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Heartsongs
Mattie Stepanek is wheeling around his living room like any11-year-old boy on an electric scooter（注：scooter
n.踏板车）,laughing as he runs across the floor.
But Mattie's "scooter"is his life station-an electricwheelchair.And the laughter is sometimes halting（注：halting
adj.迟疑不决的，勉强的）.He suffers from a rare formof muscular dystrophy（注：muscular dystrophy
［医］肌营养不良）,a ventilator（注：ventilator
n.［医］呼吸器）supplying his oxygen.
"When I was born,people were questioning whether or not Iwould live,"Mattie said."I would stop breathing a whole lot（注：a whole lot［用于强调］许多）."
Mattie,wise beyond his years,has become the newest rage（注：rage
n.〔the～〕时尚）in the publishing world withhis tiny volume of inspiring poems,Heartsongs,and its sequel（注：sequel
n.（文艺作品）续篇）,Journey ThroughHeartsongs.
The new book hit best-seller lists on Nov.18,2001.A paperback（注：paperback
n.平装本）of his first poetrycollection,written between ages 3 and 6,also hit lists thatweek.Both took off（注：take off畅销，卖得好） after anOcatober appearance on Oprah.
One of the poems from Journey Through Heartsongs is called"On Being a Champion."In it,Mattie writes,"A champion is awinner,a hero,someone who never gives up,even when the goinggets rough."
Mattie said poetry is a helpful and beautiful way to expressfeelings,whether they are angry,sad,happy or scared feelings."You can share it with others,so that they can feel betterwhen they're in those posititons."he said.
Surviving the Storms
Mattie has survived some incredible challenges in his shortlife.Aside from his own struggle,he has lost a sister and twobrothers to the same disease.His mother,Jeni Stepanek,has aless serious form of the disease and passed it on to thechildren unwittingly（注：unwittingly
adv.无意地）.
Mattie's life has been filled with surprises-good and bad.He has almost died more than once,and was named the NationalGoodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Assoeiation,appeared on Good Morning America and Oprah,and has becomefirst-name friends with another peacemaker,former PresidentJimmy Carter.
Mattie admits that sometimes he wonders why it happened tohim."Sometimes I will think why me?Why did my brothers andsister die?Why am I stuck in this wheelchair?But then again.Ithink why not me?"he said.
Mattie said it's better that he struggles with the disease,instead of another little baby."We all have life storms,andwhen we get through them or recover from them we shouldcelebrate that we got through it instead of just mourning（注：mourn
vi.（对不幸等）感到痛心）and waiting for the next one to come along（注：come along出现，来到，发生）and wipeus out again."he said.
Mattie said that he has been close to death so many timesthat he has seen heaven,"angels and all."He remembers theangels'beauty:"Eternal（注：eternal
adj.永恒的，永存的）beauty,not just outer beauty but inner beauty,"he said.
A Will to Live
And play he does,donning（注：don
vt.穿上，戴上）awizard hat as he goes about his day.Like most kids of his age,he's a big fan of Harry Potter.With his wire glasses andimpish（注：impish
adj.顽童的，顽皮的）grin,he evenresembles the English schoolboy.He's also quite fond ofHarry's sidekick（注：sidekick
n.［俚］密友，朋友）,Hermione Granger.Pictures of her cover the wall over his bed.But "she's not my girlfriend."
Mattie has survived,even when it looked like the diseasewould take his life."I think Mattie has the will to live,"hismother said."He has a very strong spirit and he wants to live.I think that he feels like he has a purpose here and a missionhere."
Mattie believes his mission is peacemaking.Though he wouldlove to be a firefighter or a policeman if his body wouldallow it,he gets satisfaction out of helping others with hispen and paper."I've always wanted to be a peacemaker and Iwanted to spread peace in my writing,"he said.
Mattie admires others for their peacemaking efforts too.Oneof his heroes is former President Jimmy Carter,who hasdevoted much of his time since leaving the White House topromoting peace in some of the world's many war-torn（注：war-torn
adj.受战争蹂躏的）countries.
In June 2001 Mattie discussed peace efforts in Bosnia andAfrica during a 15-minute phone call with the former President."He is a humble peacemaker,"he said."He'll finish a greatpeacemaking effort,but he won't go and show off（注：show off炫耀，卖弄，表现自己）about it."
Looking For The Good Side
Since Sept.11 last year,the poems from Heartsongs,and JourneyThrough Heartsongs Have touched（注：touch
vt.触动，感动）those who have heard them.Mattie had met some New Yorkfirefighters at a charity softball（注：softball
n.垒球）tournament just before the terrorist attacks.Three of themperished（注：perish
vi.卒，丧生） on Sept.11.
Mattie cried when he saw what happened on TV,and kept looking for firefighters he knew on the screen.But as is typical of Mattie,he also began looking for the good.
"We need to win the war on terrorism with words,not bombs,"hesays."We need to sit down and listen to our heartsongs.We need to stop fighting over things that don't matter,things like land and money."
"Even though it was sad,people should celebrate life no matter how bad it seems.There's always something beautifulthat you can find,"he said.
