She challenged us to succeed--and then showed us the way.
她激勵我們要有所建樹：並一直為我們指點迷津。
[1]In June 1976, I graduated from North-western University Medical School in Chicago. When my name was called, I walked quickly across the stage and reached for my diploma. But before the medical-school dean handed me the certificate, he asked my parents, Anna and Carlo Michelotti, to stand. Surprised, they rose from their seats in the audience. They looked at each other and seemed puzzled.
[2] The dean told the crowd that my parents, an immigrant Italian couple from a farm outside Chicago, had managed to send their six children to top colleges and graduate schools. (Three of us would become doctors, two were already lawyers and one was a physicist.) "It's remarkable," the dean said. Everyone cheered loudly.
[3] Mama's face was radiant with pride. I knew that everything we had achieved or would achieve was because of my parents. When we were young children, my mother, especially, was our mentor . Not until I became an adult did I realize how special she was.
[4] Delight in Devotion. My mother was born in a small town in northern Italy. She was three when her parents immigrated to this country in 1926. They lived on Chicago's South Side, where my grandfather worked making ice cream.
[5] Mama thrived in the hectic urban environment. At 16, she graduated first in her high-school class, went on to secretarial school, and finally worked as an executive secretary for a railroad company.
[1]1976年6月，我畢業於芝加哥的西北大學醫學院。在畢業典禮那天，當叫到我名字時，我迅速起身穿過前臺去領學位證書。但在醫學院院長把證書發給我之前，他先讓我的母親安娜和父親卡羅·米歇洛蒂站起來。他們驚奇地從觀眾席座位上站起身，四目對視，似乎有些困惑。
[2]院長告訴臺下的觀眾，我的父母是義大利移民，來自芝加哥郊外的一個農場，他們已設法把自己的六個孩子都送進了最好的大學和研究生院。(我們之中的三個將成為醫生，兩個已經做了律師，還有一個是物理學家。)「這很了不起啊!」院長說完，臺下一片歡呼。
[3]媽媽臉上泛出自豪的光芒。我知道我們所取得的和將要取得的一切都要歸功於我的父母。在我們小的時候，尤其是母親，成了我們的啟蒙老師。直到我長大後才認識到母親是多麼不平凡。
[4]樂於奉獻 母親出生於義大利北部的一個小鎮。1926年她3歲時隨父母移民到了美國。她家住在芝加哥南區，當時外祖父在那兒做冰淇淋買賣。
[5]母親就在這樣喧囂的都市環境中成長起來。她16歲中學畢業，畢業成績是全班最高的，後來上了秘書學校，最後在一家鐵路公司擔任行政秘書。
[6] She was beautiful too. When a local photographer used her pictures in his monthly window display, she was flattered. Her favorite portrait showed her sitting by Lake Michigan, her hair windblown, her gaze reaching toward the horizon. My mother always used to say that when you died, God gave you back your "best self". She'd show us that picture and say, "This is what I'm going to look like in heaven."
[7] My parents were married in 1944. Dad was a quiet and intelligent man who was 17 when he left Italy. Soon after, a hit-and-run accident left him with a permanent limp. Dad worked hard selling candy to Chicago office workers on their break. He had little formal schooling. His English was self-taught. Yet he eventually built a small, successful wholesale candy business. Dad was generous, handsome and deeply religious. Mama was devoted to him.
[8] After she married, my mother quit her job and gave herself to her family. In 1950, with three children, Dad moved the family to a farm 40 miles from Chicago. He worked the land and commuted to the city to run his business. Mama said good-by to her parents and friends and traded her busy city neighborhood for a more isolated life. But she never complained. By 1958, our modest white farmhouse was filled with six children, and Mama was delighted.
[9] "Think Big". My mother never studied books on parenting. Yet she knew how to raise children. She heightened our self-esteem and helped us reach our potential.
[10] One fall day, I sat at the kitchen table while Mama peeled potatoes. She spied Dad out the window on his tractor and smiled. "Your father has accomplished so much, ' she said proudly. "He really is somebody."
