那是旱季最热的一天，差不多有一个月没下雨了。庄稼正在枯死，奶牛已经不产奶了，大小溪水早已干涸。等不到那旱季结束，好几家农场就会倒闭。每天，我丈夫和他的兄弟们都要辛苦劳作，设法弄到水浇地。后来，他们得开着卡车去邻近的一家供水厂灌水，可是，严格的供水定量配给使大家都觉得这日子没法过了。如果老天爷再不下雨，我们将失去一切。

　　就是在这一天，我领悟到了分享的真谛，并目睹了我有生以来所亲眼看到的唯一奇迹。这天，我正在厨房里为我丈夫和他的兄弟们做午餐，这时，我看到我六岁的独生子比利向小树林走过去。他不像平常那样大大咧咧的，而是一副郑重其事的样子。我只能看到他的背影。他显然走得很小心，尽量保持着平稳。

　　他走进小树林几分钟之后，又出来往家里跑。我继续做我的三明治，以为他做的事情已经结束。然而，一会儿过后，他再次小心翼翼地走向树林，然后跑回家里。最后，我终于控制不住好奇心，便悄悄走出房子，跟踪他的行程。

　　他双手在胸前窝成杯状，非常小心地走着，不让手中的水洒落——小手中大约有两三汤勺的水。当他走进树林时，我悄悄地紧跟在后面。林中的树杈和棘刺划在他的小脸上，可是他却迎面而上，不去躲避，因为他有更重要的事要做。我躲起来窥探他，眼前的一幕令我惊奇不已。几只巨大的鹿出现在他面前，他径直走到它们跟前。我差一点大叫起来，想让他走开。一只长着精美犄角的庞大雄鹿离比利尤其近，看上去很危险，可是那只雄鹿没有半点恶意，它甚至在比利跪下时动都没动。我还看见一只小小的幼鹿躺在地上，显然脱水中暑了，它用力抬起头，舔着我漂亮的独生子手中的水。

　　当水被舔干净之后，比利一跃而起，跑回家里。我又跟踪他回到家，到了一个水龙头那儿。比利把水龙头完全拧开，只见涓涓水珠开始从龙头里滴出来。他跪在那儿，让水滴慢慢滴满他双手窝成的“杯子”，太阳火辣辣地照射在他小小的后背上。

　　让水滴滴满他的小手需要将近20分钟。当他起身开始走向树林时，我站在了他的面前。他的眼睛里充满了泪水，“我没有浪费水，”他只说了这么一句。

　　我从厨房里拿了一小罐水，跟他一起走回树林，让他喂那只小鹿。我站在一旁没有插手，这是他的工作。我站在树林边，看着我有生以来所知道的心灵最美丽的孩子在尽全力抢救着另一条生命。当我面颊上滚落的泪珠掉在地上的时候，突然又有水珠从天而降，一滴滴，越来越多。我仰望天空，感到似乎上帝本人正在喜极而泣。

　　有人会说，这纯属巧合；根本不存在奇迹；某个时候，天肯定要下雨的。对此，我无法争辩，也不试图去争辩。我所要讲的就是：那天下雨了，我们的农场得救了，就像一个小男孩救了另一条生命一样。

　　It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through. Every day, my husband and his brothers would go the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn’t see some rain soon, we would lose everything.

　　It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn’t walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort…trying to be as still as possible.

　　Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey.

　　He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in them…maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing sight. Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him; he didn’t even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn lying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy’s hand.

　　When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house. I followed him back to the house and to a spigot. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip slowly fill up his makeshift “cup,” as the sun beat down on his little back.

　　It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His eyes just filled with tears. “I’m not wasting,” was all he said.

　　As he began his walk, I joined him——with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops…and more drops…and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.

　　Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don’t really exist, that it was bound to rain sometime. And I can’t argue with that; I’m not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm, just like the actions of one little boy saved another.

　　(摘自2010年8月《英语沙龙》)