前几年，妈妈90岁生日，我决定亲手给她做一套便服衣裤。自认为这是儿子最好的一件礼物，她一定会高兴。
Several years ago, to celepate her 90th birthday, I decided to make her by myself a suit of clothes for everyday wear, consisting of a short coat and a pair of trousers, thinking that it would be the best gift possible from her son and that it would surely delight her much.
那天，妈妈接过我缝制的衣服，脸上闪着光亮，眼睛在微笑。那天，我满怀幸福地睡了。
As she received the clothes on her birthday, her face pightened up with smiles. That night, I had blissful hours of sleep.
半夜醒来，我发现了一条灯光从妈妈的门缝里泄出来。是妈妈没有睡？是妈妈忘了熄灯？我下床走向门缝，往她的屋里观望。她正坐在床上，围着被，戴着老花镜，手中拿着我缝制的衣裤，在细细地观看。她慢慢地摸来一把小剪子。她要干什么？我屏住呼吸。天哪！原来……原来她用颤颤抖抖的手开始拆卸我为她特意缝制的新衣服。我的心顿时凉了！妈妈，这是您60岁的儿子亲手给您缝制的衣服呀！为什么不穿，反而拆成片呢？
Around midnight, I woke up to find lamplight coming in through the crack of her door. I wondered if she was staying up late or had gone to bed forgetting to put out the lamplight. I got out of bed and peeping into her room through the crack, I saw her sitting on the bed with a quilt draped over her shoulders. With a pair of presbyopic glasses on, she was holding in her hands the suit of clothes I had made and examining it closely. Then she slowly fished out from somewhere a pair of small scissors. What was she up to? I held my peath. Good Heavens! So she was going to unstitch with her trembling hands the new clothes I had specially made for her. My heart sank. O mother, that was the suit your 60-year-old son had made for you1 why were you going to unstitch it rather than wear it?
过了几天，我实在憋不住了，才问妈妈。妈妈盯着我的眼睛，过了半晌，开口说：“你缝的不合格啊！线——扎得不直、不匀，有些粗糙……干活儿可不能这样！”她把衣裤都拆了，想背着我重缝起来，可是手不听使唤，缝不成了，妈妈看着自己那双哆哆嗦嗦的枯手，叹了一口气。
Several days later, I couldn’t hold back the question in my mind any more. She stared into my eyes for quite a while and then said, “Your needlework isn’t up to standard. The stitches are untidy and uneven. The whole thing is crude … That’s not the way to go about your work.” She hand the whole suit unstitched and wanted to re-sew it behind my back, but she just couldn’t make it, her fingers being all thumbs with age. Looking at her tremulous wizened hand, she sighed.
妈妈劳动一生，我回想了一下，她无论干什么事，的确从不曾让人有些许挑剔。如今，她不能劳动了，可是对儿子的劳动成果，也决不放松一针一线。
Mother has been diligent with her hands all her life. She always saw to it that she was faultless in whatever she did. Now she is too old to work, but she is very strict with my performance.
我望着妈妈的双手，心想：妈妈教给我的，岂只是不应该缝制不合格的衣服？！
The sight of mother's hands always plunges me into deep thought: Her teaching goes far beyond the making of good clothes.
（责任编辑:admin）
