Para. 1

My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous.

You could buy a house with almost no money down.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence: You could buy a house without any down payment(首付), that is, completely on loan.

(2) Here the word“down” is an adverb, meaning“ in cash or when bought”(现款),e.g. You can pay five dollars down and the remainder in installments.

Para. 2

"Of course, you can be a prodigy, too," my mother told me when I was nine. "You can be best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know? Her daughter, she is only best tricky."

1. “Of course you can be prodigy, too.”

(1) The mother's English was not accurate in grammar, and here she dropped the article "a" before the countable noun "prodigy". Later we will find that she made all kinds of grammatical mistakes.

(2) prodigy: a young person who is extremely clever or good at doing something, e.g. Mozart was a prodigy.

2. “You can be best anything": To be grammatically correct, one should say: "You can be the best in anything.

3. Auntie Lindo: One of the four women of the Joy Luck Club.

4. She is only best tricky: She is only good at being tricky.

Para. 3

America was where all my mother's hopes lay. She had come to San Francisco in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better.

5. her family home: Why family home? Is the word "family" redundant? No. In China, a family home is one where a big, extended family with three or more generations lives together.

Para. 4

We didn't immediately pick the right kind of prodigy. At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple. We'd watch Shirley's old movies on TV as though they were training films. My mother would poke my arm and say, "Ni kan. You watch." And I would see Shirley tapping her feet, or singing a sailor song, or pursing her lips into a very round O while saying "Oh, my goodness."

6. Shirley Temple: See Note 2 to the text.

7. tapping her feet: Here she was doing a tap dance, a dance performed with sharp, loud taps of the foot, toe, or heel at each step.

Para. 5

Ni kan," my mother said, as Shirley's eyes flooded with tears. "You already know how. Don't need talent for crying!"

8. "You already know how. don't need talent for crying", This is a remark of reproach said intone of sarcasm. The mother indicated that the daughter cried too much.

Para. 6

Soon after my mother got this idea about Shirley Temple, she took me to the beauty training school in the Mission District and put me in the hands of a student who could barely hold the scissors without shaking. Instead of getting big fat curls, I emerged with an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz. My mother dragged me off to the bathroom and tried to wet down my hair.

9. a beauty training school:美容培训班

10. the Mission district: A district in San Francisco, it has been primarily a His panic neighborhood for decades, where interesting restaurants, bars and specialty shops are often frequented by tourists.

11. Instead of getting big fat curls.. an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz.

(1) Shirley Temple had blond hair in big fat curls. But after the hair was done, the narrator looked very different from what they had hoped.

(2) an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz:一团乱蓬蓬的黑色小卷毛

(3)crinkle: full of wrinkles, twists and ripples

(4) fuzz: thin, soft hair

Para. 7

"You look like a Negro Chinese," she lamented, as if I had done this on purpose.

12. "You look like Negro Chinese": She was thinking of stereotypes: White girls have blond curly hair, Chinese girls have black straight hair, and black girls have crinkly fuzzy hair. To the mother, the new hairstyle was even worse because the daughter now looked like a Negro girl.

13. she lamented, as if I had done this on purpose.

(1) lamented: To lament is to express annoyance or disappointment about something you think is unsatisfactory. The use of the word shows that the mother was dissatisfied and disappointed with the daughter. The word appears again later.

(2) as if I had done this on purpose: The girl felt that her mother blamed her for this initial failure. Later on we find that the mother and daughter often blamed each other in their intense relationship.

Para. 8

The instructor of the beauty training school had to lop off these soggy clumps to make my hair even again. "Peter Pan is very popular these days" the instructor assured my mother. I now had bad hair the length of a boy’s; with curly bangs that hung at a slant two inches above my eyebrows. I liked the haircut, and it made me actually look forward to my future fame.

14. The instructor of the beauty school had to lop off these soggy clumps.

(1) lop off: to cut a part of something off, especially a branch of a tree

(2) soggy: unpleasantly wet and soft, e. g. The ground is soggy from the rain. clump: a group of trees, bushes or other plants growing very close together.

Here “lop off” and “clumps” are used figuratively

15. "Peter Pan is very popular these days": In making her hair smooth again, the girl looked like a boy, and so the instructor was comforting the mother and the girl by mentioning Peter Pan, whose hair was short, with a few straight-across bangs above his eyebrows.

Para. 9

In fact, in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, and I tried each one on for size. I was a dainty ballerina girl standing by the curtain, waiting to hear the music that would send me floating on my tiptoes. I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity. I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air.

16. In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother: Her mother's attempt to change her into a prodigy roused in her many fanciful ideas and made her quite excited.

17. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, trying each one on for size.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence: I imagined myself as different types of prodigy trying to find out which one suited me the best.

