In 1959, when Jean Harper was in the third grade, her teacher gave the class an assignment to write a report on what they wanted to be when they grew up.
　　那是1959年，瓊-哈珀在上三年級的時候。有一次，老師布置全班同學寫一篇作文，讓大家談一談自己長大以后想干什么。

　　Jean's father was a crop duster pilot in the little farming community in Northern California where she was raised, and Jean was totally captivated by airplanes and flying. She poured her heart into her report and included all of her dreams; she wanted to crop dust, make parachute jumps, seed clouds and be an airline pilot. Her paper came back with an "F" on it. The teacher told her it was a "fairy tale" and that none of the occupations she listed were women's jobs. Jean was crushed and humiliated.
　　那時，瓊的父親是北加利福尼亞農場小區的一名給作物噴灑農藥的飛機駕駛員，瓊就是在那里長大的，所以，從小就非常癡迷于飛機和飛行。對老師布置的這篇作文，瓊全心傾注地去寫，把她的全部夢想都寫進去了：她想駕駛著飛機給作物噴灑農藥，她想去跳傘，她想去實施人工降雨，并且她還想成為一名客機飛行員。可是，最后，她的這篇作文卻得了一個“F”(failure，不及格)。老師告訴她那是一篇“神話”，因為她所列舉的工作沒有一項是女人能夠做的。聽老師這么一說，瓊傷心透了，感到失望、羞恥。

　　She showed her father the paper, and he told her that of course she could become a pilot. "Look at Amelia Earhart," he said. "That teacher doesn't know what she's talking about."
　　她把作文拿給她的父親看。父親對她說，她當然能夠成為一名飛行員。“看看阿米莉婭-埃爾哈特〔1898-1937,美國女飛行員〕，”那個老師不知道自己在說些什么。”

　　But as the years went by, Jean was beaten down by the discouragement and negativity she encountered whenever she talked about her career-"Girls can't become airline pilots; never have, never will. You're not smart enough, you're crazy. That's impossible. "-until finally Jean gave up.
　　然而，隨著時間一天天地過去，瓊還是被消極勸阻和否定態度給擊倒了--每當她談起自己夢想的時候，人們就會說“女孩子是不可能成為飛行員的，現在不會，將來也不會。你太異想天開，簡直就是瘋了。那是不可能的。”--終于，瓊認輸放棄了。

　　In her senior year of high school, her English teacher was a Mrs. Dorothy Slaton. Mrs. Slaton was an uncompromising, demanding teacher with high standards and a low tolerance for excuses. She refused to treat her students like children, instead expecting them to behave like the responsible adults they would have to be to succeed in the real world after graduation. Jean was scared of her at first but grew to respect her firmness and fairness.
　　在瓊高中最后一年，她的英語老師是多蘿西-斯萊頓夫人。斯萊頓夫人一絲不茍，對學生要求非常嚴格，高標準，不容忍找任何借口。她還不把自己的學生當小孩子來對待，而是期望他們的行為舉止能夠像有責任感的成年人那樣，即當他們畢業后走上社會為了獲得成功所必須要表現出的那樣。剛開始的時候，瓊非常怕她，但是，逐漸地，對她的嚴厲和公正，不禁敬佩起來。

　　One day Mrs. Slaton gave the class an assignment. "What do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now?" Jean thought about the assignment. Pilot? No way. Flight attendant? I'm not pretty enough-they'd never accept me. Wife? What guy would want me? Waitress? I could do that. That felt safe, so she wrote it down.
　　有一天，斯萊頓夫人給全班同學布置了一項作業。“你想10年后從事什么工作？”瓊思考著怎樣寫這項作業。做一名飛行員？那根本行不通。做一名空中小姐？可我又不夠漂亮--航空公司不會接納我的。做個妻子？可有誰會娶我呢？做一個服務員呢？嗯，這我能做。這沒有問題，于是，就把這個想法寫了下來。

　　Mrs. Slaton collected the papers and nothing more was said. Two weeks later, the teacher handed back the assignments, face down on each desk, and asked this question: "If you had unlimited finances, unlimited access to the finest schools, unlimited talents and abilities, what would you do?"
　　斯萊頓夫人收齊了同學們的作文，也沒有再說什么。兩個星期以后，老師把作文發給了同學們，正面朝下放在課桌上。然后，她問道：“同學們，如果你們有足夠的金錢，有充分的機會到最好的學校去上學，并且你們本身又具有足夠的天分和才能，那么，你們將會干什么呢？”

