母亲分苹果
作者: 来自>期刊
译者: 爱尔兰ＵＣＤ 赖小琪
一个人一生中最早受到的教育来自家庭，来自母亲。美国一位著名心理学家为了研究母亲对人一生的影响，在全美选出50位成功人士，同时又选出59名有犯罪记录的人，请他们谈谈母亲对他们的影响。
One’s education started from family, especially his or her mother. There was a renowned psychologist in America who had done a study on the impact of mother on her children’s lives. He singled out 50 successful people in America and 59 people with criminal records and asked them to talk about the influence their mothers had exerted on them.
有两封回信给他的印象最深。一封来自白宫一位著名人士，一封来自监狱一名服刑的犯人。他们谈的都是同一件事：小时候母亲给他们分苹果。
There are two letters impressing me most. One is from a famous celebrity from the White House while the other from a prisoner in jail. Both of them talked about the same thing in the letters: the story of their mothers’ distributing apples to them.
来自监狱的犯人在信中写道：
Here is the story from the prisoner:
小时候，有一天妈妈拿来几个苹果，红红绿绿，大小各不同。中间的一个又红又大，我非常想要。这时，妈妈把苹果放在桌上，问我和弟弟：“你们想要哪个？”我刚想说要最大最红的一个，却被弟弟抢先说了出来。妈妈听了，瞪了他一眼，责备他说：“好孩子要学会把好东西让给别人，不能总想着自己。”我灵机一动，改口说：“妈妈，我想要那个最小的，最大的留给弟弟吧！”妈妈听了非常高兴，在我的脸上亲了一下，并把那个又红又大的苹果奖励给我。
When I was young, one day my mother brought several big apples of different colors and sizes, among which there was a biggest red one that I was eager to get. At that time, my mum put all the apples on the table and asked me and my younger brother, “Which do you like?” I was about to say “the biggest one” while my brother took one step ahead and said what I wanted to say. My mum glared at him and blamed him by saying, “A good child should know to give the best to others instead of being self-centered.” My learnt a quick lesson and said to my mum, “Mum, I would like the smallest one. The biggest one should be left for my brother!” At hearing my words, my mum felt more than happy and kissed my cheek, giving the biggest apple to me as a reward.
我说了谎，却得到了我想要的东西，从此，我学会了说谎。以后，我又学会了打架、偷、抢。为了得到想要的，我不择手段。后来，我被送进了监狱。
I told a lie but I got what I wanted by doing it. Since then, I learnt to lie. Later, I learnt to fight, steal and rob. I would try all means to get what I wanted. Then later I was put behind bars.
来自白宫的著名人士是这样写的：
Here is the story from the celebrity:
小时候，有一天妈妈拿来几个苹果，红红绿绿，大小各不同。我和两个弟弟争着要大的，妈妈把那个最大最红的苹果举在手中对我们说：“谁都想得到这个苹果，很好。现在，让我们来比赛，我把门前的草坪分成三块，你们一人一块负责修剪好，谁干得最快最好，谁就有权得到它。”我赢得了那个最大的苹果。
When I was young, one day my mum brought several apples of different colors and sizes. Both my two younger brothers and I wanted the biggest one. My mum picked up the biggest apple and said to us, “It is good to get the biggest apple. Now let’s start a competition. I will divide the lawn in front of our house into three parts, each of you responsible for one respectively. Who could prune his own share of lawn the best and the quickest will be rewarded with the biggest apple.” I won the apple finally.
我非常感谢母亲，她让我明白了一个最简单也最重要的道理：要想得到最好的，就必须努力争第一。她一直都是这样教育我们，也是这样做的。在我们家里，你想要什么好东西都要通过比赛来赢得。这很公平，你想要什么，想要多少，就必须为此付出多少努力和代价。
I feel very grateful to my mum because she taught me a very basic but significant wisdom: If you want to get the best, you must compete to be the No.1. She has been teaching us in this way and we followed her advice all the time. At my home, I needed to compete for what I wanted. It is quite fair because what and how much you want should be acquired with equivalent effort and cost.
推动摇篮的手，就是推动世界的手。母亲是孩子的第一任教师，你可以教他说第一句谎言，也可以教他做一个诚实的、永远努力争第一的人。
The hand rocking the cradle is the one promoting the world. Mother is the first teacher of children, who can teach them to tell the first lie or teach them to be an honest and No.1-pursuing person. |
