On a plane flying from Chicago to New York,my seat companion was a young girl who gave me a friendly smile as I sat beside her,but whose young face showed great sadness.Hesitantly,she told me she was on her way to the funeral of her seventeen-year-old brother,who had been killed in Korea.She also told me that her only other relatives were two brothers,both in the service,and that they had lost their eldest brother in the war in Europe.I wanted to say something to comfort her...I felt so useless...All I could say was “I’m so sorry”.And I thought,“Just what can I do to help bring order

一次，在從芝加哥飛往紐約的航班上，我坐在一個年輕女孩旁邊。我坐下時，她對我友好地笑了一下，但她年輕的面孔流露出深切的悲痛。遲疑中，她向我道出了原委——她此行是要去參加弟弟的葬禮。弟弟只有17歲，死在朝鮮戰(zhàn)場。她的另兩位兄弟是她僅有的親人，都在服役，而她的大哥也已戰(zhàn)死在歐洲。我很想安慰她……我覺得自己無能為力……只能對她說：“我很難過?！蔽蚁?，“為了世界有太平和希望，我能做什么呢？”突and hope into the world today？”And the thought came to me,“I can pray and my prayers will tune in with other sincere prayers to create a mighty force for good and for peace in the world.”

As a girl I was fortunate in having old-fashioned,religious parents,and I often think of the old hymn my good father sang so lustily as stood beside him in church,“I need thee every hour.” AsI’ve grown oldermy philosophy has changed—in a way.I don’t think of God now as an old man with a long gray beard sitting up on a throne.I believe in a practical religion.What good is it unless I can use it to help solve my daily problems,large or small？

I am grateful for what I consider the most worthwhile things in my life—a happy marriage,a good husband,and a son and daughter who become infinitely finer as they grow up.Success in my theatrical career has come second to these.However,no matter what my material blessings may be,I realize that my happiness must come from within myself.I can’t get back anything I don’t give out.Anybody knows a sure cure for the blues is to get out and do something nice for someone else.

I have had a wonderful opportunity,on my tours with my one-woman show,to meet fine,good people in every one of the seven hundred towns I’ve played.From them I know that good people predominate in every part of this country.

I love my work.I believe that laughter is a great soul cleanser,and I pray that my audiences may somehow be better off for having seen my show.I believe in blessing everything and everybody along the way.Sometimes I may have let stage fright and nerves rob me and my audience ofmy best performance.I have failed if I haven’t beforehand blessed everyone in my audience, everyone然我想到了禱告?！拔铱梢远\告，我的禱告與其他虔誠的禱告一定能匯聚成一股巨大的力量，讓世界充滿美好與和平?！?/p>

我是個幸運的女孩。父母的思想很傳統(tǒng)，篤信宗教。我常記起兒時在教堂里，站在我身邊的父親經常滿懷激情地哼唱一首古老的贊美詩，“上帝啊，我時時刻刻需要你！”長大以后，我的人生信條在某種程度上有所改變。我不再認為上帝是一個坐在寶座上、留著長長白胡子的老頭。我奉行的人生信條很現(xiàn)實。如果它不能幫助我解決日常生活中大大小小的問題，那它有什么用呢？

對我來說，演藝事業(yè)的成功是次要的，人生最重要的是美滿的婚姻、一個好丈夫和一雙越來越有出息的兒女。這些我都得到了，對此我心存感激?？墒牵瑹o論我得到什么物質上的恩賜，真正的幸福必須源自我的內心。沒有對他人的付出，就不可能有任何回報。眾所周知，隨時準備行善才是根除憂愁的良藥。

我的個人巡回演出給了我一個大好機會，使我結識了我所到的700多個小鎮(zhèn)上無數(shù)善良的人們。他們讓我相信，在這個國家畢竟好人還是占大多數(shù)。

我熱愛我的工作。我相信歡笑能凈化靈魂，我祈禱我的演出能讓人們更加幸?？鞓?。我相信一路上給每件事、每個人送去的祝福。有時我可能怯場、緊張，無法向觀眾呈現(xiàn)最精彩的表演。我演砸了，是因為沒有事先為每位觀眾、每位后臺的工作人員祈福，或是在電視臺、廣播電臺工作，在backstage,and,when I’m working in television,radio or motion pictures,everyone in the studio—my fellow actors and the director and technicians.I admire their courage,their goodhearted generous qualities.

What do I mean by “blessing”？Well,I first have a deep sense of gratitude to an audience,and a feeling of good will and good wishes,so that I know there is complete harmony between them and me,and I know they will like me because I really like them—that we will tune in together.

My late brother,the great character actor and comedian,Charles “Chic”Sale,said to me one time we were talking aboutspiritualthings and about being perfect channels for expression：“ The thing to do,kiddo,is to stay in character—be God’s child.”And I try never to forget this.攝影棚拍電影時，沒有為我的搭檔、導演、技師等演職人員祈福。他們都那么勇敢、善良、慷慨，令我欽佩不已。

我所說的“祈?！笔鞘裁匆馑寄?？首先我對觀眾充滿深深的感激，然后對他們滿懷美好的祝愿。這樣一來，我就知道我能和觀眾和諧互動，因為我真的喜愛他們，他們也會喜愛我——這樣我們就能產生心靈的共鳴。

我已去世的哥哥查爾斯·“奇克”·塞爾是一位了不起的性格演員和喜劇演員。有一次我們談起精神世界的話題，討論完美的演技。我記得他對我說：“小家伙，做上帝的子民——這就是你要演好的角色。”——這一點，我要永遠銘記在心。

Tips for learning

1.tune n.調子；協(xié)調；v.調音；調整；如：He’d written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他寫了一段曲子，并在鋼琴上彈給我們聽。

2.mighty adj.強有力的；巨大的；如：The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出現(xiàn)在眼前。

3.hymn n.贊美詩；圣歌；如：They sang a hymn of praise to God.他們唱著圣歌，贊美上帝。

4.infinitely adv.無限地；無邊無際地；如：The universe is infinitely large.宇宙無限大。

5.theatrical adj.劇場的；演戲的；如：She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸張的手勢。

6.blessing n.祈神賜福；禱告；祝福；其復數(shù)形式為blessings。如：The blessing was said in Hebrew.禱告用了希伯來語。

7.blues n.抑郁；沮喪；布魯斯音樂；如：She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在煙霧彌漫的酒吧深處唱著布魯斯歌曲。

8.beforehand adj.事先；預先；提前地；如：They proposed to make arrangement beforehand.他們提議事先做好安排。

9.gratitude adj.感激；感謝；如：I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的謝意。

10.comedian n.喜劇演員；滑稽演員；如：The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜劇演員的笑話把人們逗樂了。

（Sarah整理）