1、 1 Lesson Eight Never Be a Quitter in Face of Life 不要做生活的逃兵 “ Get yourself up and make something of yourself,buddy!”Though she has passed away,my mother s words are as clear in my head today as when I was a boy. “孩子，起来，做个有出息的人！”虽然母亲已经过世，但她的话依然清晰地在我脑海中回响， 就如我在孩提时代听到的一样。 She may have had my interests
2、at heart, but from my standpoint at the time, her less than tender approach to parenting was the equivalent of bamboo torture treatment. 她心里也许是为我好，但那时依我看来，她那毫不温柔的为母之道就如同用竹条鞭笞一般严厉。 “ Christ!” I utter,“ I have made something of yourself.I am entitled to sleep late.” “天哪！”我叫道：“我已经是个有出息的人了。我有权晚点起床了。” “
3、If theres one thing I cant stand, its a quitter.” Her voice in my head is more powerful than my will to refuse, so I pull myself from bed. “要是有什么我不能忍受的东西，那就是逃兵。”她的声音在我脑海 中回响，让我无法拒绝，于是我从床上爬了起来。 My father died after five years of marriage. My mother didnt have any money after he died. She had three ba
4、bies to care for and lots of bills to pay. She had just started college, but she had to quit to look for work. When we lost our house a couple of months later, she was left with nothing but scattered pieces of a life to pick up. My insane grandmother who was dying had to be institutionalized and we
5、all had to take shelter with her brother Allen. She eventually found work as a grocer at a supermarket at ten dollars a week. 我的父亲在婚后 5年就过世了。他死后，我母亲没有钱。她要抚养三个孩子，还有一身的债务。当时母亲刚上大学，却不得不辍学去找工作。几个月后，我们失去了房子，母亲一无所有，只有支离破碎的生活残局等着她去收拾。我那奄奄一息的精神失常的祖母不得不被送往疯人院，而我们也只能寄居于她弟弟艾伦的家中。最终，母亲找到了一份超市售货员的工作，每周工资 10 美元。
6、2 Mother, although hopeful that I would make millions, never deceived herself about my abilities to do so, and so she pushed me toward working with words from an early age. 虽然母亲期望我能成为百万富翁，但她很清楚我的能力，在这一点上，她从不欺骗自己。因此，从我很小的时候起，她就鼓励我向文字工作的方向发展。 Words ran in her family. The most spectacular proof was my
7、mothers first cousin Edwin. He was managing editor of The New York Times and had gained a name for himself while covering the Cuban Missile Crisis. She often used Edwin as an example of how far an ambitious man could get without much talent. 母亲的家庭与文字素有渊 源。最显著的证据就是我母亲最年长的堂兄埃德温。他是纽约时报的执行编辑，因报道古巴导弹危机而声
8、名大噪。她常用埃德温的例子来告诉我一个有雄心的人能走多远，即使他没什么天赋。 “ Edwin James was no smarter than anybody else, though a little faster as a typist, and look where he is today” ,my mother said,and said,and said again. “埃德温詹姆士虽然打字速度比较快， 但他并不比其他人聪明，你看，他现在多么功成名就，”我母亲总是一遍又一遍地说。 Her early identification of my own gift for words g
9、ave her purpose and from then on, her whole life started to revolve around helping me to develop my talents. Though very poor, she signed us up for a set of books for intermediate and advanced readers. One book arrived by mail each month for just 39 cents. 她早就认定我有文字天赋，从那时起，她就有了目标，她的整个生命便开始围绕着帮助我开发天赋
10、而运转。虽然很穷，她还是为我们订了一套适合中高级水平读者阅读的读物。每个月都会有一本书邮寄过来，价值 39 美分。 3 What I read with joy, though, were newspapers. I lapped up every word about monstrous crimes, awful accidents and terrible acts committed against people in faraway wars and the refugees who had to escape from their home countries. Accounts
11、of police corruption and murderers dying in the electric chair fascinated me. 然而， 我感兴趣的却是报纸。我贪婪地汲取每一条消息：骇人听闻的罪行、可怕的事故、在遥远地区发生的战争对人们犯下的令人发指的罪行，以及不得不背井离乡的难民的消息。警察贪污以及凶手死于电椅的报道令我着迷。 In 1947 I graduated from Johns Hopkins and applied for a job with the Baltimore Sun as a police reporter. Why they picked
