Oh, to Be Rich with Mom's Cake!I lay on my bed, legs propped up against the wall, desperately wishing my mother would call. But I remembered the last time I'd seen her, right before the train for Providence pulled out of the station, "You know how expensive it is to call," she said, then squeezed me tight and said good- bye.我躺在床上，雙腿靠在牆上，拼命希望媽媽會打電話來。但我想起了我上一次見她時——就在開往普羅維登斯的火車即將駛出車站時——她對我說：「你知道打電話有多貴。」然後緊緊地抱了抱我就道別離開了。This was my first birthday away from home. I missed my mom, missed my sister, and most certainly missed the special pound cake my mother always made for my birthday. Since getting to college that year, I would watch jealously as the other freshmen received care packages from their parents on their birthdays -and even on ordinary days. Big boxes containing summer slacks and blouses, packages of M&M's and Snickers , things they needed and things they didn't. Instead of feeling thrilled about my upcoming eighteenth birthday, I felt empty. I wished my mom would send me something, too, but I knew that she couldn't afford presents or the postage. She had done her best with my sister and me -raising us by herself. The simple truth was there just was never enough money.這是我離開家過的第一個生日，我想念媽媽，想念妹妹，當然，我最想念的還是我過生日時，媽媽總會為我做的那個特別的重糖重油蛋糕。自從那年上大學後，我總會妒忌地注視著其他新生在過生日的時候，甚至是平常的日子裡，收到他們的父母寄來的愛心包裹。一大盒一大盒的夏季長褲和休閒衫，一包包的M&M's巧克力豆和士力架——他們需要的和不需要的東西。對於即將到來的18歲生日，我不但沒有感到興奮，反而覺得空虛。我希望媽媽也會寄些東西給我，但我知道她買不起禮物，也付不起郵資。她獨自撫養我和妹妹已經盡了全力了。事實很簡單：我們的錢永遠不夠花。But that didn't stop her from filling us with dreams. "You can be anything you want to be," she would tell us. "Politicians, dancers, writers - you just have to work for it; you have to get an education."但那並沒有阻止她給我們灌輸夢想。「你們想成為什麼樣的人就能成為什麼樣的人，」她會這樣告訴我們，「政治家、舞蹈家、作家——你們只需要為之努力奮鬥，你們必須受教育。」For a long time, because of my mother's resourcefulness , I didn't realize that we were poor. She did so much with so little. She owned and took care of our house. She clothed and fed us. She found ways to get us scholarships so that we could take violin, piano and viola lessons from some of the best teachers in Philadelphia. She never missed an opportunity to have a tête-à-tête with our schoolteachers, and she attended all our plays and musical performances. My mother had high hopes for my sister and me. She saw the way out of poverty for us was education. We didn't play with the other children on the street, didn't jump double-dutch or stay out late on the porch laughing and talking with our neighbors. We were inside doing our homework and reading books. She sat with us while we did our work and taught us how to learn what she didn't know by plowing through the World Book Encyclopedia or visiting the library.很長一段時間，因為母親的足智多謀，我並沒有意識到我們的貧窮。她用那麼少的錢卻做了那麼多的事。她買下並打理著我們的房子。她讓我們有衣穿，有飯吃。她想辦法讓我們拿到獎學金，好讓我們去上費城一些最好的老師教授的小提琴、鋼琴和中提琴課。她從來不會錯過和我們的老師私下交流的機會。她觀看我們所有的比賽和音樂演奏會。媽媽對我和妹妹寄予了厚望。她明白只有教育才能讓我們擺脫貧窮。我們不和其他孩子一起在街上玩耍，不跳交叉繩，也不在屋外的門廊上和鄰居們說笑到很晚。我們都待在家裡做作業、看書。我們做作業的時候，媽媽就坐在一旁，教我們如何通過查閱《世界百科全書》或者去圖書館學習她不懂的內容。She did it all on 800 dollars a month and what a struggle it was for her.她每個月只用800美元就做成了所有這些事。對她來說，這多麼不容易啊！Please, Mom, can we go to the movies? We'd beg.「求你了，媽媽，我們可以去看電影嗎？」我們會這樣懇求。No, we can watch a movie at home, she'd say, turning to the movie channel.「不行。我們可以在家看電影。」她會這樣回答，同時把電視調到電影頻道。Can't we get nicer pants than these ugly green things? We'd say as we went through the black plastic bag filled with hand-me-downs from our cousins.我們翻著黑塑膠袋裡親戚們穿過的那些舊衣服時，會說：「這些綠褲子太難看了，難道我們就不能穿比這好看一點的褲子嗎？」These will do you fine for now, Mom would say.Why can't I have money to buy French fries after school? I would plead, my nostrils full with the remembered smell of sizzling grease and freshly salted potatoes.