　　Jean felt a rush of the old enthusiasm, and with excitement she wrote down all her old dreams. When the students stopped writing, the teacher asked, "How many students wrote the same thing on both sides of the paper?" Not one hand went up.
　　瓊的心中涌起了以往的熱情；她感到激動、興奮，把多年的夢想全都寫下來。當同學們都寫完之后，老師又問道：“同學們，你們中間有多少同學的作文兩次寫得都一樣？”沒有一個同學舉手。

　　The next thing that Mrs. Slaton said changed the course of Jean's life. The teacher leaned forward over her desk and said, "I have a little secret for you all. You do have unlimited abilities and talents. You do have access to the finest schools, and you can arrange unlimited finances if you want something badly enough. This is it! When you leave school, if you don't go for your dreams, no one will do it for you. You can have what you want if you want it enough."
　　斯萊頓夫人接著說的一番話改變了瓊的生活道路。她在講臺前稍稍俯身向前地對同學們說：“我有一個小秘密想告訴你們大家，這就是，你們每一個人的確都有足夠的才能和天分，都有機會去上最好的學校；而且，只要你們這種愿望特別強烈的話，你們就能夠籌劃足夠的金錢。事實就是這樣！你們離開學校之后，如果自己不去追求夢想，那么，沒有人會來幫你忙。只要有強烈的愿望，就能夠實現你的夢想。” 

　　The hurt and fear of years of discouragement crumbled in the face of the truth of what Mrs. Slaton had said. Jean felt exhilarated and a little scared. She stayed after class and went up to the teacher's desk. Jean thanked Mrs. Slaton and told her about her dream of becoming a pilot. Mrs. Slaton half rose and slapped the desk top. "Then do it!" she said.
　　多年的沮喪和氣餒帶給她的傷害和畏懼，在斯萊頓夫人這番真情實話面前消失了，瓊感到振奮，也有一點害怕。下課之后，她走到講臺前，感謝斯萊頓夫人，并且告訴斯萊頓夫人她的夢想是成為一名飛行員。斯萊頓夫人微微地站起身子，拍了一下桌子，說道：“那好啊，努力去實現它吧！”

　　So Jean did. It didn't happen overnight. It took l0 years of hard work, facing opposition that ranged from quiet skepticism to outright hostility. It wasn't in Jean's nature to stand up for herself when someone refused or humiliated her; instead, she would quietly try to find another way.
　　瓊這樣做了，但這不是一朝一夕能實現的。瓊為之苦苦奮斗了10年。在這10年里，她面對著種種阻力和壓力，有沉默的懷疑，也有斷然的反對。有人反對或羞辱她時，瓊都默默地承受著，并且悄悄地努力尋求另外的門路。

　　She became a private pilot and then got the necessary ratings to fly air freight and even commuter planes, but always as a copilot. Her employers were openly hesitant about promoting her-because she was a woman. Even her father advised her to try something else. "It's impossible," he said. "Stop banging your head against the wall!"
　　終于，她成了一名私人飛機的駕駛員，并且，還獲得了，駕駛貨運飛機甚至短途客機所必需的資格證書，但是，始終只能做一位副駕駛。她的老板毫不隱瞞地表示，之所以沒有晉升她的職務，只是因為她是一位女性。甚至她的父親也曾建議她去嘗試干別的工作，“做飛行員，你是不會有出路的，”他說。“別拿自己的腦袋往墻上撞了！”

　　But Jean answered, "Dad, I disagree. I believe that things are going to change, and I want to be at the head of the pack when they do."
　　但是，瓊回答道：“爸爸，我不同意你的說法。我相信事情會改變的，到時候，我要成為這幫人的頭頭。”

　　Jean went on to do everything her third-grade teacher said Was a fairy tale-she did some crop dusting, made a few hundred parachute jumps and even seeded clouds for a summer Season as a weather modification pilot. In 1978, she became one of the first three female pilot trainees ever accepted by United Airlines and one of only 50 women airline pilots in the nation at the time. Today, Jean Harper is a Boeing 737 captain for United.
　　瓊繼續做著她三年級老師所說的神話--她駕駛著飛機給作物噴灑農藥，進行了數百次的跳傘，甚至是在夏季駕駛著飛機去實施人工降雨。1978年，她成為聯合航空公司首批錄取的三位女性實習飛行員之一，而當時，整個美國也只有50名女性飛行員。今天，瓊-哈珀是聯合航空公司波音737客機的機長。

　　It was the power of one well-placed positive word, one spark of encouragement from a woman Jean respected, that gave that uncertain young girl the strength and faith to pursue her dream.
　　這是那位瓊所敬重的斯萊頓夫人適時說出的那句積極肯定的話語所產生出的力量，催人向上的火花！正是這種力量，才使得這個拿不定主意的小女孩重新有了追求夢想的力量和信念