She challenged us to succeed-and then showed us the way.
她激勵我們要有所建樹:并一直為我們指點迷津。
In June 1976, I graduated from North-western University Medical School in Chicago. When my name was called, I walked quickly across the stage and reached for my diploma. But before the medical-school dean handed me the certificate, he asked my parents, Anna and Carlo Michelotti, to stand. Surprised, they rose from their seats in the audience. They looked at each other and seemed puzzled.
1976年6月,我畢業(yè)于芝加哥的西北大學醫(yī)學院。在畢業(yè)典禮那天,當叫到我名字時,我迅速起身穿過前臺去領學位證書。但在醫(yī)學院院長把證書發(fā)給我之前,他先讓我的母親安娜和父親卡羅·米歇洛蒂站起來。他們驚奇地從觀眾席座位上站起身,四目對視,似乎有些困惑。
The dean told the crowd that my parents, an immigrant Italian couple from a farm outside Chicago, had managed to send their six children to top colleges and graduate schools. (Three of us would become doctors, two were already lawyers and one was a physicist.) "It's remarkable," the dean said. Everyone cheered loudly.
院長告訴臺下的觀眾,我的父母是意大利移民,來自芝加哥郊外的一個農場,他們已設法把自己的六個孩子都送進了最好的大學和研究生院。(我們之中的三個將成為醫(yī)生,兩個已經做了律師,還有一個是物理學家。)“這很了不起啊!”院長說完,臺下一片歡呼。
Mama's face was radiant with pride. I knew that everything we had achieved or would achieve was because of my parents. When we were young children, my mother, especially, was our mentor . Not until I became an adult did I realize how special she was.
媽媽臉上泛出自豪的光芒。我知道我們所取得的和將要取得的一切都要歸功于我的父母。在我們小的時候,尤其是母親,成了我們的啟蒙老師。直到我長大后才認識到母親是多么不平凡。
Delight in Devotion. My mother was born in a small town in northern Italy. She was three when her parents immigrated to this country in 1926. They lived on Chicago's South Side, where my grandfather worked making ice cream.
樂于奉獻 母親出生于意大利北部的一個小鎮(zhèn)。1926年她3歲時隨父母移民到了美國。她家住在芝加哥南區(qū),當時外祖父在那兒做冰淇淋買賣。
Mama thrived in the hectic urban environment. At 16, she graduated first in her high-school class, went on to secretarial school, and finally worked as an executive secretary for a railroad company.
母親就在這樣喧囂的都市環(huán)境中成長起來。她16歲中學畢業(yè),畢業(yè)成績是全班最高的,后來上了秘書學校,最后在一家鐵路公司擔任行政秘書。