Wendy Hobday Haugh

景一選譯

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.

——Charles Dickens在這個世界上能減輕別人負擔的人，都是有用的人。

——查理·狄更斯

As a child，1Was pretty lazy when it came to “doing”for my familv.1 worked hard atschool， did tons of homework， practiced for piano lessons. and sometimes looked after myyounger sister. Still.I found myself regularly resistingi the urge 2 to help out at home witheven the simplest things.

當我還是個孩子的時候，在為家人“做事”這件事上，我是相當懶惰的。我在學校努力學習，做一大堆家庭作業(yè)，上鋼琴課，有時還照顧我妹妹。盡管如此，我還是發(fā)現(xiàn)自己經(jīng)常抗拒在家?guī)兔ψ鍪碌臎_動，哪怕做的是最簡單的事情。

If mv mother or father asked me to do something，1 would do it：not a problem. But thefact that I alwavs needed to be asked or told to do things-things I could plainly3 see neededdoing-undoubtedly bugged 4 my parents. What Mom and Dad didn't realize， though， was thatby age ten mv resistance5 to chipping in6 even bugged me！

如果我媽媽或爸爸讓我做什么事情，我會去做——這沒問題。但事實上，我總是要被人要求或吩咐去做一些事情——那是些顯而易見需要我做的事情——這無疑困擾著我的父母。然而，爸爸媽媽沒有意識到的是，在10歲前，我對他人插手的抗拒甚至讓我心煩！

For a long time，1 wasn't bothered7 enough to actuallv do anvthing about it.But mvguilty consciences-knoWing I could and should do more for my families. and not justWhenasked-led me to feel pretty bad about myself.

很長一段時間以來，我都沒有煩惱到要真的去做點什么。但是我的內疚感——我知道我可以而且應該為我的家人做更多的事，而不僅僅只是在被要求做的時候去做——讓我覺得自己很差勁。

Every Wednesday afternoon， for example， my mother drove me to another town for apiano lesson. During my lesson， she'd rush to the nearby store and buy a week's worth ofgroceries. Given the fact that mv mom had just driven me twelve miles there. twelve milesback， paid for mV lesson. and boughr me a candy bar， you'd think I'd be grateful andgracious9 enough to help her bring the groceries into the house without being asked. But Iwasn't.

比如每個星期三的下午，我媽媽開車送我去另一個鎮(zhèn)上鋼琴課。在我上課期間，她會跑到附近的商店買一周分量的雜貨。考慮到我媽媽剛剛開車12英里送我到那兒，又開車12英里把我送回來，為我付學費，給我買了一塊糖果，你會認為我會很感激，會在未被要求的情況下很有禮貌地幫助她把雜貨拿進屋里。但是我沒有這樣做。

I knew I should help her. But with homework weighing heavily on my mind-and with“me”still the center of my uruverse-lgenerally just brought in an armload and left the restfor Mom as I ran to my room， shut the door. and started studying.

我知道我應該幫助她。但是，由于家庭作業(yè)沉重地壓在我的心頭，而且“我”仍然是我世界的中心，我通常只抱著一堆東西進屋，把剩下的留給媽媽，然后我跑進房間，關上門，開始學習。

Don' t get me wrong： being conscientious 10 about school is a good thing， and I know myparents appreciated my hard work and good grades. But che thing is， even holed up in myroom I still felt guiity about not helping my mother morce.Sure I had workto do ——but shed worked all day，too！And after hauling 11 in thouse bags，and putting the food away， Momstill had to prepare for a tastydinner for the five of us. Smallwonder I felt guilty.

別誤會我的意思：認真對待學習是件好事，我知道我的父母很欣賞我的勤奮和好成績。但問題是，即使躲在我的房間里，我仍然為沒有多幫幫媽媽而感到內疚。當然，我有事兒要做，但她也忙了一整天！在把那些袋子搬進來，把食物放好之后，媽媽還得為我們五個人準備一頓美味的晚餐。難怪我感到內疚。

A similar situation occurred on summer weekends as my family headed north to our lakesi（lecamp.Each of us kids was expected to pack our own basket of clothes and toys，carry it to thecar and，later，bring it inside the camp.But besides our individual baskets，that station WagOn12was always jam—packed with camp gear and bags of food.0nce again—if asked—I'd help carryin everything else.But if left to my own deviCeS13，1 was much more apt14 to dUmp15 my basketinside，then head outdool's to play in the woods.

在夏天的周末，當我家前往北方湖邊露營地的時候，也發(fā)生了類似的情況。我們每個孩子都要自己打包自己的那籃衣服和玩具，把它搬到車上，然后帶到營地里。但除了我們各自的籃子外，旅行車里總是塞滿了露營裝備和食品袋。再一次——如果有人要求的話——我會幫忙把其他的東西搬進來。但如果任由我自己決定，我更傾向于把籃子扔在里面，然后去森林里玩。

Exploring is a good thing，sure，and it turned me into a lifelong naturalist.But my“nothelping”was gradually becoming a bigger and bigger problem for me because in my heart andmy head I knew l was Skirting16 responsibilty—not to mention，it obviously made my parentsCranky17 to have to continually ask for my help.

探索是一件好事，當然，它讓我一輩子都是個博物學家。但我的“不幫忙”正逐漸成為一個越來越大的問題，因為在我的內心和腦中，我知道我在逃避責任——更不用說，不斷地向我求助顯然讓我的父母變得暴躁。

Deep down I wanted to change my ways. But I also realized thatonce I did change， there'd be no going back. Once I took on moreresponsibilities， my parents would start expecting more of me. At age ten，I sensed that this one small change would mark the start of something farbigger： my personal transition from a cared一for，semi—spoiled child to a more matUre18.responsible，caring and giving young person.

