I realized I was holding an apple tree in the palm of my hand. A little seed with the potential to become a beautiful big tree—a tree that could grow thousands of apples in its lifetime. Thousands of apples， each containing several seeds， each capable of growing a new tree which again could produce thousands of apples. Why then the world wasnt filled with apple trees？

It is a rule of nature that only a few of these seeds grow. Most never do or are destroyed early on in their growth.

And it came to my mind that its quite often so with peoples dreams also. Wonderful ideas come to our minds but they die too soon—we dont tend to the little saplings； we dont protect them as we should. And then one day we wonder what happened to our dreams—why did they never come true？

I put the apple seed on the table， and bent down to see this natures tiny wonder. I wondered when someone was seriously growing apples， how many times they had to try to get a seed to germinate？ How much work did it require？

Maybe it was like with our dreams： the seeds of your dreams did not automatically grow. Planting an apple tree， it might take many tries. You might meet dozens of people until you met the true friend.

But if you kept on sowing the seeds of your dream， one day you would succeed. And after that others would comment you were lucky to be successful—when in fact you probably failed more often than you would like to count. But you were good at failing—you learned， you adapted， and then with your new knowledge you tried again and again. And one day success was yours.

I picked up the apple seed again—but instead of throwing it away I took an empty flower pot， poured some earth into it and planted the seed. Maybe one day it would grow into a proud tree. Id never know if I didnt try.

我意識到被我捧在手心的是棵蘋果樹。這粒小小的種子蘊藏著長成一棵美麗的大樹的潛力——這棵大樹在它的生命中又會結出成千上萬個蘋果。每個蘋果里又有幾粒種子，每粒種子又可以長成一棵新的蘋果樹，再結出成千上萬個蘋果。但是為什么世界上并沒有到處都是蘋果樹呢？

因為在自然規(guī)律的作用下，只有一些種子能生長起來。大部分種子根本不能生長，即便生長起來也會夭折。

這讓我聯(lián)想到人們的夢想又何嘗不是如此。我們常常有不錯的想法，但這些想法只是曇花一現(xiàn)——我們沒有照料這些“幼苗”，我們應該保護它們，但我們沒有做到。然后有一天，我們感到很納悶，我們的夢想為何從未實現(xiàn)？

我把這粒蘋果籽放在桌上，彎下腰觀察這個小小的大自然的杰作。我想，如果有人一心想種蘋果的話，他要嘗試多少次才能讓種子發(fā)芽？他需要付出多少努力？

或許這就像我們的夢想：夢想的種子不會自己生長。種一棵蘋果樹需要付出許多辛勞。遇見一個知己需要在茫茫人海中尋尋覓覓。

但如果你堅持不懈地播種夢想的種子，總有一天你會成功。之后，人們會說你之所以成功是因為得到上天的眷顧——殊不知可能連你自己也不知道你成功之前經(jīng)歷過多少次失敗。但是失敗對你來說并非壞事——你會適應失敗，并從中吸取經(jīng)驗教訓，然后運用這些經(jīng)驗和教訓反復地嘗試。總有一天你會成功。

我再次拿起這粒蘋果籽——這次我并未將它扔掉，而是找來一個空花盆，倒了些泥土進去，把這粒種子種在泥土里面?；蛟S有一天它會長成一棵自豪的蘋果樹，只有試過才知道。

potential /p?'ten?l/ n. 潛力，可能性

The company certainly has the potential for growth.

capable /'ke?p?bl/ adj. 有能力的

The kitchen is capable of catering for several hundred people.

tend /tend/ v. 照顧，照料

Her mother was ill and she had to tend to her.

germinate /'d???m?ne?t/ v. 發(fā)芽，萌芽

comment /'k?ment/ v. 評論