[6]母親長得也很美。那時當地有位攝影師把她的照片放在一月一換的櫥窗裡展覽，她心裡美滋滋的。母親最心愛的照片是她坐在密西根湖畔照的，照片上，她的頭髮被風吹起，眼睛眺望著遠方。母親總說，一個人死後，上帝會歸還他「他最美好的形象」。她會給我們看這張照片並說;「這就是日後我在天堂裡的樣子。」
[7]我的父母是在1944年結婚的。父親話不多，人很聰明，17歲離開義大利。此後不久，發生了一起車禍，肇事者逃了，卻使父親只能終身跛行了。他工作勤奮，向工間休息的芝加哥辦公樓的工作人員兜售糖果。父親沒受過什么正規教育，他的英語是自學的。然而最終他開起了一家小型的糖果批發店，生意很紅火。爸爸為人慷慨，相貌英俊，還是一個虔誠的教徒。媽媽深深地愛著他。
[8]婚後，母親辭去工作，一心照顧家庭。1950年，爸爸帶著 3個孩子把家搬到了離芝加哥40英裡的一家農場。他一面在農場幹活，一面往返芝加哥做他的糖果批發生意。媽媽也告別了父母和朋友及快節奏的城市生活，過起了離群索居的日子。但她從無怨言。到1958年，我們這座簡樸的農場白色小屋裡有了六個孩子，媽媽非常高興。
[9]「胸懷大志」 母親從沒看過生兒育女方面的書籍，然而她懂得該如何教育子女。她激發我們的自尊心，並幫助我們發揮自己的潛能。 [10]秋季的一天，我坐在廚房桌子旁邊，母親在削土豆皮。她透過窗子看到父親坐在拖拉機上，笑了。「你爸爸已卓有成就了，」她自豪地說。「他真是個了不起的人!」
[11] My mother wanted each of us to be somebody too. "Your challenge is to be everything you can. Mine is to help," she always said.
[12] She read to us every day and used homemade flash cards to teach us phonics. She bolstered our confidence, praising even our most ordinary accomplishments. When I was ten, I painted a stack of wooden crates white and nailed them together to make a wobbly bookcase. "It's wonderful!" Mama exclaimed. "Just what we need." She used it for many years.
[13] In the dining room are two paint-by-number pictures that my sister Gloria and brother Leo did as kids. Several years ago, Leo commented that the pictures weren't very good and offered to take them down. But Mama wouldn't hear of it. "They are there to remind you how much you could accomplish even as children," she said.
[14] From the very beginning, she urged us to think big. One day, after visiting our grandparents on the South Side, she made Dad detour past the Prudential Building construction site. Mama explained that when finished, the 41-story building would be Chicago's tallest. "Maybe someday one of you can design a building like this," she said.
[15] Her confidence in us was infectious. When my sister Carla was 12, she announced she was going to be a lawyer.
[11]母親也希望我們每個人將來都有所作為。她總是說：「對你們的要求就是將來要大有作為。而我則是幫你們去實現。」
[12]她每天給我們讀書，還用自製的卡片教我們學語音。她激勵我們，對我們做成的一般小事也要讚揚一番。在10歲那年，我把一些板條木箱漆成白色，然後把它們訂成了一個搖搖晃晃的書櫃。「棒極了!」母親讚嘆道。「我們正好用得著。」這書櫃她一用就是好多年。
[13]在我們家餐廳裡掛著兩張按數字塗顏色的畫，那是姐姐格羅麗亞和哥哥利歐小時候的作品。幾年前，利歐說這兩張畫不怎麼樣，主動要取下來。可媽媽反對。她說：「畫掛在那裡可以讓你們記得，你們自打小時候就有多能幹了!」
[14]從一開始，母親就教導我們要胸懷大志。一天，在看望了住在芝加哥南區的外祖父母后，母親要爸爸繞道帶我們經過普魯登希爾大廈的施工場地。媽媽說，這座41層高的大廈建成後將是芝加哥市最高的。「也許將來有一天你們中有個人也能設計出這樣的高樓呢。」她如是說。
[15]她對我們的信心使我們深受感染。當姐姐卡拉12歲時，便雄心勃勃地宣布她將來要當律師。
[16] You can do that," Mama said. You can do anything you put your mind to."
[17] Tour Guide. To Mama, education was a key part of her blueprint for success. Four of us went to a nearby, one-room schoolhouse. My mother made up for its shortcomings by getting us educational toys, talking to us about history, politics and current events, and helping with home-work . The best part of getting a good report card was her unstinting praise.