大学英语精读第三版（第三册）学习笔记（原文及全文翻译）——5B - The Day I Met My Mother（我遇见母亲的那天）

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Unit 5B - The Day I Met My Mother

The Day I Met My Mother

Faith L. Mahaney

Mine was, at times, a lonely childhood. Born in Chungking, China, of missionary parents, I lost my mother at birth. I was two months old when my father sent me to Mother's favorite sister in Morgantown, West Virginia. There I grew up in the house where Mother had spent her girlhood.

When Aunt Ruth was at home, I was surrounded by love. But she was our sole breadwinner and worked in an office six days a week. Left with a procession of hired girls, I felt the loneliness of the big, old house.

In the evenings, before Aunt Ruth came home, I often sat on the floor beneath a picture of my mother—a sweet-faced young woman of 20, with dark eyes and black curly hair. Sometimes I talked to the picture, but I could never bear to look at it when I'd been naughty. There was one question always in my mind: What was my mother like? If only I could have known her!

Twenty years passed. I had grown up, married and had a baby, named Lucy for her grandmother—the mother I'd so longed to know.

One spring morning, 18-month-old Lucy and I boarded a train for Morgantown to visit Aunt Ruth. A woman offered me half her seat in the crowded car. I thanked her and busied myself with Lucy, while the woman turned her attention to the landscape speeding by.

After settling my baby in my arms for a nap, I started to talk with the woman. She said she was going to Morgantown to see her daughter and brand–new grandson. “Surely you know my aunt, Ruth Wood,” I said. “She's had a real-estate office in Morgantown for years.”

“No,” she answered. “I've been away a long time, and that name is not familiar to me.”

For several minutes, the woman looked out the window. Then, without turning her head, she began to speak.

“There was a Miss Lucy Wood, a teacher, in Morgantown years ago. She probably left there before you were born. You said the name Wood, and, suddenly, I can't stop thinking about her. I haven't thought of her for years, but once I loved her very much. She was my teacher. My parents owned a bakery on Watts Street. They were on the verge of divorce. They fought and quarreled all the time. I had to work very hard at home and in the bakery, too.

“I loved school, though I didn't make good grades. Miss Wood's room was a happy place; it seemed like heaven to me. One day, after my folks had a big fight at breakfast, I came to school late, holding back the tears. Miss Wood kept me after school. I thought she would scold me but, instead, she let me tell her my troubles. She made me feel how much my brothers and sisters, and even my parents, needed me and from that day on, my life was worth living.

“A few months later, I heard a little girl say: ‘Miss Wood's going to marry a missionary and go live in China!' I went home crying. My parents stopped in the middle of a fight to ask me what was wrong, but they could not know how great a light was going out in my life. I couldn't sleep that night.

“The next day, Miss Wood again kept me after school to see what was wrong.

“When I told her, she looked surprised and tender. ‘Please don't go way off to China!' I begged.

“‘Viola,' she answered, ‘I can't give up China. I'm going where my heart calls me, with the man I love. But I'll think of you often, and I'll send you a postcard.'

“I'd never had any mail of my own, so that made me feel better. When I told my mother, she shook her head, saying, ‘Don't feel too bad, Viola, if she forgets; she'll have so many folks to write to.'

“Two months later, I got a postcard with a picture of the Yangtze River, postmarked Chungking, China. ‘Are you still making me proud of you, my little brave one?' it asked. If anyone had given me a million dollars, it couldn't have made me more proud.

Right after that, my parents broke up and we moved away from Morgantown. I raised my five brothers and sisters, married, and raised four children of my own.

“Goodness, we are almost there! I've talked too much. I do hope I haven't bored you.”

Then, for the first time, she turned to me and saw the tears in my eyes.

“Would you like to see Lucy Wood's granddaughter?” I asked. My baby was waking from her nap. My heart was singing. The burning question of my childhood had been richly answered. At long last, I knew exactly what my mother had been like.

