路德教-苶怎么读

Unit Five
第五章
Text
课文
A mother and her son learn more from a moment of defeat than they ever could from a victory.
一位母亲和她的儿子从一次失败中学到的东西比他们曾经从胜利中得到的都要多。
Her example of never giving up gives him courage for the rest of his life.
她从放弃的例子，在以后的生活中给了他勇气。
THE DAY MOTHER CRIED
妈妈哭的那天
Coming home from school that dark winter's day so long ago ,
在很久以前的一个冬天，我放学回家，
I was filled with anticipation.
心中充满了期待。
I had a new issue of my favorite sports magazine tucked under my arm,
我腋下夹着一期新的我最爱看的体育杂志，
and the house to myself.
再者，家里没有别人打扰我。
Dad was at work, my sister was away,
爸爸在上班，妹妹在不在家。
and Mother wouldn't be home from her new job for an hour I bounded up the steps,
妈妈刚找到新工作，还得过一个小时才下班。我跳上台阶，
burst into the living room and flipped on a light.
冲进起居室，啪嗒一声打开电灯。
I was shocked into stillness by what I saw.
我被眼前的景象惊呆了。
Mother, pulled into a tight ball with her face in her hands,
妈妈双手捂着脸，身子紧缩成一团，
sat at the far end of the couch. She was crying.
坐在长沙发的那一端哭泣着。
I had never seen her cry.
我见妈妈哭这还是第一次。
I approached cautiously and touched her shoulder.
我小心地向她走去，轻轻拍她的肩膀。
"Mother?" I said. "What's happened?"
“妈妈，”我说：“怎么啦？”
She took a long breath and managed a weak smile.
妈妈深深吸了一口气，强作微笑。
"It's nothing, really.
“没什么，真的。
Nothing important.
没有什么要紧的事。
Just that I'm going to lose this new job.
只是我这份新工作要丢了。
I can't type fast enough."
我字打得不够快。”
"But you've only been there three days,"I said.
“可你才上班3天，”我说：
"You'll catch on."
“你会熟练起来的。”
I was repeating a line she had spoken to me a hundred times
我这是在重复她讲过上百次的一句话，
when I was having trouble learning of doing something important to me.
每当我学习或做一件自己关系重大的事情而遇到困难时，她总是这样跟我说的。
"No," she said sadly. "I always said I could do anything I set my mind to,
“不成，”妈妈黯然神伤地说：“过去我总是讲，只要我下决心，什么事都能干成。
and I still think I can in most things.
现在我仍然认为大多数的事我都能做。
But I can't do this."
但打字这件事我干不了啦。”
I felt helpless and out of place.
我感到无能为力，而且十分尴尬。
At age 16 I still assumed Mother could do anything.
我虽然16岁了，但仍然以为妈妈什么都能干。
Some ye
ars before,
几年前，
when we sold our ranch and moved to town,
当我们卖掉农场，搬到城里住的时候，
Mother had decided to open a day nursery.
妈妈决定开办日托所。
She had had no training,
她过去没有受过这方面的训练。
But that didn't stand in her way.
但这并不能阻碍她。
She sent away for correspondence courses in child care,
她写信要求参加幼托函授课程，
did the lessons and in six months formally qualified herself for the task.
学习了6个月就正式获得从事这项工作的资格。
It wasn't long before she had a full enrollment and a waiting list.
不久她的日托所招生额满，而且还有不少小孩登记等着人托呢。
I accepted all this as perfectly normal instance of Mother's ability.
我觉得凭妈妈的能力，办成这一切是理所当然的。
But neither the nursery nor the motel my parents bought later
然而，无论是托儿所或是我父母后来购买的汽车旅馆都不能
had provided enough income to send my sister and me to college.
提供足够的收入供我和妹妹上大学。
In two years I would be ready for college.
两年后就该是我上大学的时候了。
In three more my sister would want to go. Time was running out,
再过3年，妹妹也要上了。时间一天天过去，
and Mother was frantic for ways to save money.
妈妈拼命想办法积蓄钱。
It was clear that Dad could do no more than he was doing already
很清楚，爸爸已尽了最大努力
-farming 80 acres in addition to holding a fulltime job.
除了一份全日工作之外，还耕种了80英亩地。
A few months after we'd sold the motel,Mother arrived home with a used typewriter .
几个月以后，我们卖掉了缝纫机，妈妈搬回来一台旧打字机。
It skipped certain letters And the keyboard was soft.
这架打字机有时要跳字，键盘也很松。
At dinner that night I pronounced the machine a "piece of junk."
那天吃晚饭时，我把这台机器说成是“一件废物。”
"That's all we can afford," Mother said.
“我们只买得起这样旧的，”妈妈说：
"It's good enough to learn on."
“学打字用是够可以的了。”
And from that day on,
从那天起，
as soon as the table was cleared and the dishes were done,
餐桌一收拾，盘子一洗，
Mother would disappear into her sewing room to practice.
妈妈马上到她的缝纫间去练习。
The slow tap, tap, tap went on some nights until midnight.
有几天，那缓慢的嗒、嗒、嗒的声音一直持续到午夜。
It was nearly Christmas when I heard Mother got a job at the radio station.
监控圣诞节的时候，我听说妈妈在电台打到一份工作。
I was not the least bit surprised,
我一点也不惊奇，
or impressed.
也不觉得有什么特别，
But she was ecstatic.
