Photographer:Pixabay link: Pexels
"Mother," she said, looking down at the older woman who sat in the wheelchair. She ignored the other residents of the nursing home around them. "Mother, I know now. I understand."
"媽媽,"她看著輪椅上的老婦人說道,好像沒有察覺到周圍療養院的其他居民,"媽媽,我現在知道了,我懂了."
The older woman looked up and smiled at her. "Sonya, it's always so good to see you." she said.
老婦人抬起頭,笑著對她說："索尼婭,每次見到你,我都非常高興."
"Why didn't you tell me what you were doing?" asked Sonya. She dropped into a chair beside the wheelchair, so that she and her mother could be on the same level. "All these years, and you never told me."
"為什麼不早點兒告訴我您所做的一切呢?"索尼婭問道,她在輪椅旁邊的椅子上坐了下來,和媽媽並肩坐在一起,"這些年來,您從沒對我說過."
"I don't know what you're talking about," said the older woman. "How is your job going? Were you promoted, as you wanted to be?"
"我不知道你在說什麼,"老婦人說,"你的工作還好嗎?提拔到你追求的位置了嗎?"
"I don't want to talk about my job. I want to talk to you about what you've done to make me successful."
"我不想談工作.只想和您談談,為了我的成功,您做出了多大的犧牲!"
"I didn't do anything. You've done it all. All the education, all the hard work..."
"我什麼都沒做,都是你自己努力的結果,你學業有成,工作賣力……"
"No!" Sonya stood up again, unable to keep still. "You've been doing it all! When I was in high school and I said I needed help with the higher level math courses, because I couldn't figure any of it out, you said I shouldn't worry."
"不!"索尼婭騰地站起來,身子有些搖晃,"所有的一切都是您的付出!讀高中時,我說自己的高等數學需要幫助,因為我根本算不出來.您讓我不必擔心."
"You did fine." said her mother.
"你確實做得很好."她的媽媽說.
"Yes! Because you gave me your math ability! After that, you couldn't even balance your checkbook, remember?"
"是的!因為您把您的數學才能給了我!從那以後,您連自己的賬本都算不清楚了,您還記得嗎?"
She shrugged. "When people get older, they start to slow down."
她聳了聳肩："人一旦衰老,大腦就反應遲鈍了."
"You had a graduate degree in mathematics. You were a brilliant teacher. But after I started doing well in high school math, you lost all your abilities. Tell me it was a coincidence!"
"您有大學數學學位,是一名優秀的教師,但是,自從我高中數學有所起色後,您卻失去了所有的能力,告訴我,這難道是巧合嗎?"
"Darling, you're upset. Probably too much stress."
"親愛的,你太緊張了,可能是壓力太大了."
"No! No! I can't stand taking from you anymore! I never wanted to go to grad school for that MBA. I never had the ambition. But you did. You had more ambition than ten women! Until I needed it, and then - then suddenly I burned with the desire to prove myself and you - you gave up. That's when you started working at the supermarket."
"不!不是的!我不能再剝奪您的任何東西了!簡直令我無法忍受!我從來沒想過要去唸MBA,我沒有雄心大志.但是,您有,您的志氣比十個女人的還要大,直到我需要它,突然強烈地想要證明自己能力時,但是,您-您卻放棄了,開始在超市幹活兒."
"I wanted a lower stress job."
"我想要一份壓力小些的工作."
"I told you I was lonely but I thought I would never find anyone who would want to marry me, and then suddenly Bob turned into the most committed man I could ever imagine, and Dad suddenly lost interest in you and wandered off with that stupid woman across the street."
"我告訴您我很孤獨,覺得不會有人願意娶我.可是,突然,鮑勃成為我期待中的最適合託付終身的人.但是,爸爸突然對您失去了興趣,與街對面的蠢婦走到一起."
"Now surely you're not saying I'm responsible for your father's failings, are you?" asked her mother, smiling weakly.
"你不是在責備我對你父親的失職吧?"媽媽問道,虛弱地笑了.
