音乐家约翰带着一把价值不菲的古董名琴，悄悄来到人潮不断的地铁站演奏。弦音曼妙，在空旷处流淌。将近一小时的演奏中，真正驻足聆听者只有六七人。最捧场的是一位三岁小童，听得入神。约翰当天得到52美元赏金。
John, a famous musician, took his priceless antique zither and played it in the crowded subway station. The music emanating from the zither was delicately streaming throughout the whole station. However, during the one-hour play, only six or seven people were truly appreciating the charming music. A three-year-old kid was so fascinated by the music that he forgot everything around. John only got 52 U.S. dollar for his work that day.

平日，约翰的演奏会举行时，一张票超过100美元，且一票难求。 后来，不少当时就在地铁站的观众扼腕自己眼拙，错过了一场免费或者廉价的音乐盛宴。
However, in normal days, when John is about to hold a concert, one ticket can be sold at more than 100 dollars and it is extremely hard to buy a ticket even at such a high price. Therefore, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply regretful for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but cheap music feast.

有位忙碌的朋友得知老婆罹患重症，彻头彻尾变了一个人：亲自下厨，陪太太散步……可是妻子敌不过病魔摧残，三个月后就撒手人寰。他很伤感地说，太忙了，错过与妻子营造最美好的人生时光，想弥补却弥补不回来。
I have a very busy friend who had totally changed after knowing that his wife came down with acute illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a walk with his wife every day. Nonetheless, his wife still did not manage to conquer the illness and passed away after three months. After that, he often sighed miserably that due to his past busy life, he had missed a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now, it is impossible to make up for it.

医生的儿子从19楼一跃而下，留下一封遗书，信中留言：最想爸爸陪他，最想看电影，最希望快快乐乐……儿子往生之后，爸爸才明白，人生中最珍贵的不是成就，而是亲情。
A doctor’s son jumped from the 19th floor of a building and left a posthumous letter which expressed his strong desire for staying more with his father, going to see a movie with his father, etc. Not until his son committed suicide had the doctor realized that the most precious thing is not career achievement, but the tight and intact family bonds.

可惜千金难买早知道，很多美好的事，往往简简单单就被轻易错过了。
It is no use crying over spilt milk. We have missed a lot of precious things in our life without knowing to cherish them.

事实上，我也错过一些事。错过的理由很简单：以为还有明天。
Actually, I also missed something precious before. The reason why we would have missed those precious things is less than simple: we had thought that we could still own them tomorrow.

事实上，明天是不可靠的。要不，日休禅师怎么会说，很多人的一生中，只做了“等待”与“后悔”两件事，合起来就叫“来不及”。我们老爱说：长大再说，有钱再说，老了再说……可是到了那时候，却什么都不必说了。
Nevertheless, tomorrow is actually by no means reliable. There was a famous Buddhist monk saying that in many people’s lives, they have only done two things: waiting and regretting. The result is that they were always too late to cherish what they had before they lost it. We would often claim to do something when we grow up, or when we have money or when we become old, etc. However, when we reach the condition we have expected, we could no longer do realize our wish any more, because we have lost it by then.

（中文: 来自小故事网 译者:赖小琪）