(2) trying each one for size, to try something, especially clothing, to see if it is the right size

18. a dainty ballerina girl: a small, pretty and delicate girl who dances in ballets. ballerina: a woman who dances in ballets.

19. I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity.

(1) For Christ child, see Note 4 to the text.

(2) holy indignity: it's difficult to explain exactly what the author means here by "holy indignity". These words can be interpreted in different ways. In outdated English, the word “indignity” means“ indignation”. So the sentence may mean that Christ child cried with holy indignation when he was lifted from the straw manger. Another way of explaining the sentence shows that the author is being humorous here. Jesus Christ did everything with holy dignity, such as preaching and healing the sick. But when he was a newborn baby, and when he was lifted out of the straw manger, he cried just like other babies, without holy dignity, but with indignity. Yet, because he was the holy Son of God, his indignity was holy, too.

I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage: In the fairy tale Cinderella was left alone in the kitchen while her stepmother and the two stepsisters had gone off to attend the dancing party given by the king. She felt very sad. At this moment her fairy god mother appeared. She asked Cinderella to go into the garden and bring the largest pumpkin she could find. By magic the fairy godmother changed the pumpkin into a golden coach lined with white satin. Cinderella went to the party in the carriage, and she was the prettiest girl at the party. The kings young son danced with her the whole night. In the end, the Prince and Cinderella were happily married.

Para. 10

In all of my imaginings I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect: My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk, or to clamor for anything.

beyond reproach:无可指摘,完美无缺

reproach: blame, shame, disgrace, or a source, cause, or occasion of this

Para. 11

But sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good," it warned. "And then you'll always be nothing."

Para. 12

Every night after dinner my mother and I would sit at the Formica topped kitchen table. She would present new tests, taking her examples from stories of amazing children that she read in Ripley's Believe It or Not or Good Housekeeping, Reader's digest, or any of a dozen other magazines she kept in a pile in our bathroom. My mother got these magazines from people whose houses she cleaned. And since she cleaned many houses each week, we had a great assortment. She would look through them all, searching for stories about remarkable children.

20. Ripleys Believe It or Not: Robert L, Ripley(1890--1949) was a famous American cartoonist. He sold his first drawing to Life magazine when he was only 14. In 1918 he created his first collection entitled Champs and Chumps, and later changed to Believe It or Not. All his life he was interested in the odd and the outlandish. He traveled all over the world and visited several Asian countries. He was particularly impressed by China. After coming back to the States he sometimes dressed himself in traditional Chinese dresses and often signed his name as Rip Li. His "Believe It or Not "syndication was carried by over 300newspapers in 33 countries with an estimated readership of 80 million. He gave lectures and TV shows.

21. Good Housekeeping: The magazine first appeared on May 2, 1885, offering reader’s tips for running a home as well as stories and articles. It became extraordinarily popular. In 1966 its readers numbered 5.5 million. Today Good Housekeeping contains articles about home food, fitness, beauty, health and family.

22. Reader’s Digest: A best-selling general interest magazine with a large circulation published in a dozen of languages, it contains articles, short stories and sections from books with a variety of topics that appeal to the great masses of ordinary readers.

23. My mother got these magazines from people whose houses she cleaned…assortment: From this we can see that the family was not well off. The mother had to clean many houses each week to help support the family.

Para. 13

The first night she brought out a story about a three-year-old boy who knew the capitals of all the states and even the most of the European countries. A teacher was quoted as saying that the little boy could also pronounce the names of the foreign cities correctly.

Para. 14

"What's the capital of Finland?” my mother asked me, looking at the story.

Para. 15

All I knew was the capital of California, because Sacramento was the name of the street we lived on in Chinatown. "Nairobi!" I guessed, saying the most foreign word I could think of. She checked to see if that might be one way to pronounce Helsinki before showing me the answer.

24. Nairobi: capital of Kenya, Africa, far away from Finland

25. Helsinki: capital of Finland

Para. 16

The tests got harder - multiplying numbers in my head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, trying to stand on my head without using my hands, predicting the daily temperatures in Los Angeles, New York, and London.

26. multiplying numbers in my head:心算乘法

27. finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards:

(1) Put this into Chinese:在一副纸牌中找出红桃皇后来

(2) hearts: suit of playing cards marked with heart figures in red. A deck of cards is a set of playing cards: pack. Playing cards are arranged in decks of four suits: spades, hearts diamonds, and clubs, with a total number of 52.

28. to stand on my head without using my hands:不用手扶地的倒立

Para. 17

One night I had to look at a page from the Bible for three minutes and then report everything I could remember. "Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and...that's all I remember, Ma," I said.

29. Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance: This line is taken from 2 Chronicles of the Old Testament. Second Chronicles recount the reign of King Solomon, the revolt of the northern tribes, the kings of Judah and the fall of Jerusalem. The original passage is quite complicated with difficult names. No wonder that the girl couldn’t remember much from her reading. Chapter 17 of 2 Chronicles says: "And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of E’phrim, which Asa his father had taken. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Ba'alim: But sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance

Para. 18

And after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face, something inside me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before going to bed that night I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink, and I saw only my face staring back - and understood that it would always be this ordinary face - I began to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high - pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.

30. something inside of me began to die: Compare what the girl said in Paragraph 9, "In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. "It was natural for a child to become excited when he or she is told he/she can be a prodigy. As the tests got harder and harder, the girl lost interest and confidence. Seeing how disappointed her mother was with her performances, she knew that she was not a genius, not a prodigy. This indicates an important change in the girl.

31. I hate the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations.

(1)Why did the girl hate the tests? The girl hated the tests because they represented hopes that had been raised so high that failure to meet the expectations was inevitable

(2) Put this part into Chinese:我恨那些测试,那些过高的希望和达不到的期盼。

like a crazed animal: crazed: (adj. ) behaving in a wild and uncontrolled way

Para. 19

And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me - a face I had never seen before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so that I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. She and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts - or rather, thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.

I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when I saw only or she wished that some magic would make her face prettier. When she only saw her face in the mirror and realized that face would not change, she was so sad and disappointed that she was trying to scratch out the face in the mirror. We are not sure whether the author is alluding to the fairytale "Snow White", but we are reminded of that fairytale. Once, the Queen, Snow white's stepmother, looked in the mirror, asking: "Mirror, mirror upon the wall, who is the fairest of all?"The mirror answered, "You, O Queen, are the fairest of all."When Snow White grew up she became a beautiful girl. When the Queen asked the same question the answer was somewhat different:"You, Lady Queen, though fair you are, Snow White is fairer far to see.

Paragraph 19

(1) What did the girl see in the mirror?

She looked at her reflection and saw an angry and powerful girl She felt that the true prodigy side of her was a strong character and an independent mind.

(2)What new thoughts did she have now? What did she decide to do?She had new thoughts which were filled with a strong spirit of disobedience, rebellion.She decided not to cooperate with her mother's plans

(3)willful; continuing to do what you want, even after you have been told to stop

(4) lots of won’ts: When you disobey an order, you say, “I won’t do it. "So lots of won'ts represent disobedience and rebellion.

I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not: The girl was asserting her self-identity. This idea of "I'm what I’m. I'll always be myself" reflects an aspect of American individualism which is the most important part of American value Growing up in America, the girl was inevitably influenced by this value. Obviously thnotion of individualism is not in conformity with the traditional Chinese family education which emphasizes the principle that the children should listen to their parents. After the girl made up her mind to resist change, the conflict between mother and daughter escalated.

Para. 20

So now when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored. And I was. I got so bored that I started counting the bellows of the foghorns out on the bay while my mother drilled me in other areas. The sound was comforting and reminded me of the cow jumping over the moon. And the next day I played a game with myself, seeing if my mother would give up on me before eight bellows. After a while I usually counted only one bellow, maybe two at most. At last she was beginning to give up hope.

I got so bored I started counting the bellows of the foghorns out on the bay…other areas.

(1) bellow: a deep hollow sound

(2) foghorn: a horn on a ship or a lighthouse sounded as a warning during a fog.

(3) on the bay: on the San Francisco Bay

(4) drill, to teach someone by making them repeat something many times, e. g. She was drilling the class in the forms of the past tense.

(5) other areas: The word"areas"is used because the bay was an area the girl'swas focused on.

give up on me: to stop hoping that someone will change, do something, etc. e. g. She has been in a coma for six weeks, but doctors have not given up on her.

Para. 21

Two or three months went by without any mention of my being a prodigy. And then one day my mother was watching the Ed Sullivan Show on TV. The TV was old and the sound kept shorting out. Every time my mother got halfway up from the sofa to adjust the set, the sound would come back on and Sullivan would be talking. As soon as she sat down, Sullivan would go silent again. She got up - the TV broke into loud piano music. She sat down - silence. Up and down, back and forth, quiet and loud. It was like a stiff, embrace less dance between her and the TV set. Finally, she stood by the set with her hand on the sound dial.

The sound was comforting and reminded me of the cow jumping over the moon: The bellows of the foghorns on the bay had a quality that could rouse the childs imagination, The sound reminded her of the nursery rhyme about the cow jumping over the moon. The complete rhyme goes like this:

“Hey, diddle, diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon.

The little dog laughed,

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.”

