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n doors everywhere. The phone rang all the time with new friends and new deals. I packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where I could help in the making of the Roots TV miniseries. It was a confusing, exciting time, and in a sense, I was blinded by the light of my success.平生第一次,我有錢了,機(jī)會(huì)之門處處為我敞開。電話響個(gè)不停,總是有新的朋友,還有新的合約。我收拾好,搬到洛杉磯,協(xié)助拍攝《根》的電視系列短篇。這段時(shí)間,我應(yīng)接不暇,令我精神振奮。在某種意義上,我被成功的光環(huán)蒙蔽了雙眼。close19RT Then one day, while unpacking, I came across a box filled with things I had owned years before in the Village. Inside was a brown paper bag.有一天,整理行裝時(shí),我看到一個(gè)箱子,裝的是多年前我在格林尼治村時(shí)的家當(dāng)。里面有一只棕色的紙袋。close20RT I opened it, and there were two corroded sardine cans, a nickel, a dime and three pennies. Suddenly the past came flooding in like a tide. I could picture myself once again huddled over the typewriter in that cold, bleak, oneroom apartment. And I said to myself, The things in this bag are part of my roots, too. I can39。t ever forget that.我打開來,看到兩個(gè)銹跡斑斑的沙丁魚罐頭,一枚五分硬幣,一枚十分硬幣,三枚一分硬幣。突然,往事潮涌而來。我仿佛看到自己又蜷縮在打字機(jī)前,在那個(gè)凄冷的單間里。我對(duì)自己說,這袋子里的東西也是我的一部分根。我可不能忘了。close21RT I sent them out to be framed. I keep that clear plastic case where I can see it every day. I can see it now above my office desk in Knoxville, along with the Pulitzer Prize, a portrait of nine Emmys awarded to the TV production of Roots, and the Spingarn medal — the NAACP39。s highest honor. I39。d be hard pressed to say which means the most to me. But only one reminds me of the courage and persistence it takes to stay the course in the Shadowland.我請(qǐng)人把這些東西鑲起來。我把這個(gè)透明塑料盒放在每天都能看到的地方。我現(xiàn)在就可以看到它,就放在諾克斯維爾的辦公桌上方,放在一起的還有普利策獎(jiǎng)杯,一張有電視版《根》所獲九個(gè)艾美獎(jiǎng)的照片,還有斯賓甘獎(jiǎng)牌 —— “全國(guó)有色人種協(xié)進(jìn)會(huì)”(NAACP)的最高榮譽(yù)。要是問我,哪一個(gè)對(duì)我意義最大,我會(huì)感到很難回答。但這中間,只有一樣?xùn)|西會(huì)提醒我,在夢(mèng)想的陰影里堅(jiān)持自己的方向需要怎樣的勇氣和毅力。close22RT It39。s a lesson anyone with a dream should learn.這個(gè)教訓(xùn),每一個(gè)有夢(mèng)的人都應(yīng)該汲取。close