积木城堡

　　人生的道路上，总会遇到很多困难和打击。你可以选择退缩，留下满地的狼藉独自落跑，承认自己是个失败者，也可以选择迎难而上，重整旗鼓，为自己营建更为美丽的城堡。如果你选择迎难而上，你会发现失败没什么了不起，只要再来一次就好了。

　　“臭猫！”赫伯特生气地嚷道，声音中带着些沮丧。顽皮的小猫碰到了他的积木城堡，塔楼和城墙“呼啦”一声全倒在了地上。

　　赫伯特捡起一块木块，狠狠地朝小猫砸过去。幸运的是，木块只是从小猫的头顶飞过，没有伤害到它。赫伯特又去拿另一块木块，妹妹赫蒂急忙跳过来一把将小猫抱在了自己怀里。

　　“不，不要这样。”她说，“你不该伤害它，它不是有意的。”

　　赫伯特的愤怒一下消失了，却变得伤心起来。他一屁股坐在地上，用手掩住脸抽泣起来。

　　“你是个男孩！”正在沙发上看书的哥哥乔说，“不要为打翻的牛奶哭泣，重新建一个吧。”

　　“不，我不要。”赫伯特哭着说。

　　“这里发生了什么事？”爸爸一边推门，一边大声问。

　　“小猫刚刚碰到了赫伯特的城堡，城堡一下子塌了。”赫蒂说，“可是小猫也不是故意的呀，它也不想让城堡塌掉的，是吗，爸爸？”

　　“哦，不，我还以为出了什么大麻烦呢！”

　　“赫伯特！”爸爸向赫伯特伸出手来，“起来吧！”小男孩慢慢地从地板上爬了起来，眼睛里还含着泪水，慢慢地走过来，站在了爸爸旁边。

　　“有比哭泣更好的法子，我的孩子。”爸爸说，“如果你那样做的话，你的心情就会好起来。我会听到你对着积木欢呼，而不是一直在这里哭泣。想让我做给你看吗？”

　　赫伯特点点头。爸爸坐在地板上的一堆积木块里，开始搭建新的城堡，赫伯特则在一边帮着递这递那。

　　很快，赫伯特对重建城堡就和刚才一样兴致勃勃了。他开始边唱边工作，所有的烦恼一下子全没了。

　　“这不是比哭好多了吗？”爸爸说。

　　“为什么要哭？”赫伯特问，看来他已经忘掉了几分钟前的伤心事了。

　　“因为小猫把你的城堡碰塌了呀！”

　　“哦！”赫伯特的脸上掠过一丝不快，不过很快便消失了。他又像先前一样高兴地建他的城堡去了。

　　“我告诉过他不要哭的。”坐在沙发上的乔说。

　　“如果你的风筝被刮跑了，你难道也不哭吗？”赫伯特反驳说。

　　“风筝和你的城堡是不一样的。”乔略显伤感地说，“风筝失去了就永远不会回来了，可你的积木还在那里，你只要重建一个就可以了。”

　　“我不这么看。”爸爸说道，“哭泣对你来说，比赫伯特更不应该。竹棍和纸都很容易找到，你只需动动手就可以得到新的风筝。”乔无话可说，低下头继续看他的书。这时，赫伯特的新城堡也建成了。

　　“比刚才小猫弄坏的那个漂亮多了！”赫蒂说。赫伯特显然也这么认为，他十分自豪地欣赏着城堡的每一个部分。

　　“小猫再把它弄坏，我非……”

　　“再建一个。”爸爸替他补充了下半句话。

　　“可是，爸爸，不能再让小猫弄坏了，那样我可受不了。”赫伯特大声说。

　　“那你就得看着它点，孩子。你要学着和成年人一样，时刻保持警惕。就像你要过马路，你就必须当心车辆。如果你不想和别人撞在一起，就必须留意别人行进的方向。”

