Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’tact in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he’s very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.

 

　　有时候，我真的怀疑父母之间是否有真爱。

他们天天忙于赚钱，为我和弟弟支付学费。他们从未像我在书中读到，或在电视中看到的那样互诉衷肠。他们认为“我爱你”太奢侈，很难说出口。更不用说在情人节送花这样的事了。我父亲的脾气非常坏。经过一天的劳累之后，他经常会发脾气。

 

　　One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.

 

　　“Mom, I have a question to ask you,” I said after a while.

 

　　“What?” she replied, still doing her work.

 

　　“Is there love between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice.

 

　　一天，母亲正在缝被子，我静静地坐在她旁边看着她。

 

　　过了一会，我说：“妈妈，我想问你一个问题。”

 

　　“什么问题？”她一边继续缝着，一边回答道。

 

　　我低声地问道：“你和爸爸之间有没有爱情啊？”

 

　　My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.

 

　　I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I didn’t know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:

 

　　母亲突然停下了手中的活，满眼诧异地抬起头。她没有立即作答。然后低下头，继续缝被子。

 

　　我担心伤害了她。我非常尴尬，不知道该怎么办。不过，后来我听见母亲说：

 

　　“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it’s really there. Love is inside.”

 

　　“苏珊，看看这些线。有时候，你能看得见，但是大多数都隐藏在被子里。这些线使被子坚固耐用。如果生活就像一床被子，那么爱就是其中的线。你不可能随时随地看到它，但是它却实实在在地存在着。爱是内在的。”

 

　　I listened carefully but I couldn’t understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness.

 

　　我仔细地听着，却无法明白她的话，直到来年的春天。那时候，我父亲得了重病。母亲在医院里待了一个月。当他们从医院回来的时候，都显得非常苍白。就像他们都得了一场重病一样。

 

　　After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. It seemed they were the most harmonious couple. Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, GREen grass and trees. The sun gently glistened through the leaves. All of these made up the most beautiful picture in the world.

 

　　他们回来之后，每天的清晨或黄昏，母亲都会搀扶着父亲在乡村的小路上漫步。父亲从未如此温和过。他们就像是天作之合。在小路旁边，有许多美丽的野花、绿草和树木。阳光穿过树叶的缝隙，温柔地照射在地面上。这一切形成了一幅世间最美好的画面。

 

　　the doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn’t walk by himself. All of us were worried about him.

 

　　医生说父亲将在两个月后康复。但是两个月之后，他仍然无法独立行走。我们都很为他担心。

 

　　“Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.

 

　　有一天，我问他：“爸爸，你感觉怎么样？”

 

　　“Susan, don’t worry about me.” he said gently. “To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life.” Reading his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.

 

　　他温和地说：“苏珊，不用为我担心。跟你说吧，我喜欢与你妈妈一块散步的感觉。我喜欢这种生活。”从他的眼神里，我看得出他对母亲的爱之深刻。

 

　　Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm..

 

　　我曾经认为爱情就是鲜花、礼物和甜蜜的亲吻。但是从那一刻起，我明白了，爱情就像是生活中被子里的一根线。爱情就在里面，使生活变得坚固而温暖。

 

 

 

 

　Twenty minutes later, all that changed. Grandmother walked by the bathroom and noticed a torrent of water streaming out from under the door.

 

　　She shrieked twice—first in astonishment, then in rage. She flung open the bathroom door and saw that the sink and tub were plugged up and that the faucets were going at full blast.

 

　　Everyone knew who the culprit was. The guests quickly formed a protective barricade around me, but Grandmother was so furious that she almost got to me anyway, flailing her arms as if trying to swim over the crowd.

 

　　Several strong men eventually moved her away and calmed her down, although she sputtered and fumed for quite a while.

 

　　My grandfather took me by the hand and sat me on his lap in a chair near the window. He was a kind and gentle man, full of wisdom and patience. Rarely did he raise his voice to anyone, and never did he argue with his wife or defy her wishes.

 

　　He looked at me with much curiosity, not at all angry or upset. "Tell me," he asked, "why did you do it?"

 

　　　"Well, she yelled at me for nothing," I said earnestly. "Now she''s got something to yell about."

 

　　Grandfather didn''t speak right away. He just sat there, looking at me and smiling.

 

　　"Eric," he said at last, "you are my revenge."

