雙語美文|A father's love父愛無疆

　　Daddy just didn’t know how to show love. It was Mom who held the family together. He just went to work every day and came home； she’d have a list of sins we’d committed and he’d scold us about them.

　　爸爸根本不知道怎樣表達愛。把這個家維系在一起的人是媽媽。爸爸天天去上班，回家，然后是媽媽向他數落我們所做的一連串錯事，爸爸再為了這些事把我們罵一頓。

　　Once when I stole a candy bar， he made me take it back and tell the man I stole it and that I’d pay for it. But it was Mom who understood I was just a kid.

　　有一次我偷了一根棒棒糖。爸爸硬是要我送回去，還要我告訴賣糖的人是我偷了糖，并說我愿意幫他拆箱開包作為賠償。但媽媽卻理解我，她知道我只不過是個孩子。

　　I broke my leg once on the playground swing and it was Mom who held me in her arms all the way to the hospital. Dad pulled the car right up to the door of the emergency room and when they asked him to move it saying the space was reserved for emergency vehicles， He shouted， “What do you think this is？ A tour bus？”

　　再有一次，我在操場蕩秋千摔壞了腿，一路抱著我到醫院的人是媽媽。爸爸將車正好停在急診室門口。因為那兒是專供急救車停靠的，醫院里的人就叫我爸爸把車開走。爸爸大聲吼叫起來：“你以為這是什么車？難道是旅游車嗎？”

　　At my birthday parties， Dad always seemed sort of out of place， He just busied himself blowing up balloons， setting up tables， and running errands， it was Mom who carried the cake with the candles on it for me to blow out.

　　在我的生日聚會上，爸爸總顯得有點不得其所。他不是忙于吹氣球，就是擺桌子，或做些跑腿的活兒。將插著蠟燭的生日蛋糕捧進來讓我吹滅的人總是媽媽。

　　When I leaf through picture albums， people always ask， “What does your Dad took like？” “Who knows？ He was always fiddling around with the camera taking everyone else’s picture. I must have a zillion pictures of Mom and me smiling together.”

　　我隨便翻閱相冊時，別人總會問“你爸爸長什么模樣？”這還真說不出。他總是擺弄著相機為別人拍照。我和媽媽在一起微笑的照片一定多得都數不清了。

　　I remember when Mom told him to teach me how to ride a bicycle. I told him not to let it go， but he said it was time. I fell and Mom ran to pick me up， but he waved her off. I was so mad that I showed him， got right back on that bike and rode it myself. He didn’t even feel embarrassed and just smiled.

　　我還記得有一次媽媽叫爸爸教我騎自行車。我叫他扶著車子別松手，他卻說是時候了。我摔了下來，媽媽跑來扶我，他卻揮手讓媽媽開走。我真是氣得發瘋，決心非要讓他看看我的本事不可。我馬上騎上車，竟能一個人騎了。爸爸卻一點也不尷尬，只是笑笑。

　　When I went to college， Mom did all the writing. He just sent checks and a little note about how great his lawn looked now that I wasn’t playing football on it.

　　我上大學了，給我的信總是媽媽寫的。爸爸只知道寄錢，頂多附上一張便條，告訴我他的草坪現在修整得多么好，而如今我卻不能在上面踢球。

　　Whenever I called home， he acted like he wanted to talk， but he always said， “I’ll get your mother.”When I got married， it was Mom who cried. He just blew his nose loudly and left the room. All my life he said， “Where are you going？ What time are you coming home？ No， you cannot go.”

　　每次我打電話回家，爸爸總像是有話要說，但結果他總是說“我把你媽叫來接”。我結婚的時候，媽媽哭了，爸爸只是大聲打著鼻響，離走出了房間。在我一生中，他總是說：“你去哪兒？你什么時候回家？不，你不能去。”

　　Daddy just didn’t know how to show love， unless…

　　爸爸就是不知道怎樣表達愛，只會這樣……

　　Is it possible he showed it and didn’t recognize it ？

　　爸爸向我們表達了愛，難道他只是沒有意識到嗎？