Dream Will Come True

　　The first day of school our professor introduced a little old lady to us.

　　"Why are you in college at such a young age? " I asked later. She jokingly replied, I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."

　　"No, seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one one! she told me.

　　We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave c1ass together and talked nonstop. I was always listening to this"time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

　　At the end of the semester we invited Rose to make a speech to our football team. I'll never forget what she taught us. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her note card on the floor. A little embarrassed she simply said, "I'm sorry. This whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know." As we laughed she cleared her throat and began:"We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will tum twenty years old. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly u5uaUy don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

　　At the year's end Rose finished the college degree. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral to honor the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

　　夢(mèng)想終有成真時(shí)

　　開(kāi)學(xué)第一天，教授把一位小個(gè)子老太太介紹給了我們。

　　隨后我問(wèn)道“你為什么這么‘年輕’還來(lái)讀大學(xué)?”她開(kāi)玩笑地回答：“我來(lái)這兒是為了認(rèn)識(shí)一個(gè)有錢的丈夫，結(jié)婚，生幾個(gè)孩子，然后退休去旅行。”

　　“不，認(rèn)真點(diǎn)兒。”我問(wèn)道。我很好奇，到底是什么東西讓她在這個(gè)年紀(jì)還要接受這樣一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。“我一直夢(mèng)想著上大學(xué)，現(xiàn)在我就在讀大學(xué)!”她告訴我。

　　我們馬上成了朋友。在隨后的三個(gè)月里，我們每天一起離開(kāi)教室，不停地交談。我總是和歷經(jīng)了歲月滄桑的她一起分享她的智慧和經(jīng)驗(yàn)。

　　期末的時(shí)候，我們邀請(qǐng)羅斯給我們的橄欖球隊(duì)講話。我永遠(yuǎn)都不會(huì)忘記她教給我們的東西。就在她要開(kāi)始進(jìn)行她事先準(zhǔn)備好的演講時(shí)，她把寫(xiě)了要點(diǎn)的卡片摔在了地上。她有點(diǎn)兒尷尬，但只是說(shuō)：“對(duì)不起。這酒可真要命!我沒(méi)辦法再準(zhǔn)備好我的講稿了，就讓我把我知道的東西告訴你們吧。”我們笑了起來(lái)，她清了清嗓子，開(kāi)始演講：“我們并不是因?yàn)槟昀暇筒辉偻嫠?我們變老是因?yàn)槲覀儾辉偻嫠?。只有四個(gè)秘密可以讓你保持年輕，快樂(lè)，獲得成功。你必須每天都開(kāi)懷大笑，尋找幽默。你必須有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想。失去了夢(mèng)想，你就會(huì)雖生猶死。我們周圍有很多人，他們已經(jīng)‘死了’自己卻不知道。成長(zhǎng)和長(zhǎng)大之間有著巨大的差距。如采你現(xiàn)在 19歲，躺在床上整整一年什么都不做，你也還會(huì)變成 20歲。每一個(gè)人都會(huì)長(zhǎng)大，這不需要任何天賦和能力。要不斷地在變化中尋找機(jī)遇，這樣才是成長(zhǎng)。不要留有遺憾。老年人通常不會(huì)為做過(guò)的事遺憾，而是為還沒(méi)有做過(guò)的事情感到遺憾。只有那些有遺憾的人才會(huì)怕死。”

　　年底的時(shí)候，羅斯獲得了大學(xué)學(xué)位。畢業(yè)一星期后，她在夢(mèng)中安詳?shù)仉x開(kāi)了人世。兩千多名大學(xué)生參加了她的葬禮，來(lái)紀(jì)念這位通過(guò)自己的親身經(jīng)歷來(lái)告訴我們永遠(yuǎn)都可以成就自己的理想的了不起的老人。