1

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有时他一个人折腾一件东西，很久。
没有人教他专注，
也没有人提醒他坚持。

后来才发现，
也许不是他学会了专注，
只是很少有人打断它。

—

Sometimes he stays with one thing for a long time.
No one taught him to focus.
No one reminded him to keep going.

Perhaps he did not learn concentration.
Perhaps it was simply left uninterrupted.

​

​

2

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我看书，弹一点乐器，做饭。
他有时来找我，
有时在旁边自己的世界里待很久。

我们并不总是在一起做什么。
只是各自的生活，
在同一个空间里发生。

—

​

I read, play a little music, cook.
Sometimes he comes to find me.
Sometimes he remains in his own world for a long while.

We are not always doing something together.
Our lives are simply happening
in the same space.

​

​

3

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孩子的专注不一定是坐着不动。

搬来搬去，
跑开，又回来，
换一个容器，再试一次。

从外面看是许多零散的动作。
也许在他的经验里，
它们从来没有断过。

—

​

A child’s attention does not always look still.

Carrying something away,
running off and returning,
finding another container, trying again.

From outside, these may look like separate actions.
In his experience,
perhaps they were never separate.

​

​

4

一个很小的世界刚刚开始形成：

再倒一次水，
再挖深一点，
看看这次会怎样。

然后大人说：

该收起来了。

有时被切断的并不是一项活动，
而是一个正在变得完整的世界。

—

​

A small world is just beginning to form:

pour the water once more,
dig a little deeper,
see what happens this time.

Then an adult says:

time to pack away.

Sometimes what is interrupted is not an activity,
but a world that was becoming whole.

​

​

5

​

也许真正值得保护的
不是孩子能专注多久。

一小时也好，五分钟也好。
跑来找大人也好，突然换一件事也好。

被保护的是另一件事：

他的注意力可以有自己的时间。
自己开始，
自己深入，
自己离开。

​

—

​

Perhaps what matters is not
how long a child can concentrate.

An hour, five minutes.
Coming to find an adult, suddenly moving on.

What is protected is something else:

his attention is allowed its own time —
to begin,
to deepen,
and to leave.