評(píng)論
打印
A week later Mother took a job selling dry goods at half the salary the radio station had offered. “It's a job I can do,” she said simply. But the evening practice sessions on the old green typewriter continued. I had a very different feeling now when I passed her door at night and heard her tapping away. I knew there was something more going on in there than a woman learning to type.
一周過(guò)后，媽找到一個(gè)賣紡織品的工作，工資只有原先電臺(tái)的一半。“這是一個(gè)我能勝任的工作，”她簡(jiǎn)單地說(shuō)道。但在晚上，她繼續(xù)在那臺(tái)綠色的舊打字機(jī)上練習(xí)。如今，每當(dāng)我在夜晚走過(guò)她的房門前，聽(tīng)著她那一刻不停的嗒、嗒的打字聲時(shí)，我的感情與過(guò)去迥然不同了。我深知，在那個(gè)房間里進(jìn)行著的絕不僅僅是一個(gè)婦女在學(xué)習(xí)打字。
When I left for college two years later, Mother had an office job with better pay and more responsibility. I have to believe that in some strange way she learned as much from her moment of defeat as I did, because several years later, when I had finished school and proudly accepted a job as a newspaper reporter, she had already been a journalist with our hometown paper for six months.
兩年后我上大學(xué)時(shí)，媽找到一份薪金比原來(lái)高但責(zé)任也比原來(lái)重的辦公室工作。使我不得不相信的是，媽不可思議地從失敗中學(xué)到的東西竟與我所學(xué)到的一樣多。因?yàn)閹啄旰螅掖髮W(xué)畢業(yè)、自豪地受聘擔(dān)任報(bào)紙記者時(shí)，她已在我們家鄉(xiāng)的報(bào)社里當(dāng)了六個(gè)月的記者了。
The old green typewriter sits in my office now, unrepaired. It is a memento, but what it recalls for me is not quite what if recalled for Mother. When I'm having trouble with a story and think about giving up or when I start to feel sorry for myself and think things should be easier for me, I roll a piece of paper into that cranky old machine and type, word by painful word, just the way Mother did. What I remember then is not her failure, but her courage, the courage to go ahead.
那臺(tái)綠色舊打字機(jī)現(xiàn)在放在我的辦公室里，至今沒(méi)有修理過(guò)。它是一件紀(jì)念品。但它所勾起的我的回憶與媽的不盡相同。每當(dāng)我寫(xiě)文章遇到困難想打退堂鼓時(shí)，或是自嘆不走運(yùn)時(shí)，我就往那臺(tái)破舊的打字機(jī)里卷進(jìn)一張紙，像媽當(dāng)年一樣，一個(gè)字一個(gè)字地吃力地打著。這時(shí)，我回憶起的不是媽的失敗，而是她的勇氣，她那一往無(wú)前的勇氣。
It's the best memento anyone ever gave me.
這臺(tái)打字機(jī)是我一生中得到的最好的紀(jì)念品。
