Choices, choices. Choices don't always present themselves in the clearest terms, and they aren't necessarily fair. This tortured little piece represents one dude's introspection on the sad reality of choice. <!--more-->

<h3>纷纷 - [pinyin]fen1 fen1[/pinyin]</h3>
This word probably the most useful take-away here. It means "one after the other", or "in quick succession", but it's got a little bit of a messy overtone to it, like batches of things are happening around the same time. 

For example, you could say, 落叶纷纷 [pinyin]luo4 ye4 fen1 fen1[/pinyin], meaning "the leaves fell in profusion". Leaves wouldn't fall off a tree in measured order, right? But they wouldn't all fall off in a synchronized bunch, either. They'd kind of, you know, fall off generally around the same time, around the same season, some today, some tomorrow. Or you might also say, 同学们纷纷发言 - "the students spoke up one after another". 

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<h3>Chinese text:</h3>
1) 一个农民从洪水中救起了他的妻子，他的孩子却被淹死了。

2) 事后，人们议论<strong>纷纷</strong>。有的说他做得对，因为孩子可以再生一个，妻子却不能死而复活。有的说他做错了，因为妻子可以另娶一个，孩子却不能死而复活。

3) 我听了人们的议论，也感到疑惑难决：如果只能救活一人，究竟应该救妻子呢，还是救孩子?

4) 于是我去拜访那个农民，问他当时是怎么想的。

5) 他答道：“我什么也没想。洪水袭来，妻子在我身过，我抓住她就往附近的山坡游。当我返回时，孩子已经被洪水冲走了。”

6) 归途上，我琢磨着农民的话，对自己说：如果当时这个农民稍有迟疑，可能一个都救不了；所谓人生的抉择不少便是如此。

7)【经典小故事心得】：很多事情根本没有错与对，也容不得你去细想错与对，如果过于犹豫或过于在乎别人的想法，你可能什么事也做不成。

Go straight to the <a href="http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2015/09/20/a1162360.html" target="_blank">source</a>.
 
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1) A farmer saved his wife from a flood, but his child drowned. 

2) Afterwards, everyone offered up one opinion after another. Some said he did the right thing, since he could always have another child, but his wife couldn't be revived from the dead. Some said he did the wrong thing, because he could always marry again, but his child could never return. 

3) I listened to everyone's opinion, and felt myself at a loss: if only one person could be saved, should the wife be saved, or should the child be saved? 

4) So I went to visit the farmer, and asked him what he'd been thinking at the time. 

5) He answered: "I wasn't thinking anything. The flood rushed in unexpectedly, and my wife was by my side, so I grabbed her and swam for a nearby hill. When I went back, my child had already been swept away by the flood waters." 

6) On the road back, I was tormented by the farmer's words, and said to myself: if that farmer had hesitated, he might have been unable to save even one of them; so many of the so-called choices in our lives happen this way.

7) Moral of the story: In many matters there is no right and wrong, and those matters don't lend themselves well to deeper consideration of right and wrong. If you hesitate too long or worry too much about the opinions of others, you may be unable to do anything at all. 
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