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I felt helpless and out of place. At age 16 I still assumed Mother could do anything. Some years before, when we sold our ranch and moved to town, Mother had decided to open a day nursery. She had no training, but that didn't stand in her way. She sent away for correspondence courses in child care, did the lessons and in six months formally qualified herself for the task. It wasn't long before she had a full enrollment and a waiting list. I accepted all this as a perfectly normal instance of Mother's ability.
我感到無能為力，而且十分尷尬。我雖然16歲了，但仍然以為媽什么都能干成。幾年前，當(dāng)我們賣掉農(nóng)場(chǎng)，搬到城里住的時(shí)候，媽決定開辦日托所。她過去沒有受過這方面的訓(xùn)練，但這并不能阻礙她。她寫信要求參加幼托函授課程，學(xué)習(xí)了六個(gè)月就正式獲得從事這項(xiàng)工作的資格。不久她的日托所招生額滿，而且還有不少小孩登記等著入托呢。我覺得憑媽的能力，辦成這一切是理所當(dāng)然的。
But neither the nursery nor the motel my parents bought later had provided enough income to send my sister and me to college. In two years I would be ready for college. In three more my sister would want to go. Time was running out, and Mother was frantic for ways to save money. It was clear that Dad could do no more than he was doing already — farming 80 acres in addition to holding a fulltime job.
然而，無論是托兒所或是我父母后來購(gòu)買的汽車旅館都不能提供足夠的收入供我妹妹和我上大學(xué)。兩年后就該是我上大學(xué)的時(shí)候了。再過三年，妹妹也要上了。時(shí)間一天天過去，媽拼命想辦法攢錢。很清楚，爹已盡了最大努力--除了一份全日工作之外，還耕種了80英畝地。
