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A PAIR OF NEW SHOES
Anne is six years older than me. Growing up, we were very poor, and my mother worked evenings at a factory in a small mid-western town. Not seeing my mother much, Anne took over much of the maternal support, and she was awarded the authority to give me and my younger sister permission to do things. Actually, going to Anne was much better than going to a parent as she could award permission, but never had an urge to punish us when we broke the rules. Therefore, we were a bit more willing to confess our activities to Anne and sometimes benefited from her sisterly advice. During those turbulent teenage years, Anne was always there for me, not only as a big sister, but as a mother and my best friend.
When I was seventeen and had no money, I thought my only chance of going to college was that I could win a scholarship. I had an important interview for such an award. Anne at that time was struggling, surviving on a part-time job as she put herself through the local community college after serving in the army. I told her of my interview, saying that General Motors was sending me a bus ticket, and I would get to visit the city for my scholarship interview. It would be the first time I ever saw a city. I was excited about the adventure and asked her advice on what to wear. I showed her my best outfit and how I planned to be careful how I sat so that the hole in the bottom of my shoe would not be seen, but I wasn’t sure what I would do if it rained. I showed her how I would stand with my arm slightly in front of me to hide the blemish from my inferior pants from the farmers’ market. My best blouse was a find at a yard sale, slightly faded but still pretty.
Anne suggested that we go shopping, and we took the bus to the Penney Store. She took me to the shoe department, and we found a beautiful pair of leather shoes on sale. She told me to try them on, but I thought it was just for fun as neither of us had ever owned anything that expensive before. Sometimes we did go shopping together and tried on things just to see what they looked and felt like, but we never could afford to buy them. It was like playing dress-up. But this time was different. Anne handed me the boxed shoes and said, “Here, I’ll buy these for you.”
“But...” was all I could say.
“You deserve them,” she replied. “This interview is important. I want to see you get that scholarship.”
I was speechless as I knew this was a lot of money for her, and she would probably have to eat nothing but ramen noodles for at least a month.
I went to the interview and crossed my legs so that my beautiful new shoes shone with pride. I won the scholarship and became an engineer. Although they were nice leather everyday shoes, I didn’t wear them much because they were so special. I hope Anne didn’t think I did not like them or something. Now, after twenty years have passed, I still have that pair of shoes with me, and I just wear them on those occasions when I need to feel special. It’s kind of like having magic ruby slippers when you’re homesick.
【日積月累】
◇maternal adj. 母親的，母親般的
◇permission n. 許可，允許
◇turbulent adj. 好騷動的
◇blemish n. 污點，瑕疵
◇ramen noodle n. 拉面
【參考譯文】
一雙新鞋
安妮比我大6歲。我們從小都很窮。我媽媽每晚都在中西部一個小鎮的工廠里上班。因為常常見不到我媽媽，大部分時間都是安妮像母親一樣帶著我。我和我妹妹干什么都要有她的允許。實際上，在安妮那比在我父母那更好，因為她不會老管著我們，而且我們犯錯了也不會想著要懲罰我們。所以我們更愿意告訴安妮我們的活動，還時不時從她大姐姐般的建議中受益。在那些年少叛逆的歲月中，她一直在我身邊，不僅像我的大姐姐，而且還像我的母親和好朋友。
17歲那年我沒有積蓄，我想只有贏得一份獎學金才能上大學。為了獎學金，我要參加一次很重要的面試。那時安妮還在奮斗，她退役以后憑兼職賺的錢在當地的社區大學上學。我把這次面試告訴了她，說通用汽車集團寄了一張汽車票給我，所以我要進城參加面試。這將是我第一次進城。為此我一直很激動，問她該穿什么好。我給她看我最好的衣服，還告訴她我打算怎樣坐才不讓別人看見我鞋底的洞，但要是下雨就不一定了。還有我站著時雙臂微微前擺，這樣的話從農貿市場買來的那條次品褲子上的污點就被遮住了。我最好的襯衣是在舊物廉售時淘到的，雖然有點褪色但也還很不錯。
安妮提議去逛街，我們便乘巴士去了彭尼零售商店。她把我帶到鞋柜，在那我們發現了一雙漂亮的皮鞋在打折。她叫我試穿一下，我以為試著玩玩而已，因為我們倆都沒有過這么貴的東西。有時候我們會一起去購物，試衣服試鞋子看看它們上身怎么樣，但是從來都買不起。那就像打扮起來玩一樣。但是這次不是了。她把裝好的鞋交給我說：“拿著，我買給你。”
“但是——”我只能吐出這兩個字。
“你應該擁有它，”她回應道，“面試很重要。我希望你能拿到獎學金。”
我說不出話來，我知道這筆錢對她來說也很多。為此她說不定得吃至少一個月的方便面。
我去參加了面試，驕傲地翹起二郎腿亮出我漂亮閃亮的新鞋。我獲得了那份獎學金，并成為了一名工程師。雖然那雙鞋皮質上乘，天天都可以穿，但是我不常穿，因為它們很特別。我希望安妮不要誤會說我不喜歡它們。20年過去了，我依然收著那雙鞋。只有當我想感覺與眾不同的時候我才穿。這就像你想家時穿上神奇的紅寶石高跟鞋一樣。
【人生啟迪】
幫助別人常常意味著做一次犧牲，或大或小。但是與你的幫助給別人命運帶來的改變相比，你的犧牲便顯得有些微不足道了。相信這道數學題你不會做錯。
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