　　“在房间里，如果你随意地到处走动，就很容易和别人撞在一起。我就看到过一个冒失的小女孩突然冲进房间里，和一个手里端着托盘刚要出门的仆人撞在一起了，托盘里的盘子自然碎得满地都是。”

　　“你是在说我吗？”赫蒂说。

　　“是的，就是你呀，不过我希望以后不会再发生这样的事情了。”爸爸接着说：“就像乔说的一样，不要为打翻的牛奶哭泣。如果你的城堡塌掉了的话，再建一个就是了！”

　　说完，爸爸离开了房间。

　　Castle-Building

　　"O pussy!" cried Herbert, in a voice of anger and dismay, as the blockhouse he was building fell in sudden ruin. The playful cat had rubbed against his mimic castle, and tower and wall went rattling down upon the floor。

　　Herbert took up one of the blocks and threw it fiercely at pussy. Happily, it passed over her and did no harm. His hand was reaching for another block, when his little sister Hetty sprang toward the cat, and caught her up。

　　"No, no, no!" said she, "you sha'n't hurt pussy! She didn't mean to do it!"

　　Herbert's passion was over quickly, and, sitting down upon the floor, he covered his face with his hands, and began to cry。

　　"What a baby!" said Joe, his elder brother, who was reading on the sofa. "Crying over spilled milk does no good. Build it up again."

　　"No, I won't," said Herbert, and he went on crying。

　　"What's all the trouble here?" exclaimed papa, as he opened the door and came in。

　　"Pussy just rubbed against Herbert's castle, and it fell down," answered Hetty. "But she didn't mean to do it; she did n't know it would fall, did she, papa?"

　　"Why, no! And is that all the trouble?"                           

　　"Herbert!" his papa called, and held out his hands. "Come." The little boy got up from the floor, and came slowly, his eyes full of tears, and stood by his father。

　　"There is a better way than this, my boy," said papa. "If you had taken that way, your heart would have been light already. I should have heard you singing over your blocks instead of crying. Shall I show you that way?"

　　Herbert nodded his head, and papa sat down on the floor by the pile of blocks, with his little son by his side, and began to lay the foundation for a new castle。

　　Soon, Herbert was as much interested in castle-building as he had been a little while before. He began to sing over his work. All his trouble was gone.  "This is a great deal better than crying, isn't it?" said papa。

　　"Crying for what?" asked Herbert, forgetting his grief of a few minutes before。

　　"Because pussy knocked your castle over."

　　"Oh!" A shadow flitted across his face, but was gone in a moment, and he went on building as eagerly as ever。

　　"I told him not to cry over spilled milk," said Joe, looking down from his place on the sofa。

　　"I wonder if you didn't cry when your kite string broke," retorted Herbert。

　　"Losing a kite is quite another thing," answered Joe, a little dashed. "The kite was gone forever; but your blocks were as good as before, and you had only to build again."

　　"I don't see," said papa, "that crying was of any more use in your case then in Herbert's. Sticks and paper are easily found, and you had only to go to work and make another kite." Joe looked down at his book, and went on reading. By this time the castle was finished。

　　"It is ever so much nicer than the one pussy knocked down," said Hetty. And so thought Herbert, as he looked at it proudly from all sides。

　　"If pussy knocks that down, I'll—"

　　"Build it up again," said papa, finishing the sentence for his little boy。

　　"But, papa, pussy must not knock my castles down. I can't have it," spoke out Herbert, knitting his forehead。

　　"You must watch her, then. Little boys, as well as grown up people, have to be often on their guard. If you go into the street, you have to look out for the carriages, so as not to be run over, and you have to keep out of people's way。

　　"In the house, if you go about heedlessly, you will be very apt to run against some one. I have seen a careless child dash suddenly into a room just as a servant was leaving it with a tray of dishes in her hands. A crash followed."

　　"It was I, wasn't it?" said Hetty。

　　"Yes, I believe it was, and I hope it will never happen again."

　　Papa now left the room, saying, "I don't want any more of this crying over spilled milk, as Joe says. If your castles get knocked down, build them up again."