参考译文——我遇见母亲的那天

我遇见母亲的那天

费思·L·马哈尼

我的童年常常充满孤寂。我出生在中国重庆，父母是传教士，母亲生下我便去世了。父亲把我送到西弗吉尼亚州摩根敦我母亲最喜欢的姐妹那儿时，我才两个月大。在那儿，我在母亲曾度过她少女时代的屋子里长大。

只要鲁思姨妈在家，我总是生活在爱的怀抱之中。可她是唯一养家活口的人，每周六天去办公室上班。我便由一个又一个先后雇来的女孩照料着，呆在那座古老的大宅里，感到十分寂寞。

每当黄昏，鲁思姨妈还没回家的时候，我常常坐在地板上，我母亲的一幅画像下面—一个面容可爱的20岁的年轻女子，有着黑眼睛和卷曲的黑头发。有时我对着画像说话，可淘气的时候，我从不敢正视画像。我脑子里老想着一个问题：我母亲是怎样一个人呢？我要是对她有所了解该多好啊！

20年过去了。我长大了，成了家，还有了一个孩子，叫露西，取这名字是为了纪念她的外祖母—我一直渴望着能有所了解的母亲。

一个春天的上午，我和才18个月大的露西坐火车去摩根敦看望鲁思姨妈。在拥挤的车厢里，一位妇人把她的一半座位让给我坐，我向她道了谢，便忙着照料露西，那妇人则转过头去看着窗外一闪而过的风景。

让孩子躺在我怀里睡着后，我开始跟那妇人交谈。她说她去摩根敦看女儿和刚出生的外孙。“你一定认识我的姨妈鲁思·伍德，”我说。“她在摩根敦经营一家房地产公司有好多年了。”

“不认识，”她回答说。“我离家很久了，不熟悉那个名字。”

那妇人向车窗外看了几分钟。接着，她开始说话了，头还是没转过来。

“许多年前，摩根敦有个露西·伍德小姐，是个教师。可能你还没出生她就离开那儿了。你说起了伍德这个姓，我不由得一下子就想起了她。我有好多年没想起过她了，可是，我曾经非常热爱她。她是我的老师。我父母在沃茨街上开面包店。他们闹得快要离婚了。两人整天又打又吵的。我也只好家里、店里两边忙着照应。

“我喜欢上学，虽然功课不怎么样。伍德小姐的教室是个快乐的地方，在我看来就像天堂一样。有一天，我爸妈早餐时大吵一场，我上学都迟到了，还眼泪汪汪的。伍德小姐放学后让我留下来。我以为她要批评我，可相反，她却让我把不高兴的事说给她听。她让我明白，我的弟弟妹妹们，甚至我的父母，是多么的需要我—从那天起，我的生活就变得有意义了。

“几个月之后，我听见一个小女孩说：‘伍德小姐要嫁给一个传教士了，还要到中国去住呢！'我哭着回到了家。正在吵架的父母停下来问我出了什么事，可他们没法理解，我的生活中将要失去多大一片光明。那一夜我没睡着。

“第二天，伍德小姐又让我放学后留下来，问我出了什么事。

“我告诉了她，她露出既吃惊又亲切的神色。‘请不要到老远的中国去！'我恳求说。

“‘维奥拉，'她回答说，‘我不能改变去中国的主意。我要到我心灵呼唤我的地方去，跟我所爱的人一起去。可我会经常想你的，我会寄一张明信片给你。'

我还从来没有收到过写给我的任何信件，所以她的话让我感到好受了些。我把这事告诉母亲，她摇着头说：‘要是她忘了寄的话，维奥拉，不要太难受；她要给好多人写信'

“两个月之后，我收到了一张印着长江图案的明信片，邮戳是中国重庆。‘你是不是依然让我为你感到骄傲，我勇敢的小姑娘？'上面这么写着。当时即使有人给我一百万元，也不会使我感到更值得夸耀的了。

“那以后不久，我父母分了手，我们搬离了摩根敦。我带大了五个弟妹，结了婚，又带大了自己的四个孩子。

“天哪，我们就要到了！我讲得太多了。我真的希望没让你觉得厌烦。”

直到那时，她才第一次转过头来，看到了我的满眶眼泪。

“您愿意看看露西·伍德的外孙女吗？”我问。我的孩子正好醒来。我的心在欢唱。我自幼就渴望弄清楚的问题，如今已有了完美的答案了。我终于了解到我母亲是怎样一个人了。

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