My Father 我的父親

陳云珍

Father was a hardworking man who delivered1 bread as a living to support his wife and three children. He spent all his evenings after work attending classes， hoping to improve himself so that he could one day find a better paying job. Except for Sundays， Father hardly ate a meal together with his family. He worked and studied very hard because he wanted to provide his family with the best conditions. Whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them， he often reasoned that he was doing all this for them.

父親是一個勤奮的人，他靠送面包為生，維持妻子和三個孩子的生活。每天下班后的晚上，他都要去上課。他希望提高自己，有朝一日能找到一份收入更多的工作。除了星期天，父親很少和家人一起吃飯。他學習和工作都非常努力，因為他想給家人創造最好的條件。每當家人抱怨他沒有花足夠的時間陪他們時，父親經常說出這樣的理由：他這么做都是為了他們。

The day came when the examination results came out. To his joy， Father passed， and with good marks too！Soon after， he was offered a good job as a senior supervisor2 which paid handsomely3. Father could now afford to provide his family with nice clothing， fine food and vacation abroad. However， the family still did not get to see father for most of the week. He continued to work very hard， hoping to be promoted to the position of manager. In fact， to make himself a candidate4 for the promotion， he took another course in the open university. Again， whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them， he often reasoned that he was doing all this for them.

考試結果出來那天，父親很高興，他通過了，而且成績優秀。很快，父親得到了一份高級主管的工作，薪酬豐厚?，F在父親可以給家人買漂亮的衣服和美味的食物，讓他們去外國度假。然而，一星期中大部分時間，家人仍然見不到父親。他繼續努力工作，希望晉升為經理。事實上，為了使自己成為這個職位的候選人，父親又在開放大學報了一門課程。同樣，當家人抱怨父親沒有花足夠的時間陪他們時，父親經常說出這樣的理由：他這么做都是為了他們。

Fathers hard work paid off and he was promoted. He decided to hire a woman to relieve his wife from her housework. He felt that their three-room flat was no longer big enough， it would be nice for his family to be able to enjoy the facilities5 and comfort of a condominium6. Having experienced the rewards of his hard work many times before， father determined to further his studies and work at being promoted again. The family still did not get to see much of him. In fact， Father had to work on Sundays entertaining clients. Again， whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them， he often reasoned that he was doing all this for them. As expected， fathers hard work paid off again and he bought a beautiful condominium overlooking the coast of Singapore. On the first Sunday evening at their new home， father declared7 to his family that he decided not to take any courses or pursue any more promotions. From then on he was going to devote more time to his family and it was a promise. Father did not wake up the next day.

父親的辛勤付出有了回報，他升職了。他決定雇人來減輕妻子的家務負擔。他感到：三室公寓已經不夠寬敞。能享受公寓樓的便利和舒適對全家人來說是一件好事兒。之前拿過很多次辛勤工作的獎金，讓父親決定為升職而進一步學習。大部分時間，家人還是見不到他。實際上，父親不得不在星期天招待客戶。當家人抱怨父親沒有花足夠的時間陪他們時，父親經常說出這樣的理由：他這么做都是為了他們。如預期的那樣，父親的辛勤付出再次得到了回報，他買了一幢漂亮的公寓樓，能夠眺望新加坡海岸。在喬遷新家的第一個星期天的晚上，父親向家人宣布：他決定不再報任何課程，也不再謀求升職。從那時起，他將花更多時間陪家人，這是他的一個承諾。第二天父親再也沒有醒來。endprint