I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide them, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused - a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love - then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.

　　我真诚地相信，对于儿童以及期望引导儿童的父母来说，感觉力比理解力相对更为重要。如果将事实比作是以后会萌发知识和智慧的“种子”的话，那么，情感激情与感官印象就好比是肥沃的“土壤”，“种子”离开它就无法生长。童年早期是准备、培育“土壤”的时期。一旦唤起了内心中的种种情感，如美感、对新鲜事物和未知事物的兴奋感、同情心、恻隐之心、钦慕之情、爱慕之心，我们继而就会希望获得关于引起我们产生情感反应的事物的知识。而这种知识一旦获得，就会产生深远的意义与影响。显而易见，培养、激发孩子的求知欲与探究欲，比像饮食似地让孩子吞咽下他还吸收不了的种种知识更为重要。

　　I am sure there is something much deeper, something lasting and significant. Those who dwell, as scientists or laypeople, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the problems or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner satisfaction and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

　　我确信有某种深刻得多的东西,某种持久而意义深渊的东西。那些生活在地球上的美与神奇的东西之间的科学家或者准科学家,永远不会孤单或对生活赶到厌倦.无论他们的个人生活有什么问题或忧虑,他们的思想都能够知道到同往内心的满足和对生活重燃激情的途径.那些凝视地球之美的人能找到终生受用的力量储备.在鸟类的迁徙中,在潮水的涨落中,在含苞待放的花蕾中,即有距离的美也有象征性的美.在大自然反反复复的循环中,有一种具有无限的治愈力的东西-黑夜过后一定是黎明,冬天过后必然是春天.

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（编辑：王美娇）