你还在等什么？

You can never do a kindness too soon,

想要做出善举，永远不会为时过早

for you never know how soon it will be too late.

因为你永远不会知道，何时你将错失行善的机会

How many times have we said,

多少次我们会这样说

"Oh I'll do that tomorrow."

哦，明天我会做这件事的

Sometimes tomorrow never comes

有时这样的明天遥遥无期

and we find ourselves saying,

到最后我们只能说

"Boy, I wish I hadn't put that off."

“天呐，真希望自己没有拖延”

Our family has been friends with Betty for many years.

我们一家人与Betty是多年的好友

Over the years

这些年来

we shared phone calls

我们一直会互通电话

and birthday cards.

相互赠送生日贺卡

Betty sent our youngest son Brandon a birthday card

Betty每年都送我们的小儿子Brandon一张生日卡片

with $5.00 in it

里面夹着5美元钞票

until he graduated.

直到他从学校毕业

This past November

去年11月

I called Betty to see how she was

我打了一个电话给Betty，想问问她近况如何

and what she had done on her birthday.

问问她生日当天做了什么

I was quite surprised when Betty didn't answer the phone;

Betty却没有接电话，为此我十分惊讶

instead her daughter Carol did.

接电话的是她的女儿Carol

Carol told me

Carol告诉我

that her mom had gone downhill fast

她妈妈身体情况急速恶化

and she was now in Hospice care.

现在已经在临终关怀院接受照顾了

Carol handed the phone to Betty.

她把电话交给了Betty

I talked briefly to her

我简短的跟她说了几句话

and let her know we loved her.

让她知道我们爱她

As soon as I got off the phone

我一放下电话

I sent a text to Brandon

就给Brandon发了一条消息

to let him know

让他知道

Betty wasn't doing well.

Betty的情况不太好

Little did I know

我并不知道的是

that Brandon stopped what he was doing

Brandon立刻停下了手里的工作

and immediately sent flowers to Betty.

送了一束花给Betty

You can imagine

你一定能想象

how proud I was of Brandon

我多么为Brandon骄傲

when Carol called the next day

Carol第二天就打来了电话

letting me know

让我知道

how much Betty loved the flowers

Betty多么喜欢那些花

Brandon had sent.

花儿就是Brandon送去的

A few days later

几天之后

Betty died.

Betty去世了

You can never do a kindness too soon,

想要做出善举，永远不会为时过早

for you never know how soon it will be too late.

因为你永远不会知道，何时你将错失行善的机会