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My shock and embarrassment at finding Mother in tears on Wednesday was a perfect index of how little I understood the pressures on her. Sitting beside her on the couch, I began very slowly to understand.
星期三，当发现妈哭时我所感到的震惊和窘迫，完全表明了我对妈所承受的压力是多么的不理解。我坐在她的身旁，慢慢开始理解了。
“I guess we all have to fail sometime,” Mother said quietly. I could sense her pain and the tension of holding back the strong emotions that were interrupted by my arrival. Suddenly, something inside me turned. I reached out and put my arms around her.
“我想我们都不免有失败的时候，”妈平静地说。我可以感觉到她的痛苦，也感觉到她在极力抑制着由于我闯进来而被打断的强烈情感的发泄。突然，我心里一酸，伸开双臂，把妈搂在怀里。
She broke then. She put her face against my shoulder and sobbed. I held her close and didn't try to talk. I knew I was doing what I should, what I could, and that it was enough. In that moment, feeling Mother's back racked with emotion, I understood for the first time her vulnerability. She was still my mother, but she was something more: a person like me, capable of fear and hurt and failure. I could feel her pain as she must have felt mine on a thousand occasions when I had sought comfort in her arms.
妈再也控制不住了。她把脸贴着我的肩膀，抽泣着。我紧紧抱着她，没有说话。我明白我是在做我应该做的和我所能做的，这就够了。妈非常激动，我感到她的背在颤抖。就在那一时刻，我第一次明白妈也有弱点。她还是我的妈，但又不仅如此：她和我一样也是一个普通的人，会害怕，会受到伤害，会遭到失败。我感觉到她的痛苦，就像我千百次在她怀里寻求安慰时，她感到我的痛苦一样。
