instead.” he told the students
All of a sudden,the students knew everything.Up untill now did they realized that it does take great pains and efforts to write wonderful writings.Success in writing just does not come easy.Filled with passion ,they all want a try right away.
“Well,”added my friend,“what you should also bear in mind is that one-foot deep ,that is totally enough!If you have written one-foot thick rejected manuscripts, your writing level is still that of a high school student,then just stop here lest keeping writing will only mean wasting your time and talents.You should then turn to something else.”
Indeed,it is generally ture.Whatever we do ,we should do it with deep and persistent passion.But if our effort-taking passion just comes to nothing,please quit as early as possible.Try to do something different while we are still young.Very ofen,maybe success is only at the corner when we can turn to a new direction.
这篇小散文我觉得很有启发意义，所以就把它翻译了英文，下面是它的中文原文。在这篇文章中，作者说的“一尺深的热爱”这个观点，在我们坚持自己的选择和爱好时有一定参考意义。我们都知道坚持的重要性，但是坚持多久坚持什么该不该坚持，这些问题也值得我们思考。而“一尺深得热爱”似乎可以回答这些问题哦。
《一尺深的热爱》
陈志宏•
一位朋友成为《读者》杂志的签约作家之后，好运接二连三，先是被省作家协会吸收为会员，然后，从一名小出纳，摇身一变，成了文学院的教师。那一年，他28岁，已有近六十万字见诸报刊。
很多学生对他所取得的成绩极为欣赏，赞叹不已。不少文学爱好者向他求教：“老师，你的写作那么出名，一定有什么秘诀吧？”他向学生坦言：“两个字：热爱。”学生进一步打探：“如果要达到你现在的水平，到底要热爱到什么程度？”他回答说：“一尺深。”
一尺深的热爱？同学们纷纷向他投去疑惑的目光。朋友带他的学生来到家里，从床底下搬出一捆纸，纸上密密麻麻写满了字，那都是他从未发表过的废稿；足足有一尺厚。
他告诉学生：“如果想在写作上有所建树，就要保持一尺深的热爱，也就是说，坚持写完一尺厚废稿。其间，不心急，不绝望，心中总有期待和热爱，对前途充满信心和希望。”
学生们恍然大悟，这才知道，文满芳华，不是唾手可得，而是非得下一番苦功夫不可。他们激情满怀，个个跃跃欲试。
朋友接着说：“千万记住，热爱也只能是一尺深！如果写了一尺厚的废稿之后，还停留在中学生的作文水平，那注定此路不通，不如改事他行，省得文章误我，蹉跎岁月。”
其实，做任何事情都是这样，保持一尺深的热爱。爱要深沉执著，但是，如果爱得辛苦无着，请及早抽身而退，趁青春，另寻出口。成败，就在转身之间。