「為什麼不能給我點兒錢，讓我放學後買薯條吃呢？」我會這麼懇求，鼻子裡滿是記憶中噝噝作響的熱油和新炸出來的加鹽薯條的香味。No, you don't need that mess. Besides, I've made pea soup with carrots and potatoes.「不，你不需要吃那些亂七八糟的東西。而且，我已經做了加胡蘿蔔和土豆的豌豆湯給你喝。」She never bought anything that she could make herself.I felt our lack most deeply after Christmas, when the other kids talked about the new games and expensive outfits they had found tucked under their live Christmas trees. I didn't mention our silver tree that we unpacked and repacked every year, or that there were only a couple of items for me under the tree: some books, socks, maybe a pair of shoes that I needed. And because my dad wasn't around, Mom pressed me into service -I would wrap my younger sister's gifts so that she could wake up excitedly, believing that Santa had left gifts for her under the tree.最讓我深切地感到我們物質匱乏是在聖誕節之後，那個時候別的孩子都在大談特談他們在真正的聖誕樹下找到的那些新玩具和昂貴的套裝。我從不跟別人提及我們那棵每年過聖誕節時拆開包裝、過了聖誕節再包起來的銀色聖誕樹，也不提聖誕樹下為我準備的只有幾個零星小物件：幾本書、襪子，也許還有我需要的一雙鞋。因為爸爸不在身邊，所以媽媽就硬讓我幫著幹活——給妹妹包裝禮物，好讓她在第二天早上興奮地醒來，相信聖誕老人在聖誕樹下給她留了禮物。Thanks to my mom's sacrifices and big dreams, I'd made it to the Ivy League: Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Yet I was afraid that I wouldn't measure up to the other students. They seemed to exude confidence and the smell of money. I felt so lost, so far away, as if my mom had said, "Well, if you're old enough to go six hours away, you're old enough to take care of yourself."感謝媽媽的犧牲和她的那些大夢想，我考上了常春藤盟校：位於羅得島州普羅維登斯的布朗大學。但我擔心我不能和其他學生相比。他們似乎全身上下洋溢著自信和錢的味道。我感到那麼迷惘、那麼遠離人群，就好像媽媽曾說過：「唔，如果你已經長大了，能到六小時路程以外的地方去，那你也就到了能照顧好自己的年紀了。」As I was recalling these things, my roommate joined me on the bed. "Hey. After we study, let's buy ice cream and cake." I nodded, closed my eyes, and imagined the cake Mom would have made. She would take out her mixer and the chrome bowl, then add the butter that she'd let sit out until it was soft. She would pour in the sugar grains in a narrow stream. Mmm. I could see the golden yellow of each of the twelve eggs, swallowed under the rapid blur of the spinning beaters, and I could almost smell the vanilla and nutmeg filling the house while the cake baked.在我回想這些的時候，我的室友坐到了我床上。「嗨，自習後，我們去買冰淇淋和蛋糕吃吧!」我點了點頭，閉上眼睛，想像著媽媽會做的那種蛋糕。她會取出她的攪拌器和那隻鉻碗，然後把她早已放在一邊變得鬆軟的黃油加入其中。然後，她會將細砂糖如小溪流般倒進去。嗯。我仿佛看見那12個雞蛋的每一個金黃色的蛋黃在那高速旋轉的攪拌器的攪拌下被吞沒。我幾乎能夠聞到正在烘焙的蛋糕發出的香草和肉豆蔻的香味，充滿了整個屋子。As I daydreamed, there was a knock on the door. My roommate opened it to find a deliveryman asking for me. He handed her a large box, which she carefully placed on the desk near my bed. "Open it." I did, and inside was a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. In icing were the words: "Happy Birthday, Sande! Love, Mom." My skin tingled with excitement, as if Mom were right there hugging me close. How had she managed to afford it? I felt as if I were back at home with her, safe and secure while she sang and told me how much she loved having me in her life. I ran out to the hall and knocked on my dormmates' doors. "Birthday cake," I called. As I cut cake for the students gathered in my room, then watched their faces as they ate, I didn't need to eat to feel both full and rich inside.正當我做著白日夢的時候，傳來了一陣敲門聲。我的室友打開門，看到一個郵遞員，是找我的。他遞給我的室友一個大大的盒子，她小心翼翼地將它放在我床邊的桌上。「打開它。」我打開盒子，裡面是一個撒著巧克力糖霜的香草味蛋糕。蛋糕的糖衣上寫著：「生日快樂，桑德！愛你的媽媽。」我的皮膚因興奮而感到一陣陣發麻，好像媽媽就站在這兒緊緊地抱著我一樣。她是怎麼設法付的錢呢？我感到自己好像又回到了家，和媽媽在一起，媽媽為我唱著生日歌，並且告訴我她多麼高興這輩子有我這個女兒，我感到平安無憂。我跑到大廳裡，敲開舍友們的門。「生日蛋糕！」我喊道。當我為聚集在我宿舍裡的同學們切好蛋糕，然後看著她們吃的時候，我不需要吃蛋糕就覺得肚子飽飽的，心裡滿滿的。
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