人生故事:母親是這樣分蘋果的(中英對照)

One’s education started from family, especially his or her mother. There was a renowned psychologist in America who had done a study on the impact of mother on her children’s lives. He singled out 50 successful people in America and 59 people with criminal records and asked them to talk about the influence their mothers had exerted on them.
一個人一生中最早受到的教育來自家庭，來自母親。美國一位著名心理學家爲了研究母親對人一生的影響，在全美選出50位成功人士，同時又選出59名有犯罪記錄的人，請他們談談母親對他們的影響。

There are two letters impressing me most. One is from a famous celebrity from the White House while the other from a prisoner in jail. Both of them talked about the same thing in the letters: the story of their mothers’ distributing apples to them.
有兩封回信給他的印象最深。一封來自白宮一位著名人士，一封來自監獄一名服刑的犯人
。他們談的都是同一件事：小時候母親給他們分蘋果。

Here is the story from the prisoner:
來自監獄的犯人在信中寫道：

When I was young, one day my mother brought several big apples of different colors and sizes, among which there was a biggest red one that I was eager to get. At that time, my mum put all the apples on the table and asked me and my younger brother, “Which do you like?” I was about to say “the biggest one” while my brother took one step ahead and said what I wanted to say. My mum glared at him and blamed him by saying, “A good child should know to give the best to others instead of being self-centered.” My learnt a quick lesson and said to my mum, “Mum, I would like the smallest one. The biggest one should be left for my brother!” At hearing my words, my mum felt more than happy and kissed my cheek, giving the biggest apple to me as a reward.
小時候，有一天媽媽拿來幾個蘋果，紅紅綠綠，大小各不同。中間的一個又紅又大，我非常想要。這時，媽媽把蘋果放在桌上，問我和弟弟：“你們想要哪個？”我剛想說要最大最紅的一個，卻被弟弟搶先說了出來。媽媽聽了，瞪了他一眼，責備他說：“好孩子要學會把好東西讓給別人，不能總想着自己。”我靈機一動，改口說：“媽媽，我想要那個最小的，最大的留給弟弟吧！”媽媽聽了非常高興，在我的臉上親了一下，並把那個又紅又大的蘋果獎勵給我。

I told a lie but I got what I wanted by doing it. Since then, I learnt to lie. Later, I learnt to fight, steal and rob. I would try all means to get what I wanted. Then later I was put behind bars.
我說了謊，卻得到了我想要的東西，從此，我學會了說謊。以後，我又學會了打架、偷、搶。爲了得到想要的，我不擇手段。後來，我被送進了監獄。

Here is the story from the celebrity:
來自白宮的著名人士是這樣寫的：

When I was young, one day my mum brought several apples of different colors and sizes. Both my two younger brothers and I wanted the biggest one. My mum picked up the biggest apple and said to us, “It is good to get the biggest apple. Now let’s start a competition. I will divide the lawn in front of our house into three parts, each of you responsible for one respectively. Who could prune his own share of lawn the best and the quickest will be rewarded with the biggest apple.” I won the apple finally.
小時候，有一天媽媽拿來幾個蘋果，紅紅綠綠，大小各不同。我和兩個弟弟爭着要大的， 媽媽把那個最大最紅的蘋果舉在手中對我們說：“誰都想得到這個蘋果，很好。現在，讓我們來比賽，我把門前的草坪分成三塊，你們一人一塊負責修剪好，誰幹得最快最好，誰就有權得到它。”我贏得了那個最大的蘋果。

I feel very grateful to my mum because she taught me a very basic but significant wisdom: If you want to get the best, you must compete to be the No.1. She has been teaching us in this way and we followed her advice all the time. At my home, I needed to compete for what I wanted. It is quite fair because what and how much you want should be acquired with equivalent effort and cost.
我非常感謝母親，她讓我明白了一個最簡單也最重要的道理：要想得到最好的，就必須努力爭第一。她一直都是這樣教育我們，也是這樣做的。在我們家裏，你想要什麼好東西都要通過比賽來贏得。這很公平，你想要什麼，想要多少，就必須爲此付出多少努力和代價。

The hand rocking the cradle is the one promoting the world. Mother is the first teacher of children, who can teach them to tell the first lie or teach them to be an honest and No.1-pursuing person.
推動搖籃的手，就是推動世界的手。母親是孩子的第一任教師，你可以教他說第一句謊言，也可以教他做一個誠實的、永遠努力爭第一的人。