许多沙漠植物生命周期都很短促，他们能在下雨过后的短短几天内就完成一次生命全程。听甘肃的一位先生说，戈壁上有一种植物，只要一场雨，它就立即抽芽，急速地生根、长叶、开花、结果，仅在八天里就能完成一株显花植物全部的生命周期。此后，新一代的种子又会重新归于安静的等待。在这片一年也未必能下场透雨的戈壁滩上，也许等待了两年时间就是为了这历时八天的生命辉煌。对这些沙漠植物来说，也许等待反倒是生命的主要存在方式。

　　Many desert plants have a very brief life cycle: they can run through the whole course of life in just a few days after rain. As described by a friend from Gansu province, a certain flowering plant in the Gobi Desert, on the heels of a soaking rain, is able to sprout, take roots, grow leaves, blossom and bear fruit all within a lifespan of merely eight days. Then seeds of the new generation will enter the same inactive, waiting phase of existence. In the Gobi Desert, which seldom sees a single sufficient rain in a whole year, a plant may wait two years for only eight days' glory of life. For these desert plants, contrary to common sense, waiting constitutes the main part of life.

　　生命必须包含等待，甚至可以说，没有学会等待的生命就不具备生存的资格。

　　All life involves a waiting phase. We can even go so far as to say that a living thing, without the ability to wait, is not qualified for existence in this world.

　　等的是一种充满生命活力的“零级动态”，如同一辆已发动了的汽车，它是处于“零速率”的动态，一松离合器就可启动。又像一座已达链式反应“临界”的核动力堆，它是处于“零功率”动态的核电站，一提控制棒就可以并网发电。“等待”是一种积极的预备状态。它时刻准备着，随时都在等待启动的信号。

　　Waiting is "zero-level dynamism". Just consider: With its engine revving, a car, though still at zero-speed, will start to move when the clutch is released. In the same vein, waiting can also be compared to a nuclear reactor at zero-power critical condition, which, upon the removal of the control rods, will begin to generate and send electricity to the grid system. Waiting is thus a form of proactive preparation. The waiting ones are always prepared to start upon receiving the right signal.

　　等待者永远醒着。生命的等待既需要一种安于寂寞的静守，又需要一种审时度势的清醒。这是一种伺机而发的等待，一种充满着生命张力的等待。可以有失去生命的种子，但决不会有睡过头、唤不醒的种子，也没有怠惰懒散、迷离惝恍的种子。它们个个清醒，都对温度、湿度等重要环境因素常备不懈地保持高度警觉，时刻都在捕捉春天的信息。更令人不解的是，萌发的种子凭着什么感觉器官，竟然能够知觉地球引力方向，它会让先钻出来的胚根向“下”生长，而让随后长出的胚芽向“上”伸张。它们有时还得惠于母本的高级知觉，例如常春藤叶彩雀花，母体茎干会带着蒴果避开亮光，爬到更适宜种子发芽的阴湿墙角处爆开种子，它竟然能对子代出世体现出一种充满母爱的关怀。

　　In addition, the waiting ones are sober-minded. They know the waiting phase of life calls for ready acceptance of silence and solitude, as well as a cool head to size up the situation and act at the right moment. This waiting includes the potential for action and embodies the tensions of life. There may of course be dead seeds, but otherwise, no seeds will oversleep and refuse to wake up or stay idle and hesitate over whether to take action. They are highly alert to the changing temperature and humidity with a view to seizing the right chance. What is more surprising to us is that they even know the direction of gravity. By dint of a certain sense organ in them they let their young rots strike downward and their sprouts shoot upward. Some seeds receive even more care from their mother plants. For instance, a species of toadflax boasts a sensitive mechanism which directs its stems to carry its capsules away from the light and release the seeds in places cool and moist, thus more congenial to germination. Doesn't this show a mother's affection towards her offspring?

　　生命既要擅长发展又要学会等待，两者相辅相成，交替轮回，形成了生命特有的律动周期。次周期当来自于“天”。地球自转一周为“日”，平分昼夜；而它绕日公转一周为“年”，仅仅由于一个23.5度的倾斜角形成的斜转方式，才使大地分出春夏秋冬四个季节。可见地球生命的生长收藏都是按照“天”的周期来实施的。生命体拥有发展与等待这两种生存状态正是一种“与天同步”的顺应天时之举。

　　A living being should be good at both growing and waiting, two phases of life which alternate and complement each other. This is the cycle determined by Nature and characteristic of all lives. The earth's rotation makes a day, divided into light and dark. And when the earth has revolved around the sun once, we have a year. Seasons are created only because the earth's axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. So we can see the growth and dormancy of lives on earth are conditioned by the cycles of Nature. The two states of existence of life, growing and waiting, are just the results of life's adaptation to Nature's rhythms.

　　对生命而言，等待永远是一支瞄向“发展”的满弓弦箭，它时刻都在屏息静听，候望天命信号。

　　For all forms of life, the waiting phase can be seen as an arrow on a taut bowstring. Aimed at growth, it silently waits for the right signal from Nature.