我的小天使 My Little Angel
I had offered to watch my 3－year－old daughter， Ramanda， so that my wife could go out with a friend． I was getting some work done while Ramanda appeared to be having a good time in the other room． No problem， I figured． But then it got a little too quiet and I yelled out， "What are you doing， Ramanda?" No response． I repeated my question and heard her say， "Oh．．．nothing．" Nothing? What does "nothing" mean?
我主動提出照看我3歲的女兒，Ramanda，以便妻子能和她的朋友出去逛逛。我在做些事，此時Ramanda似乎在另一個房間玩得也很開心。我知道，沒什么問題。突然間一點動靜都沒有了，于是我喊道：“Ramanda，你在干什么？”沒有回答。我重復問了幾次，這時聽她說道：“沒什么”，“沒什么？那是什么意思？”
I got up from my desk and ran out into the living room， whereupon（于是） I saw her take off down the hall． I chased her up the stairs and watched her as her little behind made a hard left into the bedroom． I was gaining on her！ She took off for the bathroom． Bad move． I had her cornered． I told her to turn around． She refused． I pulled out my big， mean， authoritative Daddy voice， "Young lady， I said turn around！"
我從桌旁起身跑進起居室，我看見她溜到客廳，我追到樓梯上看到她的小背影跑進臥室，我正要靠近她，她又跑到了洗漱室。真暈。我在墻角處逮到了她，我讓她轉身，她不從。于是我用威嚴的父親的那種聲調說道“小姐，我命令你轉身。”
Slowly， she turned toward me． In her hand was what was left of my wife's new lipstick（口紅，唇膏）． And every square inch of her face was covered with bright red （except her lips of course）！
慢慢地，她轉過身，手里拿著我妻子的新口紅。她的臉上涂滿了明亮的紅色（除了嘴唇）。
As she looked up at me with fearful eyes， lips trembling， I heard every voice that had been shouted to me as a child． "How could you．．．You should know better than that．．．How many times have you been told．．．What a bad thing to do．．．" It was just a matter of my picking out which old message I was going to use on her so that she would know what a bad girl she had been． But before I could let loose（釋放，屈服）， I looked down at the sweatshirt my wife had put on her only an hour before． In big letters it said， "I'M A PERFECT LITTLE ANGEL！" I looked back up into her tearful eyes and instead of seeing a bad girl who didn't listen， I saw a child of God．．．a perfect little angel full of worth， value and a wonderful spontaneity（自發性） that I had come dangerously close to shaming out of her．
當她用驚慌的眼神抬頭看著我時，她的嘴唇在顫抖，我聽見了那些應對小孩說的話“你怎么能……你應該知道……告訴你多少次了……你做了見多糟糕的事……”現在只需要選句常說的老話來警告她，以便讓她知道自己有多壞。但是在我說這些話之前，我低頭看見了妻子一個小時前讓她穿上的運動衫，上面用很大的字母寫著“我是個完美的小天使”，我回頭看見了她眼中的淚水，這次我看到的不是一個壞女孩，而是上帝的女兒……一個有價值，很自主的完美小天使，我險些讓她蒙羞而使她喪失這些品質。
"Sweetheart， you look beautiful！ Let's take a picture so Mommy can see how special you look．" I took the picture and thanked God that I didn't miss the opportunity to reaffirm what a perfect little angel he had given me．
“寶貝，你看起來漂亮極了，我們拍張照讓媽媽來看看你看起來有多特別”，我給她拍了照片，感謝上帝，我沒有錯失贊美小天使的機會，她是上帝賜予我的。
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