首页 -> 2006年第1期
微笑（Ｓｍｉｌｅ）
作者：思 晴
我猜想，在这样寒冷的冬日，人们可能越发地需要一种温度，只有那样，我们的心才不会被寒冷所冰封。或许，使你感到温暖的，并不是具体又实在的人或者事，也许，在这种时刻，我们只需要一个微笑，抑或是来自陌生人的一个鼓励的眼神……就像下面的故事中所描述的那样！
Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other. It doesn't matter who it is, and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.
-Mother Teresa
Many people are familiar with The Little Prince[1], a wonderful book by a Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This is a whimsical and fabulous book and works as a children's story as well as a thought-provoking[2] adult fable[3]. Far fewer are aware of Saint-Exupery's other writings, novels and short stories.
Saint-Exupery was a fighter pilot who fought against the Nazis andwas killed in action. Before World War II, he fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists[4]. He wrote a fascinating story based on that experience entitled The Smile. It is this story which I'd like to share with you now. It isn't clear whether or not he meant this to be autobiographical or fiction. I choose to believe it to be the former.
He said that he was captured by[5] the enemy and thrown into a jail cell[6]. He was sure that from the contemptuous looks[7] and tough treatment[8] he received from his jailers[9] he would be executed[10] the next day. From here, I'll tell the story as I remember it in my own words.
I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous and distraught[11]. I fumbled[12] in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search[13]. I found one and because of my shaking hands[14], I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches[15], they had taken those.
I looked through the bars[16] at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. After all, one does not make eye contact with a thing, a corpse. I called out to him 'Have you got a light[17]?' He looked at me, shrugged[18] and came over to light my cigarette[19].
As he came close[20] and lit the match[21], his eyes inadvertently[22] locked with[23] mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness[24], perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to[25] smile. In any case[26], I smiled. In that instant, it was as though[27] a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls.I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars[28] and generated[29] a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes[30] and continuing to smile.