佚名/Anonymous

　　After the birth of my twin daughters, my mother offered to stay for a week and help out.

　　Being a naive new mom, I figured I didn’t really need her help. How hard could it be? I thought I was the youthful, energetic one, newly imbued through the labor and delivery of two babies with an innate knowledge of how to care for them. My mom was nearing sixty, and although she had raised three children of her own, well, that was a long time ago.

　　I agreed to her offer, glad for the company, but not from a

　　perception of need.

　　My mother arrived, saw what needed to be done, and very quietly did it. Always with a smile, she made meals, including the entire Thanksgiving dinner for six that I thought I could handle on my own. She cleaned, shopped, did laundry and rocked screaming babies in the small hours of the morning. She never once did the thing I most feared she would do—lecture me on the myriad of things I could do better or differently.

　　She never once gave unsolicited advice. She did, however, frequently tell me what every new mom desperately needs to hear—that I was doing a great job.

　　I was endlessly amazed by her energy, her competency, and her unflappable, easy manner with my daughters. I stumbled around in a fog of bleary-eyed exhaustion, going through the motions of motherhood, while she busily snapped pictures and exclaimed over the marvels of my babies. She was always one step ahead of me, even though I swear she got less sleep.

　　I wondered if this was the same mother I remembered from my High School years, back when I knew everything and she knew less than everything. Back when I rolled my eyes at her a lot and she spent a lot of time trying to tell me that there were things I wouldn’t understand until I became a mother myself.

　　The last vestiges of my myopic, know-it-all adolescence died the week after my daughters were born, and good riddance. Because in its place, a new understanding was born. An understanding with a lot more respect and much better vision.

　　I had known I would become a new mom when I had children, but I never realized I would get a new mom—the same wonderful old mom I always had. The same one I just never truly saw.

　　我的双胞胎女儿出生后，母亲提出过来住一周，帮帮我的忙。

　　作为一个新妈妈，我并不认为自己需要帮助，这有什么难的呢？我想，我年轻，精力充沛，刚刚经历分娩生下两个孩子，应该天生就知道该如何照顾她们。母亲已经快60岁了，虽然她带大了三个孩子，可那毕竟是很多年前的事了。

　　我同意了她的建议，很高兴能有她做伴，但并不是对她帮助的需要。

　　母亲来后，看到有什么需要做的，就默默地做了。她总是面带微笑，做好每一顿饭，包括六个人的感恩节大餐。我认为自己可以应付这些。她打扫卫生，购物，烫洗衣物，凌晨时甚至还要摇着哭闹的孩子，哄她们入睡。她从未做过我最怕她做的事——教训我怎样把这些事做得更好，或者按其他方法去做。

　　她从未主动提供一些建议，但是，她时常说我做得很棒，这个正是每位新妈妈渴盼听到的。

　　母亲的精力、能力和照顾女儿时从容不迫、简单易行的方式，不时地让我感到惊讶。我常迷糊疲惫地经历着初为人母的时光，而母亲却忙着给孩子拍照，赞叹她们的美妙。虽然她睡得比我少，但她总先一步。

　　我真有些怀疑她是不是我中学时印象中的那位母亲。那时，我无所不知，而她什么都不懂。我常常对她翻白眼，她费尽心思地告诉我，有些事情只有等我自己做了母亲才能了解。

　　我青春期最后的遗症——目光短浅、自以为无所不知，在女儿出生后的第一周便消失殆尽了，这确是一大解脱。基于此，我又形成了一种全新的理解，含有更多的尊重和更进一步的认识。

　　我知道当我有了自己的孩子，就会成为一个新妈妈。但我从未想过，自己也会得到一个新妈妈——我一直拥有着这位伟大、年迈的母亲，只是我从来没有真正意识到而已。

　　energetic adj.精力旺盛的

　　例 He seems to be an energetic person.

　　他似乎是一个精力充沛的人。

　　perception n.认识；观念

　　例 We should improve our powers of perception.

　　我们应该提高我们的认识能力。

　　unsolicited adj.未经请求的；主动提供的

　　例 I must first apologize for this unsolicited mail to you.

　　我必须为这封未经请求的邮件首先向您道歉。

　　competency n.能力

　　例 Logistics is viewed as the competency that links an enterprise with its customers and suppliers.

　　物流被看成是把企业与客户和供应商连接起来的能力。

　　我同意了她的建议，很高兴能有她做伴，但并不是对她帮助的需要。

　　译___________________________________________________________________

　　她从未主动提供一些建议，但是，她时常说我做得很棒，这个正是每位新妈妈渴盼听到的。

　　译___________________________________________________________________

　　母亲的精力、能力和照顾女儿时从容不迫、简单易行的方式，不时地让我感到惊讶。

　　译___________________________________________________________________

　　My mother offered to stay for a week and help out.

　　offer to：提议；愿意；试图

　　造___________________________________________________________________

　　She spent a lot of time trying to tell me that there were things……

　　a lot of：许多；大量

　　造___________________________________________________________________