Mother"s love Is a warm River
The young thief and his mother
小偷和他的母亲
A young man was caught stealing, and sentenced to death three days later.
He wanted to speak with his mother before the execution. Of course this was granted.
When his mother came to him, he said, "I want to tell you something." He said something but she could not hear. He whispered again, and when she came close to him, she put her ear to his mouth. He nearly bit off her ear. All the bystanders were horrified.
"It is to punish her," he said. "When I was young I began stealing little things, and brought them home to mother. "Instead of punishing me, she laughed and said, "It will not be noticed." It is because of her that I am here today."
一个小偷被抓住了，被判处死刑，三天后执行。
他想在行刑前与他的母亲话别，得到了允许。
当他妈妈来到他的面前，他说：“告诉你一件事。”他轻轻说了一遍，但是她听不到；等她走近些，小偷又轻声说了一遍。母亲将耳朵贴近时，儿子突然咬住母亲的耳朵，差点撕下来，周围的人都惊呆了。
“这是对她的惩罚，”小偷说，“我小时候小偷小摸，把偷的东西带回家时，她不但不惩罚我，反而笑着说‘别让人看见。’就是因为她我才落个今天这样的下场。”
The warmth forever
永远的温情
Night after night, she came to tuck me in, even long after my childhood years. Following her longstanding custom, she"d lean
down and push my long hair out of the way, then kiss my forehead.
I don"t remember when it first started annoying me -- her hands pushing my hair that way. But it did annoy me, for they felt work-worn and rough against my young skin. Finally, one night, I lashed out at her: "Don"t do that anymore -- your hands are too rough!" She didn"t say anything in reply. But never again did my mother close out my day with that familiar expression of her love. Lying awake long afterward, my words haunted me. But pride stifled my conscience, and I didn"t tell her I was sorry.
Time after time, with the passing years, my thoughts returned to that night. By then I missed my mother"s hands, missed her goodnight kiss upon my forehead. Sometimes the incident seemed very close, sometimes far away. But always it lurked, hauntingly, in the back of my mind.
Well, the years have passed, and I"m not a little girl anymore. Mom is in her mid-seventies, and those hands I once thought to be so rough are still doing things for me and my family. She"s been our doctor, reaching into a medicine cabinet for the remedy to calm a young girl"s stomach or soothe a boy"s scraped knee. She cooks the best fried chicken in the world... gets stains out of blue jeans like I never could...and still insists on dishing out ice cream at any hour of the day or night.
Through the years, my mother"s hands have put in countless hours of toil, and most of hers were before automatic washers!
Now, my own children are grown and gone. Mom no longer has Dad, and on special occasions, I find myself drawn next door to spend the night with her. So it was that late on Thanksgiving Eve, as I drifted into sleep in the bedroom of my youth, a familiar hand hesitantly stole across my face to brush the hair from my forehead. Then a kiss, ever so gently, touched my brow.
In my memory, for the thousandth time, I recalled the night my surly young voice complained: "Don"t do that anymore -- your
hands are too rough!" Catching Mom"s hand in hand, I blurted out how sorry I was for that night. I thought she"d remember, as I
did. But Mom didn"t know what I was talking about. She had forgotten -- and forgiven -- long ago.
That night, I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my gentle mother and her caring hands. And the guilt I had carried around for so long was nowhere to be found.