在內心深處我想改變我的作風。但我也意識到一旦我改變了，就再也變不回去了。一旦我承擔了更多的責任，我的父母就會對我有更多的期望。十歲的時候，我感覺到這一個小小的變化將標志著一個更重要的開始：我將從一個被人照顧、幾乎被寵壞的孩子轉變成一個更成熟，更有責任感、愛心和奉獻精神的年輕人。

I'll never forget the Wednesdav I made a conscious19 decision to jump in and see whathappened. Returning home from my lesson.I disappeared into my room. as usual. But onceinside.I felt that deep and burning shame. Dumping my schoolbooks on the bed，I opened mydoor and headed back to the garage to help my mother.

我永遠不會忘記有個星期三我做了一個清醒的決定，迫不及待地看看會發(fā)生什么。上完課回家后，我像往常一樣消失在房間里。但一進房間，我就感到深深的羞愧。我把課本扔到床上后，打開門，回到車庫去幫媽媽。

I'm sure Mom thanked me that day. but her thanks are not what I remember. What Iremember most is the incredible sense of peace and satisfaction Ifelt after helping her.Working hard at school alWays made me feelgood. But what surprised me that day was howhappy I felt just helping my mom-all on my own.

我肯定那天媽媽感謝了我，但我牢記的不是她的感謝。我印象最深的是我在幫助她之后感受到的不可思議的平靜和滿足感。在學校努力學習總是讓我感覺很好。但是那天讓我吃驚的是，我很高興幫助了媽媽——完全是我自發(fā)地。

At the time，I imagine Mom wondered. "Is this a one-time deal or will Wendy help meagain next week'？”

我想，當時媽媽在想：“這是僅此一次還是說溫迪下周會再幫我？”

Unknown to her， I'd already made a serious decision to join in and help every singleWednesday-and from that day on， I did. It was such a small action. Yet whata nice little difference it made in my mom's life！ And what a hugedifference it made in mine. The selfishnessand guilt I'd struggled with for solong suddenlv vanished20 replacedby a warm glow of pride

她不知道的是，我已經(jīng)鄭重決定要在每個星期三參與幫助——從那天起，我做到了。這只是件小事。但這對我媽媽的生活有多么大的影響?。《o我的生活帶來了巨大的改變。令我掙扎了許久的自私和內疚感突然消失了，取而代之的是一種溫暖的自豪感。

As for those summer camps to the lake，ditt0 21 1 Instead of just carrylng my own stuff，Ibegan retuming to the car for more loads—even when my father wasln a really grOUChy22“l(fā)ong week at work”mood.The first time I did it，Dad probablyWondered the same thing asMom.“Is this a one—time deal？”

至于那些夏天去湖邊的露營，也一樣！我不再只是拿自己的東西了，而是開始回到車里去拿更多的東西——甚至在我父親一周工作后心情非常不好的時候。我第一次這么做的時候，爸爸可能和媽媽想的一樣：“這是僅此一次嗎？”

But over time，I showed mv SinCerity23 by continuing to help out with the loading andunloading.The great thing was.the more I helped out，the better I feh about myself and myplace within my family.As Mom and Dad realized they could count on me more，our tripshecame far less stressfhl.too.In short ，it Was a win—win situation fbr evervone.

但隨著時間的推移，我繼續(xù)幫忙裝卸，顯示了我的誠意。最妙的是，我越是幫忙，自我感覺就越好，我在家庭中的地位也越高。當爸爸媽媽意識到他們可以更多地依靠我時，我們的旅行壓力也大大減輕了。簡言之，這對每個人來說都是一個雙贏的局面。

Some“mes山e little things we put off doing the longest turn out to be the simplest thingsto do.Helping out more——and offering to help rather than waitting to be asked——made myparents and me a lot happier.And feeling happy trumpS 24 feeling guilty any day.

有時候，被我們拖得最久的小事，卻變成了最容易做的事情。予以更多的幫助——主動提供幫助而不是等待別人的請求——讓我和我的父母更加快樂。不論怎樣，快樂勝過內疚。

（英語原文選自：chickensoup.com）

[Note]

1.resist[r??z?st] v.抗拒;忍耐

2.urge [??d?] n.強烈欲望

3.plainly[?ple?nl?] adv.顯而易見地

4hug[h?ɡ] n煩擾

5.resistance [r??z?st?ns] n.阻力;抵抗

6.chip in插嘴

7.bothered [?b???d] adj.煩的;感到討厭的 8.conscience[?k?n? ns] n.道德心，良心

9.gracious [?ɡre???s]adj.親切的;有禮貌的

10. conscientious [?k?n???en??s] adj.認真的

II. haul [h??l] v.拖，拉

12. wagon['w?ɡ?n]n.貨車

13. device [d??va?s] n.裝置;設備

14. apt[?pt] adj.有……傾向的

15. dump [d?mp] n丟下;猛地放下

16. skirt [sk??t]v.繞過，回避

17. cranky [?kr??k?] adj.暴躁的

18. mature [m??tj??]adj.成熟的

19. conscious[?k?n??s] adj.意識到的;故意的 20. vanish [?v?n??] n消失

21. ditto ['ditau] adv.同上地

22. grouchy ['grautli] adj.不高興的

23. sincerity [sin'serati]n.真實，誠摯

24. trump [trAmp]v.勝過