12、 me was a mystery. It paid $30 a week. When I complained the wage was humiliating for a learned man, mother refused to sympathize. 1947年，我从约翰斯霍普金斯大学毕业，向巴尔的摩太阳报应聘警事记者一职。他们为何选择了我是个谜。工资是一周 30 美元。我抱怨 薪水 太低，这对一个有学问的人 来说是侮辱，但母亲却不认同。 “ If you work hard at this job,” she said,“ maybe ou can make something o
13、f it.” “如果你努力做好这份工作，”她说，“说不定能够做出些名堂来。” After a while, I was given an assignment to cover diplomats at various African embassies. Then, seven years after I started, I was assigned by the Sun to cover the White House. Reporting from the Oval Office was as close to heaven as a journalist could get. I l
14、ooked forward to seeing the delight on my mothers face when I told her. Considering the onward and upward course she had set for me, I should have known better. 不久，我被委派去采访非洲各国驻美大使馆的外交官。工作七年后，太阳报派我去白宫采访。对于一个记者来说，能够从椭圆型办公室发回报道已经是达到职业的顶峰了。当我把这个消息告诉母亲时，我期待着从她的脸上看到喜悦。但要是我能够考虑到她为我设定的不断向前迈进、向上攀升的人生路线，我就不该有
15、这种期待了。 4 “ Well,Russ,” she said,“ if you work hard at this White House job,you might be able to make something of yourself.” “好，拉斯，” 她说：“要是你努力做好这份白宫的工作，你有可能会有所成就。” Her weak praise didnt correspond to my achievement. No matter what I did, any accomplishment of mine only seemed marginal in her eyes. T
16、his would often make me crazy. She would never congratulate me or make any concession that I was doing great things. There was always something negative to be said, even when I succeeded. 母亲并没有对我取得的成就予以充分肯定。无论我做什么，我取得的成就在她看来都是微不足道的。这往往会让我心烦。她从不向我道贺，从不承认我做得很棒。即使在我成功的时候，她也是说一些否定的话。 “ Even if you get t
17、o the top, you have to watch out.” She was always keen to point out,“ The bigger they come, the harder they fall.” “即使你到达了巅峰，你还得留神。”她总是尖刻地指出，“成就越大，摔下来也越重。” Uncle Edwins success was a sincere nuisance during my early years as a reporter. What a thrill, I thought, if I were to be hired by The Times th
18、us proving my worth to my mother once and for all. 在我刚刚成为记者的几年中，舅舅埃德温的成就常常萦绕在我脑中，挥之不去。我常想，要是纽约时报雇用我，该是件多么令人兴奋的事情啊，那样我就可以向母亲一劳永逸地证明我的价值了。 Then, out of my wildest childhood fantasy, The Times came knocking. It was sad that Uncle Edwin had departed by this time. Eventually, I would be offered one of th
19、e most prized assignments for which a reporter could possibly hope: a regular opinion piece in The New York Times. 后来，连孩提时代也没想过的是，纽约时报竟然自己来敲门了。可惜的是，当我去纽约时报工作时埃德 温舅舅已经离开了那里。最后，我终于被委任了一个记者能够梦想得到的最具荣誉性的工作：纽约时报的一个固定专栏的评论员。 5 It was proof that my mothers scheme to push me toward literature from an early
20、age had been absolutely right. 这证明了我母亲在我小时候制定的、鼓励我从事笔墨生涯的计划是完全正确的。 In 1979 I reached the summit of my professional career winning a major award, namely the Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, my mothers brain and overall health collapsed the year before leaving her in a nursing home, out of touch with li
21、fe forevermore. She never knew of my Pulitzer. 1979年，我达到了事业的顶峰，获得了一个重大奖 项普利策奖。不幸的是，在这前一年，我母亲的神志和健康状况都完全崩溃了，她住进了疗养院，从此与世隔绝。她从来不知道我的普利策奖。 I can probably guess how shed have responded. “ That s nice,buddy.It shows if you work hard,you ll be able to make something of yourself one of these days.” 我大概可以猜到她会做出怎样的反应。“不错，孩子。看来，要是你努力工 作，总有一天你会成为一个出色的人。”