心灵之歌
像所有11岁的男孩一样，马蒂·斯特帕尼克坐在电动脚踏车上，在客厅里转来转去，大声笑着让车子带着他满屋子地转动着。
但是，这辆“脚踏车”是马蒂终生的依赖——这是一辆电动轮椅。有时，笑声也会显得有些勉强，因为他身患罕见的肌肉萎缩症，需要呼吸器供氧才能维持正常生活。
马蒂说，“我出生时，人们都怀疑我是否会活下去。有好几次我都要停止呼吸了。”
最近，马蒂成了出版界风靡一时的人物，他以这个年龄的男孩所没有的聪明智慧出版了两本薄薄的、启迪心灵的诗集——《心灵之歌》及其续篇《心灵之歌的旅程》。
第二本书在2001年11月18日登上美国热销榜，第一本诗集的平装本也在那一周成了畅销书，这本诗集收集了他3岁到6岁时的诗歌作品。这两本书10月份在“奥普拉”的谈话节目上出现以后，就已经卖得很好了。
《心灵之歌的旅程》中有一首题为“成为冠军”的诗。马蒂在诗中写道，“冠军是胜利者，是英雄，是一个永不放弃的人，即使在环境恶劣的时候。”
马蒂认为诗歌是一种有益的、美好的表达情感的方式，无论你的感情是愤怒、悲伤、快乐还是恐惧。“你可以和其他人共同分享这种感情，这样，当他们遇到类似情况时就会感觉好些，”马蒂说。
风雨人生路
在马蒂短短的人生中，他经历了让人难以置信的种种挑战。除了他自己与病魔的斗争外，他的一个姐姐和两个哥哥也因为同样的病离开了他。他的母亲，詹尼·斯特帕尼克患有轻度的肌肉萎缩症，无意中遗传给了孩子们。
他的生活中充满各种意外——有好的，也有坏的。他曾经不止一次面临死亡的危险，肌肉萎缩症患者协会任命他为全国亲善大使，还出现在“早安美国”和“奥普拉”等电视节目中，并和另一位和平使者，前总统吉米·卡特成了好朋友。
马蒂坦言，他有时也想弄清楚为什么这一切要发生在他身上。他说，“有时我想，为什么得病的人会是我？为什么我的哥哥姐姐死去了？为什么我注定要与轮椅做伴？可是接着我又想，为什么不会是我呢？”
马蒂说，让他和这种顽症做斗争要比让另一个小孩做更好。他说，“每个人的生活中都会经历各种风暴。当我们经历了挫折或是从困境中走出来时，我们应该加以庆祝而不是沉浸于昔日的悲伤之中，难以自拔，坐等下一个风暴到来把我们再次湮灭。”
马蒂说他已经多次和死神擦肩而过，他甚至看见了天堂，“天使和那里的一切”。他不会忘记天使们的美丽：“那是一种永恒的美，不仅仅是外表美丽，内心也同样美丽。”
求生的意志
他也很爱玩儿，会戴上一顶巫师的帽子打扮成男巫来打发病中的日子。和许多同龄的孩子一样，他还是个《哈里·波特》迷。戴着夹丝眼镜，咧嘴一笑，他确也和那个英国男孩儿有些相似之处。对哈里的伙伴，赫敏·格兰杰他也同样情有独钟。他床头的墙壁上就挂满了她的图片，但马蒂说“她不是我的女友”。
马蒂依然活着，尽管病魔随时都会夺去他的生命。“我相信马蒂会活下去，”他的母亲说。“他有强大的精神支柱和生存的愿望。我想他相信这里有自己生存的意义和使命。”
马蒂坚信他的使命就是缔造和平。尽管如果他的身体允许的话，他极想能成为一名消防队员或是警察，但是，在用自己的笔和纸帮助他人的过程中，他同样获得了满足。他说，“我一直想成为一名和平的使者，希望能用我的作品传播和平。”
他十分景仰那些为促进和平而努力的人们。前总统吉米·卡特就是他心目中的一位英雄。自从离开白宫，他就把自己大部分时间用在帮助世界上许多遭受战争蹂躏的国家的人们，让那里尽早实现和平。
2001年6月，他和这位美国前总统就波斯尼亚和非洲的和平努力进行了长达15分钟的电话交谈。马蒂说，“他是一位非常谦逊的缔造和平的人。他会干成一件了不起的缔造和平的工作，但他决不会四处炫耀。”
寻找光明
自从去年9月11日以来，《心灵之歌》和《心灵之歌的旅程》中的诗打动了所有的读者。就在这次恐怖袭击事件发生之前，马蒂还在一次慈善垒球赛上遇到了一些纽约市的消防队员。9·11事件后，他们中的3个永远地离去了。
当马蒂从电视上看到所发生的一切时，他哭了。他不停地在屏幕上寻找着曾经相识的消防队员。然而，像以往一样，他开始寻找事件好的一面。
“我们应该用语言而不是用炸弹来赢得这场反恐怖主义战争，”他说。“我们需要坐下来倾听自己的心声。我们必须停止就无关紧要的事情，如土地和金钱，而进行的争战。”
“纵然有些事让人伤心，可是无论这事看起来是多么糟糕，人们还是要赞美生活。你总会从生活中发现美好的事物，”他说。
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