英语美文：写给妈妈们

 　For Moms

　　This is for all the mothers who DIDN’T win Mother of the Year last year, all the runners-up and all the wannabes, in- cluding the mothers too tired to enter or too busy to care.

　　This is for all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at soccer games on Friday night, instead of watching from cars. So that when their kids asked, “Did you see my goal?” They could say, “Of course, wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” and mean it.

　　This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid say- ing, “It’s OK honey, Mommy’s here.”

　　This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see, and the mothers who took those babies and made them homes.

　　This is for all the mothers of the victims of school shootings, and the mothers of the murderers. For the mothers of the survivors¹, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

　　This is for all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes, and all the mothers who DON’T.

　　What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion²? Broad hips³?

　　Is it the ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it heart?

　　Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

　　Is it the jolt⁴ that takes you from sleep to dread⁵, as you bound from bed to crib at 2 a.m. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

　　Is it the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, or a baby dying?

　　I think so.

　　So this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies, and for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn’t.

　　This is for reading “Goodnight, Moon” twice a night for a year. And then reading it again. “Just one more time.”

　　This is for all the mothers who mess up, who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair and stomp⁶ their feet like a tired 2-year-old who wants ice cream before dinner.

　　This is for all the mothers who taught their daughters to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted⁷ for Velcro instead.

　　This is for all the mothers who bite their lips-sometimes until they bleed-when their 14 year olds dye their hair green. Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won’t stop.

　　This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

　　This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

　　This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls “Mom?” in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

　　This is for mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children’s graves.

　　This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can’t find the words to reach them.

　　This is for all the mothers who sent their sons to school with stomachaches, assuring them they’d be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse and hour later asking them to please pick them up, right away.

　　This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation⁸, and mature mothers learning to let go.

　　This is for working mothers and stay-at-home mothers, single mothers and married mothers, mothers with money, and mothers without.

　　This is for you all. So hang in there!

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

3 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

5 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

6 stomp   

v.跺（脚），重踩，重踏

参考例句：

• 3.And you go to france, and you go to stomp! 你去法国，你去看跺脚舞！
• 4.How hard did she stomp? 她跺得有多狠？

7 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

8 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。