Care for Your Dream 关爱梦想
一个人的成长过程中会不断有梦想产生，有些梦想变成了现实，而有些梦想却破灭了。梦想的破灭，是因为它没有得到精心的照料。梦想一旦破灭，青春之花也便凋零了，因为梦想是青春的光和热。去呵护你的梦想吧！勇敢地站在舞台中央，跳一曲快乐的人生芭蕾。
My dream ended when I was born. Although I never knew it then, I just held on
to something that would never come to pass. Dreams really do exist. But in
the morning when you wake up, they are remembered just as a dream. That
is what happened to me.
I always had the dream to dance like a beautiful ballerina twirling around and
around and hearing people applaud for me. When I was young, I would twirl
around and around in the fields of wildflowers that grew in my backyard.
I thought that if I twirled faster everything would disappear and I would wake
up in a new place. Reality woke me up when I heard a voice saying, "I don't
know why you bother trying to dance. Ballerinas are pretty, slender little girls.
Besides, you don't have the talent to even be a ballerina." I remember how
those words paralyzed every feeling in my body. I fell to the ground and wept
for hours.
We lived in the country by a nearby lake. I did not like to be at home. When
my parents were home, my mother just yelled and criticized because nothing
was ever perfect in her life. She dreamed of a different life but she ended up
living in the country far away from the city where she believed her dreams
would have come true.
I enjoyed hanging out by the water. I would sit there for hours and stare at my
reflection. There I was, looking nothing like a pretty ballerina dancer.
Reflections don't lie. Once the waves would come, my reflection was gone.
Washed away just like my dream to dance.
As I grew older, I began to realize that the reason my dream was even born,
was because it was something that was inside of me. The dream I had was
never nurtured and cared for, so it slowly died. It's not that I wanted it to die,
but I allowed it to die the day I started listening to the words, "You can't do it."
When I finally woke up from many years of dreaming, I realized that you can't
settle for dancing in the wildflowers, you have to move on to the platform.
我一出生，梦想就结束了，然而当时我却毫不知晓，仍执著于一些永无实现之日的事情。我的确怀有许多梦想。不过，当早晨醒来之时，所记起的却只是一场梦境而已。我的经历就是如此。
我一直梦想着像一个美丽的芭蕾演员一样跳舞，轻盈地旋来转去，耳边是人们的掌声喝彩。小时候，我常常在自家后院长满野花的草地上练习芭蕾舞的旋转动作。
我想要是我转得再快一点，眼前的一切都会消失，我将会获得一方新的天地。然而现实唤醒了我，我听到一个声音说：“我不明白你为什么不厌其烦地尝试跳舞。跳芭蕾舞的人都长得漂亮、苗条、娇小可爱。还有，你也没有跳芭蕾舞的天分。”记得当时那些话让我的全身都失去了知觉。我瘫倒在地上，哭了好几个小时。
我们家住在乡下，附近有一个湖。我不喜欢呆在家里，妈妈总是在家里大喊大叫着抱怨生活处处不如意。她曾经梦想住在城市里，只有在那里她的理想才能实现，而后来却住在这远离城市的乡下，这与她的理想完全两样。
我喜欢到水边呆着，在那儿，常常一坐就是几个小时，静静地望着水中我的倒影。水中的我哪也不像一个漂亮的芭蕾舞演员，倒影从不撒谎。微波荡过倒影消失了，就像我的跳舞的梦想一样消失了。
随着我的成长我开始明白之所以我的梦产生，是因为那个梦就在我心里。而我的梦想从未得到过培育和呵护，因此它慢慢地死去了。我并不想让它死去，但是从我听到“你办不到”这种话的那一天，我却放任了它的死去。最后，当我从多年来的梦想中醒来时，我才明白过来：你不能满足于在野花丛中跳舞，你必须设法到舞台上去跳。
注释：
1. hold on to v.坚持
2. ballerina n.芭蕾舞女演员
3. twirl vi.转动, 旋转
4. slender adj.苗条的，修长的
5. paralyze vt.使瘫痪, 使麻痹
6. end up结束
7. hang out 闲逛, (在某处)闲呆着
8. reflection n.倒影
9. nothing like没有什么能比得上
10. wash away 冲走
11. nurture v.培育，培养
12. settle for 满足于
13. platform n.平台，舞台
