[双语]父亲寄语工作是种福气.docVIP

[双语] 父亲寄语:工作是种福气 　　I grew up in Lakeland, Louisiana, one of 12 children. We all lived on my parents’ subsistence farm. We grew cotton, sugar cane, corn, hogs1, chickens and had a large garden, but it didn’t bring in much cash. So when I was 12, I got a parttime job on a dairy farm down the road, helping to milk cows. We milked 65 cows at 5 in the morning, and again at 2 in the afternoon, seven days a week. 　　我在路易斯安那州的莱克兰长大，是家里12 个孩子之一。我们所有人都依赖父母自给自足的农场过活。我们种棉花、甘蔗、玉米，养猪、养鸡，还有一个大花园，但农场没办法让我们有多少收入，所以我在12 岁时在马路前面不远的一个奶牛场里找了一份兼职工作——帮忙挤牛奶。我们要在早晨5 点钟为65 头奶牛挤奶，下午2 点钟还要挤一次，一周七天不休息。 　　In the kitchen one Saturday before daylight, I remember complaining to my father and grandfather about having to go milk those cows. My father said, you know, boy, to work is a blessing. I looked at those two men who’d worked harder than I ever had – my father eking out2 a living on that farm, and my grandfather farming and working as a carpenter during the Depression. 　　在一个周六的黎明之前，我记得我在厨房里跟父亲和爷爷抱怨自己一大早还要去给那些奶牛挤奶，父亲说，小子，你知道，能工作是种福气啊。我看着这两个男人，知道他们比我有生以来工作得要更努力——父亲靠那个农场为全家糊口，而爷爷在大萧条期间既开农场又当木匠。 　　I had a feeling I had been told something really important, but it took many years before it sunk in. Going to college was a rare privilege for a kid from Lakeland, Louisiana. My father told me if I’d picked something to study that I liked doing, I’d always look forward to my work. But he also added, even having a job you hate is better than not having a job at all. 　　我有种感觉——别人跟我说了一些确实重要的东西，但许多年后我才真正理解。对路易斯安那莱克兰的孩子来说，上大学是种珍贵的待遇。父亲跟我说，如果我学了自己喜欢从事的内容，我便会一直期待去工作的。但他还说，就算从事了自己不喜欢的工作，那也比什么工作都没有要好。 　　I wanted to be a farmer, but I joined the ROTC3 program to help pay for college. And what started out as an obligation to the Army became a way of life that I stayed committed to for 37 years, three months and three days. In the late 1980s, during a visit to Bangladesh, I saw a woman with her baby on her back, breaking bricks with a hammer. I asked a Bangladesh military escort why they weren’t using a machine, whi