勉励美文：方针放在心里

勉励美文：把你的方针放在心里
在无法看见对岸的时分，请深信浓雾后的不远处一定是陆地……把你的方针放在心里！
   When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog1. Her body was numb2. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

   Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

 
   On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense3 she could hardly see her support boats.

   Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had...until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

   Still warming her chilled4 body several hours later, she told a reporter,“Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.”It was not fatigue5 or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

   Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing6 the men’s record by two hours!

    
   当弗洛伦斯·查德威克朝前方看去时，除了一团浓雾，她什么也看不见。她的身体现已麻痹，她游了快16个小时了。

   她是第一位游水往复英吉利海峡的女人。现在她已34岁了，她的方针是成为第一个从卡特林娜岛游到加利福尼亚海岸的女人。

   1952年7月4日的早晨，大海就像个冰窖，雾浓得她连自己的援助船都看不见。

   在接近她的一艘船上，她的母亲和教练在不断鼓舞她。他们奔驰她离岸现已不太远了，但她的眼前只要雾。他们劝她不要抛弃，她从未在半途抛弃过……除了这次。她在离岸仅半英里处要求援助船把她拉上去。

 
   几个小时后，她还在暖着她那冻僵了的身体，她奔驰记者：“听着，我不是为自己辩解，可是假如我能看到陆地，我是能够成功的。”打败她的不是疲惫或许冰冷的海水，而是浓雾。她无法看到方针。

   两个月后，她再一次测验。这次，虽然雾仍然很浓，可是她怀着坚决的信仰，方针明晰地出现在心中。她知道浓雾后的某个当地便是陆地，而这次她成功了！弗洛伦斯·查德维克成为第一个游过卡特林娜海峡的女人，并且还比男人纪录快了两个小时！