 

　　可二十分钟之后，一切全都变了。当祖母从洗手间走过的时候，她发现有股水流从门缝里涌出来。

 

　　她先是惊异地叫了一声，很快又愤怒地尖叫起来。她猛力地撞开洗手间的门，发现洗手盆和浴缸都被塞子塞住了，水龙头被拧到最大，水正哗啦啦地直流。

 

　　每个人都知道是谁搞的鬼，客人们马上在我周围形成了一堵人墙保护我。愤怒的祖母使劲地挥舞着双手，样子就像在人堆里游泳一样。好几次她差点够着我。

 

　　最后几个魁梧的男人才把祖母制住，把她拉开让她冷静下来，但她还是气急败坏地嚷了好一阵子。

 

　　祖父这时走了过来，牵着我的手到靠窗的一张椅子上坐下，还把我抱到他的膝盖上坐。祖父的性格好，脾气也特别好。他很少提高嗓门和别人说话，也从来没有和祖母吵架，也从来没有违背过祖母的意愿。

 

　　他很好奇地打量着我，没有半点生气或烦恼的样子，“告诉我，”他说，“你为什么要这样做呢？”

 

　　“是这样的，她先无缘无故地骂了我一顿，”我认真地说，“这回她骂我就有理由了！”

 

　　祖父没有马上说话，他只是坐在那儿，笑眯眯地看着我。

 

　　最后他终于开口说：“艾里克，我的乖孙子，你总算替爷爷出了口气！”

　At one point during the party, I made my way to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. A minute or two later, the little girl opened the bathroom door and grandly walked in. I was still sitting down.

 

　　"Don''t you know that little girls aren''t supposed to come into the bathroom when a little boy is using it!?" I hollered.

 

　　the surprise of my being there, along with the indignation I had heaped upon her, stunned the little girl. Then she started to cry. She quickly closed the door, ran to the kitchen, and tearfully complained to her parents and my grandmother.

 

　　Most of the partygoers had overheard my loud remark and were GREatly amused by it. But not Grandmother.

 

　　She was waiting for me when I left the bathroom. I received the longest, sharpest tongue-lashing of my young life. Grandmother yelled that I was impolite and rude and that I had insulted that nice little girl. The guests watched and winced in absolute silence. So forceful was my grandmother''s personality that no one dared stand up for me.

 

　　After her harangue was over and I had been dismissed, the party continued, but the atmosphere was much more subdued.

 

　　晚会进行中，我走进了洗手间并随手把门关上。大概一两分钟后，我当时还坐在马桶上，那个小女孩推开洗手间的门，大模大样地走了进来。

 

　　“难道你不知道当一个男孩在使用洗手间的时候女孩子是不可以进来的吗！？”我生气地嚷着说。

 

　　听到我生气的吼声，她一下子惊呆了，然后“哇”的一声哭了起来。她飞快地关上门向厨房跑去，边哭边向她的父母和我的祖母告状。

 

　　大多数的客人其实都听到了我的怒骂声，他们都被逗乐了，可祖母一点都没笑。

 

　　当我从洗手间出来，祖母劈头盖脸地把我骂了一通，骂我没礼貌、少教养、冲撞了那可爱的小女孩。客人们都在静静地看着，我的祖母实在太霸道了，根本没有人敢为我说话。

 

　　等她骂完叫我滚开之后，晚会继续进行，但气氛已经大大减弱。

  My grandmother was an iron-willed woman, the feared matriarch of our New York family back in the 1950s.

 

　　When I was five years old, she invited some friends and relatives to her Bronx apartment for a party. Among the guests was a neighborhood big shot who was doing well in business. His wife was proud of their social status and let everyone at the party know it. They had a little girl about my age who was spoiled and very much used to getting her own way.

 

　　Grandmother spent a lot of time with the big shot and his family. She considered them the most important members of her social circle and worked hard at currying their favor.

 

　　20世纪50年代我们家住在纽约，当时祖母是一家之主，也是一个令人敬畏的强悍女人。

 

　　我5岁那年，她邀请了一些亲戚朋友到布朗克斯的公寓里聚会。在客人中有个做生意发了财的大款，他的妻子神气地向大家炫耀他们家的社会地位。他们有个娇气的小女儿，年纪跟我差不多，脾气很蛮横。

 

　　祖母殷勤地伺候着那个大款和他的家人，她把他们看作是她的社交圈里最重要的人物，因此她不遗余力地逢迎他们。

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