“Are you too stupid to do anything right?” These words—said by a woman to a little boy who was evidently1 her son—were spoken because he had walked away from her. And they were said at a volume2 high enough that all the strangers in the vicinity3 could hear. Chastised4, the boy returned quietly to the woman's side. His eyes downcast5.
Not a big moment, perhaps. Yet small moments sometimes last a very long time. And a few words—though they mean little at the time to the people who say them—can have enormous6 power. “Are you too stupid to do anything right?” Words like that can echo.7
I recently heard a story from a man named Malcolm Dalkoff. He's 48; for the last 24 years he has been a professional writer, mostly in advertising. Here is what he told me:
As a boy in Rock Island, Ill.8, Dalkoff was terribly insecure9 and shy. He had few friends and no self-confidence. Then one day in October 1965, his high-school English teacher, Ruth Brauch, gave the class an assignment. The students had been reading To Kill a Mockingbird.10 Now they were to write their own chapter that would follow the last chapter of the novel.
Dalkoff wrote his chapter and turned it in. Today he can not recall anything special about the chapter he wrote, or what grade11 Mrs. Brauch gave him. What he does remember—what he will never forget—is the four words. Mrs. Brauch wrote in the margin12 of the paper: “This is good writing.”
Four words. They changed his life.
“Until I read those words, I had no idea of who I was or what I was going to be,” he said. “After reading her note, I went home and wrote a short story, something I had always dreamed of doing but never believed I could do.”
Over the rest of that year in school, he wrote many short stories and always brought them to school for Mrs. Brauch to evaluate13. She was encouraging, tough14 and honest. “She was just what I needed,” Dalkoff said.
He was named co-editor15 of his high-school newspaper. His confidence grew; his horizons16 broadened; he started off on a successful, fulfilling life. Dalkoff is convinced that none of this would have happened had that woman not written those four words in the margin of his paper.
For his 30th high-school reunion17, Dalkoff went back and visited Mrs. Brauch, who had retired. He told her what her four words had done for him. He told her that because she had given him the confidence to be a writer, he had been able to pass that confidence on to the woman who would become his wife, who became a writer herself. He told Mrs. Brauch that a young woman in his office, who was working in the evenings toward a high-school-equivalency diploma18, had come to him for advice and assistance. She respected him because he was a writer—that is why she turned to him .
Mrs. Brauch was especially moved by the story of helping the young woman. “At that moment I think we both realized that Mrs. Brauch had cast an incredibly19 long shadow,” he said.
“Are you too stupid to do anything right?”
“This is good writing.”
So few words. They can change everything.
“你笨得什么事都做不好了吗？”语出一位妇人，因为一个小男孩——显然是她的儿子，抽身离开了她。她说话的声音很大，附近所有陌生人都可以听到。男孩受了责备，垂着头，默默无言地回到妇人身边。
这也许不算什么重大事件。然而，有时微不足道的瞬间却会产生非常持久的影响。寥寥数语虽然对说者当时并没有什么深刻的含意，但是对听者却可能产生巨大的触动。像“你笨到什么事也做不好了，是吗？”这类话就可能产生巨大的反响。
最近，我听一个名叫马尔肯·达尔科夫的人讲述了一个故事。他48岁，24年来他一直从事专业写作，主要是撰写广告词。下面就是他给我讲的故事：
小时候道尔科夫住在伊利诺斯州罗克岛，他当时缺乏安全感，生性腼腆，少有朋友，缺乏自信。然而，1965年10月的一天，他的高中英语老师罗丝·布劳奇给全班布置了一份作业。学生们当时一直在阅读《捕杀反舌鸟》一书，现在他们要按要求杜撰一章，以便和该部小说的最后一章衔接起来。
道尔科夫写了一章，交了上去。如今他记不得自己写的那一章有何特别之处，也不记得布劳奇夫人给他打了多少分。然而，有四个字他至今仍然记得，并且永远不会忘记。布劳奇夫人在稿纸的空白处写道：“写得不错！”
寥寥四个字改变了他的一生。
“在读这几个字之前，我一直不知道我是谁，也不知道以后打算干什么。”他说，“看了她的评语后，我回家写了一篇短篇小说。这是我一直梦想去做但又不相信自己能做到的。”
那一学年剩余的日子里，他写了许多短篇小说并且总是带到学校让布劳奇夫人指点。她总是鼓励他，态度严厉而诚恳。“她正是我所需要的那种人，”道尔科夫说。
他被任命为校报的合编。他的信心提升了，视野开阔了。他开始了成功而富有成就的一生。道尔科夫深信，要是布劳奇夫人没在他的稿纸空白处写上那四个字，所有这一切都不会发生。
为了参加第三十届中学同学联欢会，道尔科夫回到母校并拜访了布劳奇夫人，她当时已退休在家。他告诉她，她那四个字对他起了巨大的作用。他还告诉她，因为她给予了他成为一名作家的信心，他又把这种信心传给另一位女性——他未来的妻子，后来她也成了一名作家。他还告诉布劳奇夫人，他办公室的一位年轻女性为了获得高中同等学历证书正在上夜校。她来向他讨教并寻求帮助。她之所以尊敬他是因为他是个作家——这也是她求助他的原因。
听了这个帮助年轻妇女的故事后，布劳奇夫人特别感动。“当时我认为我们两人都意识到布劳奇夫人的影响是惊人而深远的，”他说。
“你笨到什么事都做不好了吗？”
“写得不错！”
寥寥数语，却可以改变一切。
1． evidently adv．显然；明显
2． volume n．音量at a volume high enough that 声音大到足以……
3． vicinity n．附近；近处
4． chastise v．严惩；责备
5． downcast adj．（指人）沮丧的；（指眼睛）向下看的
6． enormous adj．极大的；巨大的
7． echo v．回响
8． Ill.是Illinois （伊利诺伊州）的缩写。美国一个州的名字
9． insecure adj．（感到）无助的
10．mockingbird n．反舌鸟（美洲的一种画眉鸟，善于模仿其他鸟类的声调）
11．grade n．分数（通常分四等：A优秀；B良好；C及格；D不及格）
12．margin n．边；缘（书籍，卷子等）边缘的空白处
13．evaluate v．评价
14．tough adj．严厉；坚强；固执
15．co－editor n．合编
16．horizon n．眼界；视野；范围
17．reunion n．联欢会；联谊会
18．a high－school equivalency diploma 高中同等学历
19．incredibly adv．特别地，不同寻常地