夜复一夜，她总是来帮我来盖被子，即使我早已长大。这是妈妈长期习惯，她总是弯下身来，拨开我的长发，在我的额上一吻。
我不记得从何时起，她拨开我的头发令我非常不耐烦。但的确，我讨厌她长期操劳、粗糙的手摩擦我细嫩的皮肤。最后，一天晚上，我冲她叫：“别再这样了——你的手太粗糙了！”她什么也没说。但妈妈再也没有象这样对我表达她的爱。直到很久以后，我还是常想起我的那些话。但自尊占了上风，我没有告诉她我很后悔。
时光流逝，我又想到那个晚上。那时我想念我妈妈的手，想念她晚上在我额上的一吻。有时这幕情景似乎很近，有时又似乎很遥远。但它总是潜伏着，时常浮现，出现在我意识中。
一年年过去，我也不再是一个小女孩，妈妈也有70多岁了。那双我认为很粗糙的手依然为我和我家庭做着事。她是我家的医生，为我女儿在药橱里找胃药或在我儿子擦伤的膝盖上敷药。她能烧出世界上最美味的鸡…… 将牛仔裤弄干净而我却永远不能……而且可以在任何时候盛出冰激凌。
这么多年来，妈妈手做了多少家务！而且在自动洗衣机出现以前她已经操劳了绝大多数时间。
现在，我的孩子都已经长大，离开了家。爸爸去世了，有些时候，我睡在妈妈隔壁房间。一次感恩节前夕的深夜，我睡在年轻时的卧室里，一只熟悉的手有些犹豫地、悄悄地略过我的脸，从我额头上拨开头发，然后一个吻，轻轻地印在我的眉毛上。
在我的记忆中，无数次，想起那晚我粗暴、年青的声音：“别再这样了——你的手太粗糙了！”抓住妈*手，我冲口而出因为那晚，我是多么后悔。我以为她想起来了，像我一样。但妈妈不知道我在说些什么。她已经在很久以前就忘了这事，并早就原谅了我。
那晚，我带着对温柔母亲和体贴双手的感激入睡。这许多年来我的负罪感已经消失无踪。
That"s my mother"s face scars
妈妈脸上的那块伤疤
A little boy invited his mother to attend his elementary school"s first teacher-parent conference. To the little boy"s dismay, she said she would go. This would be the first time that his classmates and teacher met his mother and he was embarrassed by her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar that covered nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to talk about why or how she got the scar.
At the conference, the people were impressed by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother despite the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed and hid himself from everyone. He did, however, get within earshot of a conversation between his mother and his teacher, and heard them speaking.
"How did you get the scar on your face?" the teacher asked.
The mother replied, "When my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught on fire. Everyone was too afraid to go in because the fire was out of control, so I went in. As I was running toward his crib, I saw a beam coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked unconscious7 but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us." She touched the burned side of her face. "This scar will be permanent, but to this day, I have never regretted doing what I did."
At this point, the little boy came out running towards his mother with tears in his eyes. He hugged her and felt an overwhelming sense of the sacrifice that his mother had made for him. He held her hand tightly for the rest of the day.
有个小男孩邀请他的母亲去参加学校举办的第一次家长会。令他沮丧的是，妈妈竟然答应去。同学们和老师将是第一次见到妈妈，但是，妈*相貌令他感到难堪。虽然母亲非常漂亮，但她整个右脸几乎被一块严重的伤疤覆盖了。小男孩从来不曾想问母亲伤疤的来历。
家长会上，小男孩妈*善良和蔼以及天生丽质给人们留下了深刻的印象，没有人在意她脸上的那块伤疤。但是，小男孩却感到局促不安，他藏起来不与人打照面。尽管如此，他还是能听到妈妈和老师的谈话，能听见他们谈话的内容。
“您脸上的伤疤是怎么来的？”老师问道。
小男孩的妈妈答道：“儿子很小的时候，他的房间突然着火了。大家都不敢进去，因为火势失控了。我进去了。就在我跑向他的婴儿床时，我看到一根房梁就要倒下来，我扑到他的床上，想护住他。房梁把我砸晕了。幸运的是，消防员冲了进来，救了我们。”她摸着脸上的伤疤，说：“这块伤疤会永远留在脸上，但是直到今天，我从没为我做的事后悔过。”
听到这里，小男孩走了出来，满含热泪奔向妈妈，拥抱着她。母亲为自己作出的牺牲让他内心激动无比。那天后来，小男孩紧抓妈妈的手不曾松过。
