264、英语小故事（英汉对照）“永不设限”

My son Joey was born with?club feet（畸形足）?. The doctors assured us that with treatment he would be able to walk normally—but would never run very well.

我的儿子乔伊出生时双脚畸形。不过医生让我们放心，他们说通过治疗，乔伊可以像正常人一样走路，只是不可能跑得很快。

The first three years of his life were spent in surgery, casts（打石膏） and braces（戴支架）. By the time he was eight, you wouldn’t know he had a problem when you saw him walk.

生命的头三年，他是在做手术、打石膏和戴支架中度过的。到了八岁的时候，他走路的样子已经让人看不出他脚有问题了。

The children in our neighborhood ran around as most children do during play, and Joey would jump right in and run and play, too. We never told him that he probably wouldn’t be able to run as well as the other children. So he didn’t know.

我们家附近的孩子们在玩的时候常常会追逐嬉戏，乔伊也会跟着边跑边玩。我们从来没有告诉他，他可能做不到像其他孩子一样飞快地奔跑，所以他不知道实情。

In seventh grade he decided to go out for the cross-country（越野） team. Every day he trained with the team. He worked harder and ran more than any of the others—perhaps he sensed that the abilities that seemed to come naturally to so many others did not come naturally to him.

七年级时，他决定参加越野队。他每天都和队友一起训练。和其他人相比，他跑得更多，训练也更刻苦——也许他意识到，许多人似乎天生具有的能力，他却没有。

Although the entire team runs, only the top seven runners have the potential to score points for the school. We didn’t tell him he probably would never make the team, so he didn’t know.

虽然全队参赛，但只有前七名的选手有可能为学校加分。我们没有告诉他，他可能永远进不了越野队，所以他不知道。

He continued to run four to five miles a day, every day—even the day he had a 103-degree fever. I was worried, so I went to look for him after school. I found him running all alone. I asked him how he felt.

他继续每天跑四到五英里。就算在他发烧39度 的那一天，他也坚持跑步。我很担心。放学后我去找他，发现他独自一人在跑步。我问他感觉如何。

“Okay,” he said. He had two more miles to go. The sweat ran down his face and his eyes were glassy（呆滞的） from his fever. Yet he looked straight ahead and kept running. We never told him he couldn’t run four miles with a 103-degree fever. So he didn’t know.

“还行。”他回答。他还要再跑两英里。他满头大汗，眼神因为发烧而变得呆滞。但他直视前方，继续奔跑。我们从没有告诉他，不能发着高烧去跑四英里的路，所以他不知道不可以这样做。

Two weeks later, the names of the team runners were called. Joey was number six on the list. Joey had made the team. He was in seventh grade—the other six team members were all eighth-graders.

两周后，队员名单公布了。乔伊排第六，加入了越野队。他还在上七年级，其他六名队员都是八年级学生。

We never told him he shouldn’t expect to make the team. We never told him he couldn’t do it. We never told him he couldn’t do it ... so he didn’t know. He just did it.

我们从来没有告诉他，不要期望进入越野队。我们从来没有告诉他，他做不到。我们从来没有告诉他，他做不到……所以他不知道。但是他做到了。