媽媽的重皇冠(中英)
媽媽的重皇冠Mama's Heavy Crown
Gene Bullard
Kerrville， May 11， 1997
The old hymn asks， "Will there be any stars in my crown？"
那首古老的圣歌問道，“你的皇冠上會有星星嗎？”
One time years ago I wrote to my little hometown newspaper that if stars weigh anything， and surely they must， the crown for my mama will be too heavy for her to pick up.
幾年前，有一次我給我家鄉的一個小報寫信，說如果星星比所有東西都重的話，而且也確確實實重的話，那我媽媽的皇冠也太重了，她也不能戴了。
As Mama went about her many hard tasks she would sing those old hymns to herself. At home or in church I have heard them hundreds of times and I still remember the words to every one. Those songs were a comfort to her and she needed and well deserved a lot more comfort than she ever had.
每當媽媽辛苦工作的時候，她就會唱那些圣歌給自己聽。我在家和在教堂已經聽了成百上千次了，我還記得那些唱給人們聽的歌詞。對媽媽來說，那些歌詞是一個安慰，她需要那些歌曲，當然，媽媽也比過去得到得更多的安慰。
，People say kids are carefree and they mostly are. Parents are careworn and that is mostly because of kids. I remember one time about 50 years ago I came home from school in high spirits. I had won some scholastic honor or something and I was walking about a foot off the ground. Mama was down to earth. She was bending over her rub board and a No. 3 washtub of dirty clothes， maybe mine， and was probably trying to figure out what she would cook for supper to feed her husband and her hungry brood.
人們說小孩是自由自在的，孩子們大多數也都很自由自在。父母們卻不是那么自在，絕大多數是因為孩子。差不多都是五十年前的事了，我記得有一次我從學校興致勃勃地回家，我的學位成績優秀之類的事，我離院子還有一英尺遠的時候，我看見媽媽正在搓板上搓衣服，一個三號的洗衣盆盛滿臟衣服，也許里面是我的衣服。她可能也正在想做什么晚飯喂她的丈夫和饑餓的孩子呢。
I will never forget that scene. Nothing good had happened to her all day but she knew something good had happened to me， her youngest son. She straightened from the rub board， smiled at me and with a sudsy left hand pushed back an errant strand of graying hair and said， "Tell me about it."
我永遠忘不了這一幕，她整天都是為她年幼的兒子操心，也從來沒有為她自己著想過。她離開那塊搓衣板，伸直下腰，對我微笑著，舉起那只粘滿泡沫的左手把一縷白發捋好，說，“給我匯報一下吧?！?/p>
Mama always gloried in any success I had， large or small， and they were mostly small. She consoled me when I failed and I did that a lot. She never lost faith. She never failed to encourage me. I would never say she was a convincing liar， but she did say I was smart and good looking and that I would be a great success and no one could stop me.
無論我獲得什么成功，大的還是小的，但差不多都是很小的成功，媽媽也都總會感到非常的光榮。我付出很大努力后可還是失敗了后，她安慰我；她從來沒有對我喪失過信心，她都是一直鼓勵我的；雖然她說過我很聰明，長得也很漂亮，我將來會非常成功的，而且沒有人能夠阻止住我，但是我絕對不會說她是一個只會把人說得心理美滋滋的騙子。
Her faith lifted me up. She wasn't blind so she knew I was tall and skinny and had coarse， straight hair that stuck up in the back. She lent to me her strength of character. It was her faith in me that kept me going a lot of times when I was tired from bending over a sort of rub board of my own.
她的信念給了我很大的鼓舞。她又不是瞎子，她當然知道我個頭高，瘦得皮包骨頭，后面的頭發又是豎立的。她的性格給了我力量，當我彎腰洗我自己衣服感到累的時候，就是憑借她對我的信任我才能夠一直干下去的。
When I was little I would sometimes have an earache. Mama would come and lie down in my bed with me and gently blow her warm breath in my ear and stroke me and say quiet sweet things to me and make me sleep. In one way or another， she did the same kind of thing for me as long as she lived.
我小的時候，我耳朵經常疼，媽媽就過來躺在我的床上陪我睡覺，輕輕地在我耳邊吹著她那溫暖的氣息，拍著我，靜悄悄地給我講一些甜蜜的故事讓我入睡，在她一生中，她不止一次地用過這種方法。
The Dallas Morning News once printed a piece of news about my success， daddy reading the paper with us. Mama never did that. She read the Bible with us.
有一次，《達拉斯晨報》刊登了一篇關于我成功的文章，爸爸就給我們讀那篇文章，媽媽卻沒有這么做，她卻給我們讀圣經。
It will soon be 20 years since she left us in body. She will never leave us in spirit. All five children she raised to adulthood still live and all are honorable， good citizens. We think of her and speak of her with a kind of reverence. She was truly good and selfless.
她離開我們已經快有20年了，可她的精神卻不會離開我們。她養育的5個孩子都還健在，也都很有名，更都是好市民。我們懷著一顆崇敬的心懷念她，談論她，她確實很善良，很偉大。
They didn't break the mold my mama came from. There are a great many more of them around. They make up the strong backbone of our nation. They are selfless， hard working， constant， loving and moral. I honor every one of them.
他們沒有打破我媽媽與生俱有的那種秉性，他們到處洋溢著媽媽的那種性格。他們是我們民族的堅實脊梁，他們大公無私，他們辛勤勞動，他們忠貞不渝，他們仁愛正義。
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