【正文】 什么可數(shù)的呢？只見(jiàn)一個(gè)空蕩陰暗的院子，20英尺以外還有一所磚房的空墻。秋天的寒風(fēng)把藤上的葉子差不多全都吹掉了，幾乎只有光禿的枝條還纏附在剝落的磚塊上?！?，”瓊西幾乎用耳語(yǔ)低聲說(shuō)道，“它們現(xiàn)在越落越快了。我數(shù)得頭都疼了。又掉了一片?！薄拔迤裁?，親愛(ài)的?！薄叭~子。等到最后一片葉子掉下來(lái)，我也就該去了。難道醫(yī)生沒(méi)有告訴你？”“喲，我從來(lái)沒(méi)聽(tīng)過(guò)這么荒唐的話，”蘇艾滿不在乎地說(shuō)，“那些破常春藤葉子同你的病有什么相干？你以前不是很喜歡這棵樹(shù)嗎？得啦，你這個(gè)淘氣的姑娘。瞧，醫(yī)生今天早晨還告訴我，說(shuō)你迅速痊愈的機(jī)會(huì)是，讓我想想他是怎么說(shuō)的他說(shuō)你好的幾率有十比一！噢，那簡(jiǎn)直和我們?cè)诩~約坐電車或者走過(guò)一座新樓房的把握一樣大。”“你不用買酒了，”瓊珊的眼睛直盯著窗外說(shuō)道，“又落了一片。只剩下四片了。然后我也要去了。我需要光線，否則我就拉下窗簾了?！拔乙谶@兒陪你，和你在一起，”蘇艾說(shuō)，“再說(shuō)，我不喜歡你老是盯著那些葉子看。她臉色蒼白，一動(dòng)不動(dòng)地躺在床上，就像是座橫倒在地上的雕像。我想擺脫一切，飄下去，飄下去，像一片可憐的疲倦了的葉子那樣。我一會(huì)兒就會(huì)回來(lái)的?！崩县悹柭亲≡谒齻冞@座樓房底層的一個(gè)畫(huà)家。貝爾曼是個(gè)失敗的畫(huà)家。他老是說(shuō)就要畫(huà)他的那幅杰作了，可是直到現(xiàn)在他還沒(méi)有動(dòng)筆。他給藝術(shù)區(qū)里窮得雇不起職業(yè)模特兒的年輕畫(huà)家們當(dāng)模特兒，掙一點(diǎn)錢。除此以外，他是一個(gè)火氣十足的小老頭子，十分瞧不起別人的溫情，卻認(rèn)為自己是專門保護(hù)樓上畫(huà)室里那兩個(gè)年輕女畫(huà)家的一只看家犬。一幅空白的畫(huà)布繃在個(gè)畫(huà)架上，擺在屋角里，等待那幅杰作已經(jīng)25年了，可是連一根線條都還沒(méi)等著。老貝爾曼兩只發(fā)紅的眼睛顯然在迎風(fēng)流淚，他十分輕蔑地嗤笑這種傻呆的胡思亂想。不，我才沒(méi)功夫給你那隱居的礦工糊涂蟲(chóng)當(dāng)模特兒呢?！薄八〉煤軈柡芴撊酰碧K艾說(shuō)，“發(fā)高燒發(fā)得她神經(jīng)昏亂，滿腦子都是古怪想法?！薄澳愫?jiǎn)直太婆婆媽媽了！”貝爾曼喊道，“誰(shuí)說(shuō)我不愿意當(dāng)模特兒？走，我和你一塊去。總有一天我要畫(huà)一幅杰作，那時(shí)我們就可以都搬出去了。蘇艾把窗簾拉下，一直遮住窗臺(tái)，做手勢(shì)叫貝爾曼到隔壁屋子里去。后來(lái)他們默默無(wú)言，彼此對(duì)望了一會(huì)。貝爾曼穿著他的舊藍(lán)襯衣，坐在一把翻過(guò)來(lái)充當(dāng)巖石的鐵壺上，扮作隱居的礦工?！鞍汛昂熇饋?lái)，我要看看。蘇艾疲倦地照辦了。它是常春藤上最后的一片葉子了。“這是最后一片葉子。我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)風(fēng)聲了?！薄鞍パ剑パ?，”蘇艾把疲乏的臉龐挨近枕頭邊上對(duì)她說(shuō)，“你不肯為自己著想，也得為我想想啊。當(dāng)一個(gè)靈魂正在準(zhǔn)備走上那神秘的、遙遠(yuǎn)的死亡之途時(shí)，她是世界上最寂寞的人了。白天總算過(guò)去了，甚至在暮色中她們還能看見(jiàn)那片孤零零的藤葉仍緊緊地依附在靠墻的枝上。天剛蒙蒙亮，瓊珊就毫不留情地吩咐拉起窗簾來(lái)。瓊珊躺著對(duì)它看了許久?！拔沂且粋€(gè)壞女孩兒，蘇艾，”瓊珊說(shuō)，“天意讓那片最后的藤葉留在那里，證明我曾經(jīng)有多么壞。你現(xiàn)在就給我拿點(diǎn)雞湯來(lái)，再拿點(diǎn)摻葡萄酒的牛奶來(lái)，再不，先給我一面小鏡子，再把枕頭墊墊高，我要坐起來(lái)看你做飯?！?下午醫(yī)生來(lái)了，他走的時(shí)候，蘇艾找了個(gè)借口跑到走廊上?！贬t(yī)生一面說(shuō)，一面把蘇艾細(xì)瘦的顫抖的手握在自己的手里，“好好護(hù)理，你會(huì)成功的。他的名字叫貝爾曼......聽(tīng)說(shuō)也是個(gè)畫(huà)家，也是肺炎。他是治不好的了，今天要把他送到醫(yī)院里，讓他更舒服一點(diǎn)。現(xiàn)在只剩下?tīng)I(yíng)養(yǎng)和護(hù)理了。蘇艾用一只胳臂連枕頭帶人一把抱住了她。他只病了兩天。他的鞋子和衣服全都濕透了，冰涼冰涼的。后來(lái)他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一盞沒(méi)有熄滅的燈籠，一把挪動(dòng)過(guò)地方的梯子，幾支扔得滿地的畫(huà)筆，還有一塊調(diào)色板,上面涂抹著綠色和黃色的顏料，還有，親愛(ài)的，瞧瞧窗子外面，瞧瞧墻上那最后一片藤葉。就是在最后一片葉子掉下來(lái)的晚上，他把它畫(huà)在那里的。the other from had met at the table d39。te of an Eighth Street “Delmonico39。and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch windowpanes at the blank side of the next brick morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, grey eyebrow.