Rudyard Kipling(1865-1936)，英国小说家和诗人，出生于印度孟买，1907年获得诺贝尔文学奖。代表作品《丛林之书》、《勇敢的船长》、《基姆》等，他的作品深受印度文化的影响，体现了东西方文化融合的理念。

      If《如果》（1895）是一首励志诗（motivational poem），这首诗是诺贝尔文学奖得主吉卜林写给他12岁儿子的诗，表达了对美好未来的期许。一起来欣赏一下。

                        If

                                      By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when al about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being led about, don't deal in lines,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master

If you can drink---and not make thoughts your aim

If you can meet mith Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fooly

Or watch th things you gave your Life to, broken

And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginings

And never breath a word about your loss

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when ther is nothing in you

Except the Will which  says to them:Hold on！

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you

if all men count with yo,but none too much;

If you can fill the urforgiving minute

With sixty seconds'worth of distance run

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it

And---which is more---you'll be a Man,my son！

            如果

如果在众人六神无主之时,

你镇定自若而不是人云亦云;

如果被众人猜忌怀疑时,

你能自信如常而不去枉加辩论;

如果你有梦想,

又能不迷失自我;

如果你有神思,

又不至于走火入魔;

如果在成功之中能不忘形于色,

而在灾难之后也勇于咀嚼苦果;

如果看到自己追求的美好破灭为一摊零碎的瓦砾,

也不说放弃;

如果你辛苦劳作,

已是功成名就,

为了新目标,

你依旧冒险一搏,

哪怕功名成乌有;

如果你跟村夫交谈而不变谦恭之态,

和王侯散步而不露谄媚之颜;

如果他人的爱情左右不了你,

如果你与任何人为伍都能卓然独立;

如果昏惑的骚扰动摇不了你的意志,

你能等自己平心静气再做答时……

那么，你的修养就会如天地般博大，

而你，就是个真正的男子汉了，我的儿子！

[赏析]

      这首诗从一位父亲的角度阐释了一个人怎样可以成长为真正的MAN，以及成长过程中所需要的责任感和优秀品质，对于现实生活中的我们都有很好的激励作用。 诗歌共有四小节（stanza），每小节8行，每节诗歌按照ABABABAB的韵律，形式工整。诗人采用了排比、暗喻、夸张等修辞手法，在诗歌的最后一句“And---which is more---you'll be a Man,my son！”点明了诗歌的主题（theme），也寄托了诗人对其儿子以及年轻一代的美好期望。

    如果你能寻梦，而不被梦想奴役，

    如果你能思考，而不以思考为目标，

    那么，大地和它的所有都属于你。