My Most Unforgettable Character

我 最 难 忘 的 人 （3）

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。

[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 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.

[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 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.

[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。