“She has one chance inshe wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day.” said Sue.“Paint?a man for instance?” “A man?” said Sue, with a jew39。and then ”ten,“ and ”nine“。re falling faster days ago there were almost a made my head ache to count now it39。ve known that for three 39。t be a , the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon werehe said the chances were ten to one!Why, that39。t get any more wine,“ said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window.”There goes , I don39。ll go, too.“ ”Johnsy, dear,“ said Sue, bending over her, ”will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? I must hand those drawings in by need the light, or I would draw the shade down.“ ”Couldn39。d rather be here by you,“ said Sue.”Beside, I don39。m tired of 39。ll not be gone a 39。til I e back.“ Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo39。s had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of merce or earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a drank gin to excess, and still talked of his ing the rest he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as especial mastiffinwaiting to protect the two young artists in the studio found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries in his dimly lighted den one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twentyfive years to receive the first line of the told him of Johnsy39。 I think you are a horrid oldno。s thin, shaking hand in his.”With good nursing you39。s all.” And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf, and put one arm around her, pillows and all.“I have something to tell you, white mouse,” she said.“ died of pneumonia today in the was ill only two janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with shoes and clothing were wet through and icy couldn39。——引自《最后一片葉子》為什么要放棄？自己的命運(yùn)就得自己來(lái)主宰；這世上的每一個(gè)生命都有權(quán)力活出自己的精彩；就把自己當(dāng)作一個(gè)勇士，任何的驚險(xiǎn)，都要去嘗試；在每一次失落、失敗后，都要勇敢地站起來(lái)！要對(duì)自己的未來(lái)負(fù)責(zé)，不需要?jiǎng)e人來(lái)畫(huà)上那一片葉子，讓我們自己對(duì)自己說(shuō)：永遠(yuǎn)都不放棄，在任何時(shí)刻！貝爾門，一個(gè)偉大的畫(huà)家。但他始終有個(gè)響亮的目標(biāo)——畫(huà)一幅“偉大的杰作”。與把自己的生命寄托于一片飄搖的葉子瓊西相比，貝爾門更像一個(gè)失敗的英雄。然而，如果冷靜地思考一下，像貝爾門這樣幾乎盲目的執(zhí)著卻并非可取。在這個(gè)世界上，物競(jìng)天擇，適者生存，既然他在畫(huà)畫(huà)方面沒(méi)有什么天賦，不可能有更大的發(fā)展，那就應(yīng)該明智些，在活下來(lái)的前提下，更換一種新的生存方式，努力使自己活得更出色，而不必拘泥于那沒(méi)有發(fā)展的繪畫(huà)。我們不可能將每片葉子、每件事都做得很好。放棄一些葉子，只是為了讓有限的水分和養(yǎng)料開(kāi)出自己想要的花，結(jié)出自己想要的果，只是為了讓自己的根枝長(zhǎng)得更粗壯，讓自己有一個(gè)更有發(fā)展余地的未