About ten years ago when I was a student in college, life was hard for me then. Both my parents had lost their jobs, so I worked at my University’s Museum in my spare time. One day while working in the gift shop, I saw an old couple come in with a little girl in a wheelchair.

As I looked closer at this girl, I found that she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck  and torso(躯干). She was wearing a pretty white dress, also a little red cap.

When they came closer to me, I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the prettiest, largest smile I had ever seen.

All of a sudden her handicap(残疾)was gone and all I saw was this perfect  girl. I wasdeeply  moved by her smile, and almost immediately she gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. She took me from a poor, unhappy college student and brought me into her world: a world of smiles, love and warmth.

That was ten years ago. I’m a successful business person now and whenever  I am in low spirits  and think about the troubles of the world, I’ll think about that little girl and the lesson about life that she taught me, so I will never lose courage.

【汉语翻译】 

一个女孩的微笑

大约十年前，我还在大学(college)里学习，那时的生活很艰难。我的父母都失业了，因此，我在业余时间去大学博物馆工作，有一天，当我正在礼品店工作时(while working in the gift shop)，我看到一对老年夫妇推着一个坐在轮椅(wheelchair)里的小女孩进来了。

当我仔细看这女孩时，我发现她没有胳膊和腿，只有头(head)、颈和躯干。她穿着漂亮的(pretty)白色衣服(dress)，还戴着一顶小红帽(cap)。

当他们走近我时，我转向这个女孩并对她眨了眨眼。我从她的祖父母(grandparents)手里接过钱时，我又回头看看那个女孩，她正在给我一个最漂亮、最灿烂的微笑。

突然间她的残疾消失了，我所看到的是一个完美的(perfect)女孩。她的笑容深深地(deeply)打动了我，几乎立刻让我对人生有了全新的(completely new)感觉(sense)。她把我从一个贫穷不幸大学生带入了她的世界：一个微笑、爱和温暖的世界。

那是十年前的事了。现在我已是一名成功的商人。无论何时(whenever)我情绪低落(in low spirits)、因烦恼而忧虑时，我就会想起那个小女孩和她教给我的关于生活的教训，因此，我从未丧失勇气(lose courage)。