英漢英語美文：只有時間才明白愛的價值
once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: happiness, sadness, knowledge, and all of the others, including love. one day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. except for love.
love was the only one who stayed. love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.
when the island had almost sunk, love decided to ask for help.
richness was passing by love in a grand boat. love said,
richness, can you take me with you?
richness answered, no, i can't. there is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. there is no place here for you.
love decided to ask vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. vanity, please help me!
i can't help you, love. you are all wet and might damage my boat, vanity answered.
sadness was close by so love asked, sadness, let me go with you.
oh . . . love, i am so sad that i need to be by myself!
happiness passed by love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when love called her.
suddenly, there was a voice, come, love, i will take you. it was an elder. so blessed and overjoyed, love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. when they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. realizing how much was owed the elder, love asked knowledge, another elder, who helped me?
it was time, knowledge answered.
time? asked love. but why did time help me?
knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, because only time is capable of understanding how valuable love is.
從前，情感們都居住在一座小島上。他們中有喜悅、悲哀、博學……還有愛。一天，情感們接到通知，這座島即將沉沒。于是，他們紛紛造船逃離。除了愛。
愛是唯一留下來的。愛想要堅持到最后一刻。
島就要沉了，愛決定求救。
財富駕著一艘大船駛過來。愛問道：
“財富，你能帶我走嗎？”
財富回答說：“不，我不能。我的船上滿載著金銀財寶，沒有多余的地方了。”
虛榮乘的船駛過來了，那船美侖美奐。“虛榮，請救救我吧！”
“我幫不了你，愛。你渾身都濕透了，你會毀了我的船。”虛榮回答說。
這時，悲傷的船經過了，愛請求道：“悲傷，讓我跟你走吧。”
“噢……愛，我憂傷極了，我想獨自一個人。”
喜悅的船也經過了愛的身畔，但她太興奮了，她沒聽到愛的呼喚。
突然，有個聲音對愛說道：“來吧，愛，到我的船上來。”這是一位長者。愛如蒙圣恩，欣喜若狂，甚至忘了問他們要往哪兒去。抵達陸地后，長者徑自離開了。懷著對長者的無限感激，愛問另一位長者博學：“救我的是誰？”
“是時間。”博學答道。
“時間？”愛問道：“時間為什么要救我呢？”
博學意味深長地笑了，答道：“因為只有時間懂得愛是多么珍貴。”
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