晨读英语美文100篇 Passage 85. A Grain of Sand

[00:00.34]Passage 85. A Grain of Sand

[00:05.26]Here is a story.

[00:11.17]A participant in the long-distance race got his shoes filled with sand when he was crossing a beach.

[00:17.19]He had to stop to get the sand out hastily before he resumed running.

[00:22.44]Unfortunately a grain of sand remained rubbing the sole and became increasingly telling

[00:28.89]so that each step meant a twinge of pain.

[00:32.61]Reluctant to halt and get rid of the sand，

[00:35.79]he continued to run in spite of the pain until he could stand no more.

[00:40.38]He dropped out of the contest just a few yards from the finishing line.

[00:45.20]As he managed to get out of the shoe painfully，

[00:48.92]he was surprised to find the cause of his lasting torment was only a grain of sand.

[00:54.83]It seems that the greatest obstacle on one’s way forward may not be a high mountain or a deep valley

[01:04.45]but a grain of sand that is hardly visible.

[01:07.30]To avoid blame on a minor fault one may tell a lie.

[01:11.78]That adds a burden to a heavy heart and weighs it down.

[01:16.48]In the days to come he will have to fabricate one falsehood after another

[01:22.94]to cover the lie he told and the fault he committed.

[01:26.22]Thus he will never be able to free himself from lingering anxiety, worry and regret,

[01:32.57]to the ignorance that all his sufferings originate in only a grain of sand

[01:38.15]—the first lie he told.