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My Most Unforgettable Character
我 最 难 忘 的 人
She challenged us to succeed--and then showed us the way.
她激励我们要有所建树：并一直为我们指点迷津。
[1]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.
[2] 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 physicist1.) "It's remarkable," the dean said. Everyone cheered loudly.
[3] 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 mentor2 . Not until I became an adult did I realize how special she was.
[4] Delight in Devotion. My mother was born in a small town in northern Italy. She was three when her parents immigrated3 to this country in 1926. They lived on Chicago's South Side, where my grandfather worked making ice cream.
[5] Mama thrived in the hectic4 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.
[1]1976年6月，我毕业于芝加哥的西北大学医学院。在毕业典礼那天，当叫到我名字时，我迅速起身穿过前台去领学位证书。但在医学院院长把证书发给我之前，他先让我的母亲安娜和父亲卡罗·米歇洛蒂站起来。他们惊奇地从观众席座位上站起身，四目对视，似乎有些困惑。
[2]院长告诉台下的观众，我的父母是意大利移民，来自芝加哥郊外的一个农场，他们已设法把自己的六个孩子都送进了最好的大学和研究生院。(我们之中的三个将成为医生，两个已经做了律师，还有一个是物理学家。)“这很了不起啊!”院长说完，台下一片欢呼。
[3]妈妈脸上泛出自豪的光芒。我知道我们所取得的和将要取得的一切都要归功于我的父母。在我们小的时候，尤其是母亲，成了我们的启蒙老师。直到我长大后才认识到母亲是多么不平凡。
[4]乐于奉献 母亲出生于意大利北部的一个小镇。1926年她3岁时随父母移民到了美国。她家住在芝加哥南区，当时外祖父在那儿做冰淇淋买卖。
[5]母亲就在这样喧嚣的都市环境中成长起来。她16岁中学毕业，毕业成绩是全班最高的，后来上了秘书学校，最后在一家铁路公司担任行政秘书。
[6] She was beautiful too. When a local photographer used her pictures in his monthly window display, she was flattered. Her favorite portrait showed her sitting by Lake Michigan, her hair windblown, her gaze reaching toward the horizon. My mother always used to say that when you died, God gave you back your "best self". She'd show us that picture and say, "This is what I'm going to look like in heaven."
[7] My parents were married in 1944. Dad was a quiet and intelligent man who was 17 when he left Italy. Soon after, a hit-and-run accident left him with a permanent limp. Dad worked hard selling candy to Chicago office workers on their break. He had little formal schooling5. His English was self-taught. Yet he eventually built a small, successful wholesale6 candy business. Dad was generous, handsome and deeply religious. Mama was devoted7 to him.
[8] After she married, my mother quit her job and gave herself to her family. In 1950, with three children, Dad moved the family to a farm 40 miles from Chicago. He worked the land and commuted8 to the city to run his business. Mama said good-by to her parents and friends and traded her busy city neighborhood for a more isolated9 life. But she never complained. By 1958, our modest white farmhouse10 was filled with six children, and Mama was delighted.
[9] "Think Big". My mother never studied books on parenting. Yet she knew how to raise children. She heightened our self-esteem and helped us reach our potential.
[10] One fall day, I sat at the kitchen table while Mama peeled potatoes. She spied Dad out the window on his tractor and smiled. "Your father has accomplished11 so much, ' she said proudly. "He really is somebody."
[6]母亲长得也很美。那时当地有位摄影师把她的照片放在一月一换的橱窗里展览，她心里美滋滋的。母亲最心爱的照片是她坐在密歇根湖畔照的，照片上，她的头发被风吹起，眼睛眺望着远方。母亲总说，一个人死后，上帝会归还他“他最美好的形象”。她会给我们看这张照片并说；“这就是日后我在天堂里的样子。”
[7]我的父母是在1944年结婚的。父亲话不多，人很聪明，17岁离开意大利。此后不久，发生了一起车祸，肇事者逃了，却使父亲只能终身跛行了。他工作勤奋，向工间休息的芝加哥办公楼的工作人员兜售糖果。父亲没受过什么正规教育，他的英语是自学的。然而最终他开起了一家小型的糖果批发店，生意很红火。爸爸为人慷慨，相貌英俊，还是一个虔诚的教徒。妈妈深深地爱着他。
[8]婚后，母亲辞去工作，一心照顾家庭。1950年，爸爸带着 3个孩子把家搬到了离芝加哥40英里的一家农场。他一面在农场干活，一面往返芝加哥做他的糖果批发生意。妈妈也告别了父母和朋友及快节奏的城市生活，过起了离群索居的日子。但她从无怨言。到1958年，我们这座简朴的农场白色小屋里有了六个孩子，妈妈非常高兴。
[9]“胸怀大志” 母亲从没看过生儿育女方面的书籍，然而她懂得该如何教育子女。她激发我们的自尊心，并帮助我们发挥自己的潜能。 [10]秋季的一天，我坐在厨房桌子旁边，母亲在削土豆皮。她透过窗子看到父亲坐在拖拉机上，笑了。“你爸爸已卓有成就了，”她自豪地说。“他真是个了不起的人!”
[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.
[12] She read to us every day and used homemade flash cards to teach us phonics. She bolstered12 our confidence, praising even our most ordinary accomplishments13. When I was ten, I painted a stack of wooden crates14 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.
[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.
[14] From the very beginning, she urged us to think big. One day, after visiting our grandparents on the South Side, she made Dad detour15 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.
[15] Her confidence in us was infectious. When my sister Carla was 12, she announced she was going to be a lawyer.
[11]母亲也希望我们每个人将来都有所作为。她总是说：“对你们的要求就是将来要大有作为。而我则是帮你们去实现。”
[12]她每天给我们读书，还用自制的卡片教我们学语音。她激励我们，对我们做成的一般小事也要赞扬一番。在10岁那年，我把一些板条木箱漆成白色，然后把它们订成了一个摇摇晃晃的书柜。“棒极了!”母亲赞叹道。“我们正好用得着。”这书柜她一用就是好多年。
[13]在我们家餐厅里挂着两张按数字涂颜色的画，那是姐姐格罗丽亚和哥哥利欧小时候的作品。几年前，利欧说这两张画不怎么样，主动要取下来。可妈妈反对。她说：“画挂在那里可以让你们记得，你们自打小时候就有多能干了!”
[14]从一开始，母亲就教导我们要胸怀大志。一天，在看望了住在芝加哥南区的外祖父母后，母亲要爸爸绕道带我们经过普鲁登希尔大厦的施工场地。妈妈说，这座41层高的大厦建成后将是芝加哥市最高的。“也许将来有一天你们中有个人也能设计出这样的高楼呢。”她如是说。
[15]她对我们的信心使我们深受感染。当姐姐卡拉12岁时，便雄心勃勃地宣布她将来要当律师。
[16] You can do that," Mama said. You can do anything you put your mind to."
[17] Tour Guide. To Mama, education was a key part of her blueprint16 for success. Four of us went to a nearby, one-room schoolhouse. My mother made up for its shortcomings by getting us educational toys, talking to us about history, politics and current events, and helping17 with home-work . The best part of getting a good report card was her unstinting praise.
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1
physicist
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| n.物理学家，研究物理学的人 | |
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mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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3
immigrated
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| v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民 | |
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4
hectic
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| adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的 | |
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schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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commuted
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| 通勤( commute的过去式和过去分词 )； 减（刑）； 代偿 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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12
bolstered
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| v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助 | |
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13
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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14
crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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15
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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16
blueprint
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| n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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