The Ed Sullivan Show: See Note 5 to the text.

shorting out:短路

Paragraph 21 is one of the fine examples showing how the author uses simple but vivid expressive language in her depiction. When the sound of the TV set shorted out, the mother would get up from her seat to adjust the set. This action was repeated so many times that in the eyes of the child it was like a dance between her mother and the TV set. In her depiction the author uses simple and small words like" up and down, back and forth, quiet and loud.”

It was like a stiff embrace less dance between her and the TV set:她和电视机好像上演了一段舞蹈,二者不相拥抱,动作僵硬。

Para. 22

She seemed entranced by the music, a frenzied little piano piece with a mesmerizing quality, sort of quick passages and then teasing lilting ones before it returned to the quick playful parts.

She seemed entranced by the music. playful parts.

(1) Translate the sentence into Chinese:她似乎被这音乐吸引住了。这钢琴曲不长,但有点狂乱,有着迷人的特点,乐曲一开始是快节奏的,接着是欢快跳动的节拍,然后又回到嬉戏的部分

(2)entranced, very interested in and pleased with something so that you pay a lot of attention to it, e. g. He was entranced by the sweetness of her voice.

(3)mesmerizing: to mesmerize means to make someone feel that they must watch or listen to something or someone, because they are so interested in it or attracted by it, e. g. He was mesmerized by her charm and beauty.

(4) lilting: with a pleasant pattern of rising and falling sound in music or voice

Para. 23

"Ni kan," my mother said, calling me over with hurried hand gestures. "Look here."

Para. 24

I could see why my mother was fascinated by the music. It was being pounded out by a little Chinese girl, about nine years old, with a Peter Pan haircut. The girl had the sauciness of a Shirley Temple. She was proudly modest, like a proper Chinese Child. And she also did a fancy sweep of a curtsy, so that the fluffy skirt of her white dress cascaded to the floor like petals of a large carnation.

The girl had the sauciness of a Shirley Temple.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence: The girl was Shirley temple-like, slightly rude but in an amusing way.

(2) sauciness: impertinence, rudeness in an amusing way

(3)a Shirley Temple: of the Shirley Temple type

She was proudly modest like a proper Chinese girl. A proper Chinese girl was supposed to bemodest. Knowing this, the girl tried to look modest, but actually she was proud.

And she also did this fancy sweep of a curtsy: Like Shirley Temple, she did her curtsy with a fancy sweep(花哨潇洒的屈膝礼)

the fluffy shirt of her white dress cascaded slowly . a large carnation.Put this into Chinese:她那白色蓬松的裙子慢慢地垂落到地上,好似一大朵康乃馨。

Para. 25

In spite of these warning signs, I wasn't worried. Our family had no piano and we couldn't afford to buy one, let alone reams of sheet music and piano lessons. So I could be generous in my comments when my mother badmouthed the little girl on TV. "Play note right, but doesn't sound good!" my mother complained "No singing sound."

In spite of these warning signs, I wasn't worried.

What were the warning signs?

The girl had so many similarities with the narrator that she should have known what her mother was thinking about: If that Chinese girl could be a Shirley temple-like prodigy, why not her own daughter? Watching that girls performance, the mother had a new idea-to make her daughter learn the piano. The narrator saw those warning signs, but she was not worried. The reason is explained in the following sentences.

reams of sheet music: a large amount of music printed on single sheets and not fastened together inside a cover. reams: (pl )(informal) a large amount of writing on paper, e.g. He showed me reams of notes he had taken.

So I could be generous in my comments when my mother bad-mouthed the little girl.

(1) Why could the girl be generous in her comments?

As she knew she would not be competing with this girl, she was not jealous of her and so she could say nice things about the girl's performance when her mother criticized the girl.

(2) bad-mouth: (informal, especially in American English) to find fault with, to criticize or disparage, e. g. His former colleagues accused him of bad-mouthing them in public.

"Play note right, but doesn't sound good! No singing sound": We can see that although the mother did not speak grammatically correct English, she was able to express herself sufficiently. It’s clear what she meant is that the girl played the notes right but failed to bring out the melody of that piece.

Para. 26

"What are you picking on her for?" I said carelessly. "She's pretty good. Maybe she's not the best, but she's trying hard." I knew almost immediately that I would be sorry I had said that.

picking on her: To pick on someone means to blame someone for something, especially unfairly, e. g. Why does the boss always pick on me?

Para. 27

"Just like you," she said. "Not the best. Because you not trying." She gave a little huff as she let go of the sound dial and sat down on the sofa.

sound dial, a piece of equipment of an old-fashioned radio or TV set that you turn to adjust the volume of the sound

I knew almost immediately I would be sorry I said that: I knew immediately I had invited criticism by saying that7.Grieg: See Note 6 to the text.

Para. 28

The little Chinese girl sat down also, to play an encore of "Anitra's Tanz," by Grieg. I remember the song, because later on I had to learn how to play it.