异类之不一样的成功启示录 第192期:百年奖学金

 　　"If you had asked her about her goals for her children, she would have said she wanted us out of there," my mother recalls. 我的母亲回忆说：“如果你问她对女儿们的期望，她会说她希望我们离开这里，

　　"She didn't feel that Jamaican context offered enough.  And if the opportunity was there to go on, and you were able to take it, then to her the sky was a limit." 她认为牙买加环境并不好。机会稍纵即逝，你必须好好把握，对她来说，她的理想似乎无限大。”

　　When the results came back from the scholarship exam, only my aunt won. My mother did not.  奖学金考试的结果出来了，只有我的姨妈得到了那个机会，我的母亲没有通过。

　　That's another fact that my first history was careless about. 这是另一个我忽略了的历史。

　　My mother remembers her parents standing¹ in the doorway², talking to each other. "We have no more money." 我的母亲回忆，当时她的父母站在门口说：“我们没有钱了。”

　　They had paid the tuition for the first term, and bought the uniforms and exhausted³ their savings⁴. 他们已经支付了第一学期的学费，还为女儿买了校服，这花光了他们的积蓄，

　　What could they do when the second-term fees for my mother came due? 如果到应该为我母亲付第二学期的学费时他们该怎么办？

　　But then again, they couldn't send one daughter and not the other.  但从另外一方面说，他们又不能只送一个女儿去学习。

　　My grandmother was steadfast⁵. She sent both and prayed. 我的祖母非常坚定，她把两个都送了去——她祈祷——

　　At the end of the first term, it turned out that one of the other girls at the school had won two scholarships, the second was given to my mother. 在第一学期末，其中一个女儿能在学校取得了两个奖学金，最后这真的成了事实，所以第二个奖学金便送给了我的母亲。

　　When it came time to go to university, my aunt, the academic twin, won what was called a Centenary Scholarship. 当到了上大学的时候，我的姨妈——我母亲的孪生姐妹，取得了学校的“百年奖学金”。

　　The "Centenary" was a reference to the fact that the scholarship was established one hundred years after the abolition⁶ of slavery in Jamaica. 这个奖学金是在牙买加废除奴隶制度100年时建立的，专门为师范学校学生设立，

　　It was reserved for the graduates of public elementary schools, and, in a measure of how deeply the British felt about honoring the memory of abolition,  同时也是英国人对废除奴隶制度的深刻纪念。

　　there was a total of one Centenary scholarship awarded every year for the whole island, with the prize going to the top girl and the top boy in alternating years. 在全英国，每年被授予“百年奖学金”的只有一个人，交替发给全国最优秀的男生和女生。

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

3 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

4 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

5 steadfast   

adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的

参考例句：

• Her steadfast belief never left her for one moment.她坚定的信仰从未动摇过。
• He succeeded in his studies by dint of steadfast application.由于坚持不懈的努力他获得了学业上的成功。

6 abolition   

n.废除，取消

参考例句：

• They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
• The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。