In the hope of restoring his eyesight， Tarkington had to go through more than twelve operations within one year. With local anaesthetic！ Did he rail against this？ He knew it had to be done. He knew he couldn’t escape it， so the only way to lessen his suffering was to take it with grace. He refused a private room at the hospital and went into a ward， where he could be with other people who had troubles， too. He tried to cheer them up. And when he had to submit to repeated operations—fully conscious of what was being done to his eyes—he tried to remember how fortunate he was. “How wonderful！” he said. “How wonderful， that science now has the skill to operate on anything so delicate as the human eye！”
The average man would have been a nervous wreck if he had had to endure more than twelve operations and blindness. Yet Tarkington said， “I would not exchange this experience for a happier one.” It taught him acceptance. It taught him that nothing life could bring him was beyond his strength to endure. It taught him， as John Milton discovered， that “It is not miserable to be blind， it is only miserable not to be able to endure blindness.”
If we rail and kick against it and grow bitter， we won’t change the inevitable； but we will change ourselves.
I once refused to accept an inevitable situation with which I was confronted. I played the fool and railed against it， and rebelled. I turned my nights into hells of insomnia. I brought upon myself everything I didn’t want. Finally， after a year of self-torture， I had to accept what I knew from the outset I couldn’t possibly alter.
I should have cried out years ago with old Walt Whitman：
Oh， to confront night， storms， hunger， ridicule， accident， rebuffs， as the trees and animals do.
已故的布斯？塔金頓常常掛在嘴邊的一句話就是：“我能承受人生旅途上的任何苦難，可唯有一樣例外——失明。那是我永遠都無法承受的。”
後來，到了六十多歲的時候，有一天，塔金頓低頭看著地毯，發現地毯的色彩開始變得模糊不清。他根本無法看清花紋的樣式。塔金頓隨即去找了一位眼科專家，最終得知了那個不幸的噩耗：自己正在逐漸喪失視力，有一隻眼差不多已經失明了，而另一隻眼情況也不容樂觀。他最擔心的事情最終還是發生了。
塔金頓是如何對待這種“災難性的打擊”呢？他是不是認為“這就是我的人生，我的一生就這麽完了”呢？沒有，令他自己吃驚的是，他感到開心，甚至還不失幽默。那些浮動在眼前的“黑斑”曾經讓他很苦惱。這些“黑斑”會阻擋他的眼睛，並讓他無法看清眼前的東西。不過現在的情形是，當那些最大的黑斑浮過眼睛時，他就會說：“你好啊！黑斑爺爺又來了！猜猜今天這麽好的天氣，它想到哪裏去啊！”
在這樣的情況下，命運能否戰勝我們的精神呢？回答是否定的！當塔金頓徹底失明後，他說：“我覺得自己能夠接受這一事實，如同別人能夠承受其他事情一樣。如果我喪失了五種感官功能，我知道自己還可以生活在自己的思想裏。因為無論我們清楚與否，我們唯有通過思想才能看清生活，唯有通過思想才能體驗生活。”
為了恢複視力，塔金頓不得不在一年之內經曆了12次手術，而且手術用的麻醉劑還是當地生產的！他是否為此擔心過呢？沒有，因為他知道這些都是他必須承受的，他知道沒有逃避的餘地，所以勇敢地接受它才是唯一能夠減輕痛苦的方法。他放棄了醫院裏的私人病房，選擇與其他病友一起住在大病房裏。他費盡周折讓其他病友精神振奮。當他不得不麵對那反反複複的手術時——他心裏十分明白眼科手術的難度，他仍竭盡全力地想象自己有多麽幸運。他說：“實在太神奇了！實在太神奇了！現在的科學已經可以為任何東西做手術了，想不到連這麽脆弱的眼睛也可以！”
如果一個人經曆了12次以上的手術，仍生活在黑暗中，恐怕他的精神早就崩潰了。然而，塔斯頓說：“我可不願意把這樣的經曆換成一些更開心的事情。”正是這次特殊的經曆教他學會了接受，教他懂得了，生活裏的一切根本沒有什麽是他能力所不及的，也沒有什麽是他無法承受的。他懂得了富爾頓所說的：“失明並不可怕，可怕的是你無法接受失明。”
如果我們一味地反抗它，隻會越來越痛苦，因為事情無法改變，但是我們可以改變我們自己。
有一次，因為我不願認可一件不可避免的事情。於是，便做了一件傻事——我反抗它，抱怨它。結果一連幾個夜晚，我都無法合眼，而且還使自己痛苦不堪。經過一整年的自我虐待，我終於承認了這些不可改變的事實。
一年前，我就應該大聲朗讀惠特曼的詩句：
哦，去麵對黑夜、暴風雨、饑餓、愚弄、意外和挫折吧！就像樹和動物一樣。
心靈小語
失明並不可怕，可怕的是你無法接受失明。當你懷著一顆坦然的心麵對一切時，不幸也就沒那麽可怕了。
記憶填空
1.__ could fate ever conquer a spirit like that？ The__ is it couldn’t. When total blindness__ in， Tarkington said，“I found I could take the__ of my eyesight， just as a man can take anything__. If I lost all five of my senses， I know I could live on inside my__. For it is in the mind we see， and in the mind we__， whether we know it or not.”
2. The average man would have been a nervous wreck__ he had had to endure more than twelve operations and blindness. Yet Tarkington said，“I would not__ this experience for a happier one.”It__ him acceptance. It taught him that__ life could bring him was beyond his strength to endure.
佳句翻譯
1. 我能承受人生旅途上的任何苦難，可唯有一樣例外——失明。
譯______________
2. 因為無論我們清楚與否，我們唯有通過思想才能看清生活，唯有通過思想才能體驗生活。
譯______________
3. 失明並不可怕，可怕的是你無法接受失明。
譯______________
短語應用
1. In the hope of restoring his eyesight， Tarkington had to go through more than twelve operations within one year.
in the hope of：希望；懷著……的期望；期待著
造______________
2. He tried to cheer them up.
cheer up：鼓勵；（使）高興起來；（使）振作起來
造______________
多一小時的清醒
How to Add One Hour a Day to Your Waking Life
戴爾·卡耐基 / Dale Carnegie
Why am I writing a chapter on preventing fatigue in a book on preventing worry？ That is simple： because fatigue often produces worry， or， at least， it makes you susceptible to worry. Any medical student will tell you that fatigue lowers physical resistance to the common cold and hundreds of other diseases and any psychiatrist will tell you that fatigue also lowers your resistance to the emotions of fear and worry. So preventing fatigue tends to prevent worry.
Did I say “tends to prevent worry？ ” That is putting it mildly. Dr. Edmund Jacobson goes much further. Dr. Jacob son has written two books on relaxation： Progressive Relaxation and You Must Relax， and as director of the University of Chicago Laboratory for Clinical Physiology， he has spent years conducting investigations in using relaxation as a method in medical practice. He declares that any nervous or emotional state “fails to exist in the presence of complete relaxation.” That is another way of saying： You cannot continue to worry if you relax.
So， to prevent fatigue and worry， the first rule is： Rest often. Rest before you get tired.