[11] My mother wanted each of us to be somebody too. "Your challenge is to be everything you can. Mine is to help," she always said.我的母亲希望我们都能出人头地。“你们的任务就是尽你们的一切所能去努力奋斗，我的任务就是尽力去帮助你们”，她经常这样说道。
[12] She read to us every day and used homemade flash cards to teach us phonics. She bolstered our confidence, praising even our most ordinary accomplishments. When I was ten, I painted a stack of wooden crates white and nailed them together to make a wobbly bookcase. "It's wonderful!" Mama exclaimed. "Just what we need." She used it for many years.
当我们还很小时，她就开始不知疲倦地用自制的闪光单词学习卡教我们发音。她帮我们建立信心，即便是很平常的事情只要我们做好了，她都会给予我们鼓励。记得我十岁那年，有一天我将一堆木箱组装成了一个简易的书架。“太棒了！这正是我们所需要的书架”她惊叹道。这个书架还用了好久呢。
[13] In the dining room are two paint-by-number pictures that my sister Gloria and brother Leo did as kids. Several years ago, Leo commented that the pictures weren't very good and offered to take them down. But Mama wouldn't hear of it. "They are there to remind you how much you could accomplish even as children," she said.在我家饭厅有两幅由数字制作的图画，那是我的妹妹Gloria和弟弟Leo很小的时候的画作。很多年以前，我的弟弟Leo就说这幅画作不是很好，并想将其取下来，但是当我的妈妈听说了以后，她坚绝不肯。“它们可以提醒并激励你们继续努力。”她这样说道。
[14] From the very beginning, she urged us to think big. One day, after visiting our grandparents on the South Side, she made Dad detour past the Prudential Building construction site. Mama explained that when finished, the 41-story building would be Chicago's tallest. "Maybe someday one of you can design a building like this," she said.很早开始，她就鼓励我们要“胸怀大志”。一天，当我们拜访完了在南部的祖父母后，她要求父亲绕道经过那座正在建造的大厦工地。如果这幢41层的大厦建造完成的话，这幢高楼就是芝加哥最高的一座建筑了。“也许，将来的某一天你们当中的一个人也能设计一座像这样的大楼哦。她说道。
[15] Her confidence in us was infectious. When my sister Carla was 12, she announced she was going to be a lawyer.v她对我们的自信很具感染力。当我的妹妹Carla还只有12岁时，她就宣称将来她想要当一名律师呢。
[ 本帖最后由 EDI 于 2008-4-23 10:31 编辑 ]