Photographer: Judita Tamošiūnaitė link: Pexels
"I'm saying you gave up your own desirability, to give it to me! At tremendous cost to you! But that wasn't all, either, was it?"
"我是說您放棄了自己的希求,把它給了我!您付出了極大的代價!但這還不是全部,對嗎?"
"Sonya, you really shouldn't get yourself worked up this way. It can't be good for you."
"索尼婭,你真的不要這麼激動,這對你不好."
"And then," Sonya continued, ignoring the older woman, "when I needed that extra energy to do all the work I had to do in my first executive position, suddenly I had the energy I needed, and you could barely drag yourself out of bed in the morning!"
"然後,"索尼亞不顧老婦人的話,繼續說道,"當我第一次當上主管時,我需要更大的勇氣來應付所有的工作.突然,我擁有了自己需要的所有能量,可您卻連早上起床的力氣都沒有了!"
"I just wanted to see you succeed."
"我只是想看到你成功."
"Why?" Sonya dropped down on her knees in front of her mother's wheelchair, clutching her mother's frail hands. "Why did you do all this to yourself? Why? I'm not worth it, Mom! No success I've had in my life is worth what you've done to yourself, for me!"
"為什麼?"索尼婭在媽媽的輪椅前跪了下來,抓住母親虛弱的雙手,"您為什麼要這樣對自己?為什麼?我不值得您這麼做.媽,我生命中的任何一次成功都不值得您這樣做!"
"Oh," said her mother, stroking Sonya's hair, "you're wrong about that. Everything I did, everything I gave up, was worth it because of you, of what you've made of yourself."
"噢,"媽媽撫摸著她的頭說,"你這樣想就錯了.我所做的、所放棄的每一件事都是有價值的,因為你,因為你的成功而有了價值."
"Mom, Mom, please, I'm begging you, take it back. I don't want my success on these terms! I don't want to see you grow more and more frail, more and more helpless, just so that I can grow stronger and richer and more famous!"
"媽媽,我請求您,把放棄的拿回去吧,我不要自己的成功建立在您的犧牲之上!我不想看著您越來越虛弱,越來越無助,只是為了讓我更強壯,更富有,更出名!"
"What's holding you back now?" asked her mother. "Why didn't you get the promotion?"
"現在是什麼讓你退縮了?"媽媽問道,"為什麼你沒有得到提升?"
"I'm not going to tell you! Aren't you listening to me? I don't want you to do more to yourself for me!"
"我不想說這些!您在聽我說嗎?我不想讓您為我放棄更多!"
Her mother looked down at her for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Ah, yes, I see. I understand, dear. You're almost there, aren't you? You just need a little more, just a tad more strength, but it's all right. You're going to get it, don't worry."
媽媽低下頭來,久久地看著她,然後又點了點頭："啊,是的,我知道了,我懂了,親愛的,你很快就能晉升了,不是嗎?你只是需要再努力一點點,但是沒關係,你很快就會得到的,不要擔心."
Photographer:Ylanite Koppens link: Pexels
Sonya raised her head, horrified. "No, Mom! I told you, I don't want it! Don't - whatever you're going to do, don't do it!"
索尼婭抬起頭來,驚悸地說道："不,媽媽,我跟您說過,我不想要!不管您要做什麼,請不要再做了!"
Her mother's head snapped backwards, and her eyes rolled in her head. Sonya, horrified, clutched at her mother's wrist. The pulse was barely discernible. Sonya screamed, and the personnel at the nursing home rushed toward them.
媽媽的頭猛地往後一仰,眼珠直往上翻.索尼婭驚恐地抓住媽媽的手腕,脈搏幾乎感覺不到了.索尼婭尖叫著,護理員很快向她們跑來.
But before they arrived, her mother's eyes opened for a second, and for the last time, Sonya saw the intelligence she always remembered in her mother. "Have a daughter," her mother breathed. "Do it for her."
在他們到達之前,媽媽的眼睛睜開了一秒鐘,最後一次,索尼婭看到了媽媽眼裡閃爍的智慧之光,"生一個女兒,"媽媽喘息著,"為她活著."
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