你無所不能

You can do anything

I am my mother’s third child. When I was born, the doctor gently explained to my mother that my left arm was missing, below the elbow. Then he gave her some advice: “Don’t treat her any differently from the other girls. Demand more.” And she did!

My mother had to work to support our family. There were five girls in our family and we all had to help out. Once when I was about seven, I came out of the kitchen, “Mom, I can’t peel potatoes. I only have one hand.”

“You go back to peel these potatoes, and don’t ever use that as an excuse for anything again!”

Of course I could peel potatoes — with my good hand, while holding them down with the other arm. There was always a way, and Mom knew it. “If you try hard enough,” she’d say, “you can do anything.”

Once in the second grade, our teacher had each of us race across the monkey bars. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids laughed. I went home crying. After work the next afternoon, Mom took me back to the school playground.

“Now, pull up with your right arm,” she advised. She stood by as I practiced, and she praised me when I made progress. I’ll never forget the next time when I was crossing the bars. The kids were standing there with their mouths open.

It was the way with everything. When I fear I can’t handle things, I see Mom’s smile. She had the heart to face anything. And she taught me I could, too.

【助讀詞匯】

◇elbow n. 肘

◇peel v. 剝，削，剝落

◇handle n. 柄，把手 vt. 處理，操作vi. 易于操縱

【參考譯文】

你無所不能

我是我媽媽的第三個孩子。我剛出生，醫生溫和地對我媽媽解釋說，我左肘以下沒有手臂。隨后他建議：“對待她就像對待其他女兒一樣，不要有所不同，而且要對她要求更多些。”她照辦了。

我媽媽不得不工作來養家糊口。在家中有我們5個女孩，我們都得幫著干活。我大約7歲時，有一回，我從廚房里出來說：“媽媽，我沒法削土豆皮，我只有一只手。”

“你進廚房削土豆去，再不要拿這個做借口！”

當然，我能削土豆皮——用左胳臂按著，用好的手削。辦法總是有的，這我媽媽清楚。她總是說：“只要你盡力設法去做，什么事都能辦到。”

上二年級時，我們的老師叫我們班同學列隊在操場上進行猴架比賽，從一個高杠懸蕩到下一個杠。輪到我的時候，我搖搖頭。身后有些同學發出笑聲。我哭著回到家。第二天下午媽媽工作完后帶著我回到學校。在空無一人的操場上，她仔細地瞧著猴架的杠子。

“現在用你的右胳臂拽自己上去，”她給我出主意。她在一旁站著，我奮力用右手把自己拉上去，直到我能用左肘彎勾住杠子。一天又一天這么練著，我每蕩過一個杠子她都表揚我。我永遠不會忘記全班再次列隊站在猴架旁的情景。我蕩過一個又一個杠子，同學們站在那里驚訝得張開了嘴。

做什么事都這樣。當我擔心沒有能力處理好事情時，便又看到她那燦爛的笑容。她有決心面對任何事情，她教我認識到我也能面對任何事情。

【人生啟迪】

《周易》里有這樣一句話——天行健，君子以自強不息；地勢坤，君子以厚德載物。因為自信，所以感覺生活美好！當然，一個自信的人，并非事事順心，事事如意，只是她在靈魂上開了一扇天窗，讓陽光從窗口飄進來，即便是陰雨的天，她也學會了創造太陽，那個太陽就是對自己有信心。