[双语]天道酬勤：卡尔·马龙的明星之路

Karl Malone: Hard Work Pays Off
 

 

　　As a young boy,  I grew up with my eight sibilings in a tin-roofed shack in Summerfield, Louisiana. I didn’t see my circumstance as an obstacle, even though we didin’t even have a real toilet in the house. I saw my life more as a card that had been dealt to me and I tried to make the most of it.

　　在我是个小男孩时，我和我的八个兄弟姐妹在路易斯安娜萨默菲尔德的一个铁皮棚屋中长大。即使我们的屋里没有一个真正的厕所，我也没有把这种环境视为一个障碍。我更多地将我的生活看作是发给我的一张牌，努力充分发挥它的作用。

　　I was the youngest of five boys and also had four sisters who had to pull together and take care of each other. Dad wasn’t around, so I never knew him well. He committed suicide when I was three years old, leaving Mom with the job of raising and providing for nine kids. She worked at a sawmill running a foklift for fifty dollars a week and had another job at a poultry plant. She was a very hard worker, and in order to make ends meet, she hardly ever rested.

　　我是五个男孩中最小的一个,还有四个姐妹.家境迫使我们团结一致,相互照顾.爸爸已经不在人世,所以我根本不怎么了解他.我三岁时他自尽了,把抚养九个孩子的责任留给了妈妈.她在一家锯木常开叉车,周薪50美元,还在一个家禽厂干着另一份活.她工作非常努力.为了养家糊口,维持生计,她几乎没有休息过.

　　My mom believed in doing all she could do to take care of her responsibilities, so no matter what , she never asked for a handout. You can imagine; we kids didn’t get what we wanted, but we always got the things we needed. With my mom as my example, I learned that hard work is the best way to get what you want.

　　我妈妈相信,只要竭尽全力,就能尽好她的责任,因而无论如何,她从不乞求施舍.你可以想象,我们这些孩子得不到我们想要的,可我们总能得到我们的基本所需.有了我妈妈的榜样,我懂得了辛勤工作时获得想要的东西的最佳途径.

　　While growing up, I was surrounded with temptations to do negative things like drugs, alcohol and all that. I chose not to go there. Even as a little boy, I knew I was going to be successful. Some people take that to be cocky or conceited, but I wasn’t going to let anybody tell me that I couldn’t do whatever I set out to do.

　　在成长过程中,我的周围常常有做坏事的种种诱惑,如毒品,烈性酒等等.我选择不和这类事情沾边.甚至在我还是个小男孩时,我就知道我会成功.有些人认为这是自以为是或者骄傲自大,可我不让任何人对我说我不能做我决意要做的任何事.

　　Of course, I dreamed about what I wanted to be when I grew up. At first, I would be a state trooper, then I wanted to be in the Special Forces. After a while, I decided that I wanted to drive eighteen-wheelers. There was even a period of time that I wanted to be in construction. I wanted to play football in high school; in fact, I still do. But regardless of what I chose, I wanted to make my brothers, sisters and mom proud of me---not only by being successful in what I chose to do , but also a person who could be looked up to for the night reasons.

　　当然,我又长大后想干什么的梦想.我先是想当个州警察,后来想参加特种部队.过了一阵子,我决定要去驾驶18轮大卡车.甚至有一段时间我想进建筑业.中学时我想打橄榄球;事实上,现在我还是这么想.但不管我的选择如何,我都要让我的兄弟姐妹和妈妈为我感到骄傲——不仅在我选择的领域中获得成功，而且因正当理由受人钦佩。