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My first memories are from the boat -- the steady beat of the engine, the bow dipping into each wave, the vast and empty horizon.
我的第一個記憶來自于小船--發動機均勻的節奏，淺淺的波浪，一望無盡的海平面。
I don't remember the pirates who came many times, but were bluffed by the bravado of the men on our boat, or the engine dying and failing to start for six hours.
我不記得海盜來了幾次，卻被船上男人們的虛張聲勢嚇跑了，引擎熄火，6個小時無法啟動。
But I do remember the lights on the oil rig off the Malaysian coast and the young man who collapsed and died,
但是我記得邊石油鉆井反射的光；來自馬來西亞海岸，年輕小伙虛脫而死，
the journey's end too much for him, and the first apple I tasted, given to me by the men on the rig. No apple has ever tasted the same.
旅途早早結束；我嘗到的第一個蘋果，來自同船的一個男人。再也沒有吃到那么美味的蘋果。
After three months in a refugee camp, we landed in Melbourne. And the next piece of the jigsaw is about four women across three generations shaping a new life together.
在難民集中營的三個月后，我們定居在墨爾本。下一片拼圖是關于三代婦女共同創造的新生活。
We settled in Footscray, a working-class suburb whose demographic is layers of immigrants.
我們定居于Footscray，一個工薪階層市郊，以移民為主。
Unlike the settled middle-class suburbs, whose existence I was oblivious of, there was no sense of entitlement in Footscray.
不像定居其他中級階層市郊，我忘記了我的存在，更別說權利了。
The smells from shop doors were from the rest of the world.
商店透出的味道仿佛來自另一個世界。
And the snippets of halting English were exchanged between people who had one thing in common: They were starting again.
說著同樣磕磕絆絆的英語，人們相互交流著。有一件事情是相同的，又重新開始了。
My mother worked on farms, then on a car assembly line, working six days, double shifts.
母親一開始在農村干活，后來去了汽車組裝線，一周工作6天，雙班倒。
Somehow, she found time to study English and gain IT qualifications. We were poor.
有時她擠時間學習英語，獲得了IT資格證。我們很窮，
All the dollars were allocated and extra tuition in English and mathematics was budgeted for regardless of what missed out, which was usually new clothes; they were always secondhand.
節約每一分錢。剩余的錢都用來繳英語和數學的學費，不管再難，即使沒有新衣服穿，穿二手的。
Two pairs of stockings for school, each to hide the holes in the other.
上學時穿兩雙襪子，一雙遮擋另一雙上的洞。
A school uniform down to the ankles, because it had to last for six years.
學校的制服蓋過了膝蓋，因為它得堅持6年。
And there were rare but searing chants of "slit-eye" and the occasional graffiti: "Asian, go home."
雖然很少，但是搜尋圣歌的邊邊角角，偶爾的涂鴉說 “亞洲人，回家去吧！”
Go home to where? Something stiffened inside me. There was a gathering of resolve and a quiet voice saying, "I will bypass you."
回家回到哪兒？一些事情刺痛了我的內心。一股力量在凝聚，安靜的聲音在說：“我要超越你。”