但妈妈却欣喜万分。
Monday, after her first day at work, I could see that the excitemen
t was gone.
星期一，妈妈第一天上班回来，我发觉她的高兴劲儿已经烟消云散。
Mother looked tired and drawn.
妈妈绷着脸，看上去很疲劳。
I responded by ignoring her.
我没对她作任何表示。
Tuesday, Dad made dinner and cleaned the kitchen.
星期二，爸爸做晚饭，收拾厨房。
Mother stayed in her sewing room, practicing.
妈妈呆在缝纫间练习打字。
"Is Mother all right?" I asked Dad.
“妈妈还好吗？”我问爸爸。
"She's having a little trouble with her typing," he said.
“妈妈打字碰到困难，”他说：
"She needs to practice.
“她需要练习。
I think she'd appreciate it if we all helped out a bit more.
我想，如果我们在家里多帮一点忙，她会很感激的。”
"I already do a lot,"I said,immediately on guard.
“我已经做得不少了，”我说道，马上警觉起来。
"I know you do,"Dad said, evenly.
“我知道你做得不少了，”爸爸心平气和地说：
"And you may have to do more.
“说不定你还得再多干一点。
You might just remember that
你要记住，
she is working primarily so you can go to college."
她现在工作主要是为了能供你上大学。”
I honestly didn't care.
老实说，上不上大学我并不在乎。
I wished she would just forget the whole thing.
我真希望妈妈一点也不要把这事放在心上。
My shock and embarrassment at finding Mother in tears on Wednesday was a perfect index of how little I understood the pressures on her.
星期三，当发现妈妈哭时我所感到的震惊和窘迫，完全表明了我对妈妈所承受的压力是多么的不理解。
Sitting beside her on the couch,
我坐在她的身旁，
I began very slowly to understand.
慢慢开始理解了。
"I guess we all have to fail sometime," Mother said quietly.
“我想我们都不免有失败的时候，”妈妈平静地说。
I could sense her pain and the tension of holding back the strong emotions that were interrupted by my arrival.
我可以感觉到她的痛苦，也感觉到她在极力抑制着由于我闯进而被打断的强烈情感的发泄。
Suddenly, something inside me turned.
突然，我心里一酸，
I reached out and put my arms around her.
伸开双臂，把妈妈搂进怀里。
She broke then.
妈妈再也控制不住了。
She put her face against my shoulder and sobbed.
她把脸贴着我的肩膀，抽泣着。
I held her close and didn't try to talk.
我紧紧抱着她，没有说话。
I knew I was doing what I should, what I could,
我明白我是在做我应该做的和我所能做的，
and that it was enough. In that moment,
这就够了。就在那一时刻，
feeling Mother's back racked with emotion,
我感到她的背在颤抖，
I understood for the first time her vulnerability.
我第一次明白妈妈也有弱点。
She was still my mother,
她还是我的妈妈，
but she was something mor
e:
但又不仅如此：
a person like me,
她和我一样也是一个普通的人，
capable of fear and hurt and failure.
也会害怕，也会受到伤害，也会遭到失败。
I could feel her pain as she must have felt mine on a thousand occasions when I had sought comfort in her arms.
我感觉到她的痛苦，就像我千百次地在她怀里寻找安慰时，她感到我的痛苦一样。
A week later Mother took a job selling dry goods at half the salary the radio station had offered.
一周过后，妈妈找到一个卖纺织品的工作，工资只有原先电台的一半。
" It's a job I can do,"
“这是一个我能胜任的工作，”
she said simply.
她简单地说道。
But the evening practice sessions on the old green typewriter continued.
但在晚上，她又继续在那台绿色的旧打字机上练习。
I had a very different feeling now when I passed her door at night and heard her tapping away.
我的感情与过去迥然不同了，这以后，每当我在夜晚走过她的房门前，听着她那一刻不停的的嗒、嗒的打字声时。
I knew there was something more going on in there than a woman learning to type.
我深知，在那个房间里进行着的绝不仅仅是一个妇女在学习打字。
When I left for college two years later,
两年后我上大学时，
Mother had an office job with better pay and more responsibility.
妈妈找到一份薪金比原来高但责任也比原来重的办公室工作。
I have to believe that in some strange way she learned as much from her moment of defeat as I did,
使我不得不相信的是，妈妈不可思议地从失败中学到的东西竟与我所学到的一样多。
because several years later,
因为几年后，
when I had finished school and proudly accepted a job as a newspaper reporter,
我大学毕业、自豪地受聘担任报纸记者时，
she had already been a journalist with our hometown paper for six months.
她已在我们家乡的报社里当了6个月的记者了。
The old green typewriter sits in my office now unrepaired.
那台绿色旧打字机现在放在我的办公室里，至今没有修理过。
It is a memento,
它是一件纪念品。
but what it recalls for me is not quite what it recalled for Mother.
但它所勾起的我的加忆与妈妈的不尽相同。
When I'm having trouble with a story
每当我写文章遇到困难
and think about giving up or when I start to feel sorry for myself and think things should be easier for me,
想打退堂鼓时，或是自叹不走运时，
I roll a piece of paper into that cranky old machine and type,
我就往那台破旧的打字机里卷进一张纸，
word by painful word, just the way Mother did.
一个字一个字地吃力地打着，像妈妈当年一样。
What I remember then is not her failure,
这是，我回忆起的不是妈妈的失败，
but her courage, the courage to go ahead.
而是她的勇气，她那一

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