Para. 61

I assumed that my talent-show fiasco meant that I would never have to play the piano again. But two days later, after school, my mother came out of the kitchen and saw me watching TV.

I assumed my talent-show fiasco. play the piano again: Since my talent show ended in a ridiculous failure, I took it for granted that my mother had given up on me and would not make me play the piano again.

Para. 62

"Four clock," she reminded me, as if it were any other day. I was stunned, as though she were asking me to go through the talent-show torture again. I planted myself more squarely in front of the TV.

I wedged myself more tightly in front of the TV

(1) I pushed myself more tightly in front of the TV (to show her reluctance to go away for the piano practice

(2)A wedge is a piece of wood, mental, etc. that has one thick edge and one pointed edge and is used especially for keeping a door open or for splitting wood. To wedge is to force something firmly into a narrow space.

Para. 63

"Turn off TV," she called from the kitchen five minutes later.

Para. 64

I didn't budge. And then I decided, I didn't have to do what mother said anymore. I wasn't her slave. This wasn't China. I had listened to her before, and look what happened she was the stupid one.

I wasn't her slave. This wasn't China: In her mind, a daughter was as obedient as a slave in China. She regarded herself as an American and was determined not to be a Chinese daughter. This shows that this mother-daughter conflict was not only between two generations but also between two cultures.

She was the stupid one, She was to blame for what happened at the talent show. She was the one who caused the ridiculous failure

Para. 65

She came out of the kitchen and stood in the arched entryway of the living room. "Four clock," she said once again, louder.

Para. 66

"I'm not going to play anymore," I said nonchalantly. "Why should I? I'm not a genius."

Paras. 67

She walked over and stood in front of the TV. I saw that her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.

I saw her chest heaving up and down in an angry way.

(1) I saw her breathing hard in great anger.

(2) To heave means to swell up, bulge out, to rise and fall rhythmically; to make strenuous spasmodic movements of the throat, chest, or stomach in order to pant, breathe hard or gasp.

Paras. 68

"No!" I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged. So this was what had been inside me all along.

" No!"I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged: This "No" signifies disobedience and rebellion. Her true self had finally emerged and she found strength in her true identity.

Paras. 69

"No! I won't!" I screamed.

Paras. 70

She yanked me by the arm and pulled me off the floor. She was frighteningly strong, half pulling, half carrying me towards the piano as I kicked the throw rugs under my feet. She lifted me up onto the hard bench. I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased that I was crying.

She was frighteningly strong;她的力气大得吓人

throw rug: American English for a scatter rug, a rug for covering only a limited area

Paras. 71

"You want me to be something that I'm not!" I sobbed. " I'll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!"

Paras. 72

"Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!"

Only two kinds of daughters. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind... obedient daughter

(1) Put this part into Chinese:只有两种女儿:顺从听话的和自行其事的。这个家里只能有顺从听话的女儿

(2) These words clearly reveal the mother's firm belief in parental authority. Her traditional Chinese views convinced her that daughters should listen to and obey their mothers' commands. She was aware that American daughters were not obedient. She wanted her daughter to have a Chinese character in the American circumstances

Paras. 73

"Then I wish I weren't your daughter, I wish you weren't my mother," I shouted. As I said these things I got scared. It felt like worms and toads and slimy things crawling out of my chest, but it also felt good, that this awful side of me had surfaced, at last.

As I said these things I got scared: She got scared because she knew those were terrible things for a child to say to his/her parent. It means declaring that you have decided to disown your family.

. It felt like worms and toads and slimy things crawling.. had surfaced, at last.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence and tell why the narrator felt this way: When I said those words, I felt that some very nasty thoughts had got out of my chest, and so I felt scared. But at the same time I felt good and relieved, because those nasty things had been suppressed in my heart for a long time and now they had got out at last.

(2) Here the author uses a simile to describe her feeling vividly. Worms and toads are among things that a child is likely to associate with nasty feelings. This is one of the examples that show how the author uses a child's point of view successfully. Other examples are found in her earlier references to Peter Pan, Cinderella, and the nursery rhyme of the cow jumping over the moon.

(3) slimy: covered with a thick slippery substance that looks or smells unpleasant

Paras. 74

"Too late to change this," my mother said shrilly.

"Too late change this": it's too late to change this. I will always be your mother and you will always be my daughter

Paras. 75

And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking point. I wanted see it spill over. And that's when I remembered the babies she had lost in China, the ones we never talked about. "Then I wish I'd never been born!" I shouted. " I wish I were dead! Like them."

And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking point.. it spill over.

(1) This means: I could feel that her anger had reached the point where her self-control collapsed, and I wanted to see what my mother would do when she lost complete control of herself.

(2) breaking point: the point at which one's endurance, self-control, etc, collapses under

Paras. 76

It was as if I had said magic words. Alakazam!-her face went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless.

Alakazam: Alakazam is part of the series of names, A magician says abra, kadabra, alakazam, and a miracle will happe

And her face went blank, her mouth closed. a small brown leaf, thin, brittle,lifeless.

(1) Put this part into Chinese:她的脸部失去了表情,嘴巴紧闭,双臂无力地垂下。房间,神色惊异,好像一小片枯黄的树叶被风吹走,那样单薄、脆弱、毫无生气。

(2) What would one expect the mother to do when her daughter said those terrible words? She would fly into a great rage and probably she would punish the daughter for being so ungrateful. Maybe she would scold her and slap her. After all she was a quick-tempered woman and she had scolded and slapped her daughter before for less sufficient reasons. Yet nothing of the sort happened. She said nothing and did nothing.

(3) What magical effect did those words produce? Those words were like magic words, transforming the mother, in a flash of a second, from a frighteningly strong woman into a silent, stunned and helpless woman like a small thin leaf blown away. She looked as if she had been defeated by an invisible enemy.

Paras. 77

It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her many times, each time asserting my will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didn't get straight As. I didn't become class president. I didn't get into Stanford. I dropped out of college.

In the years that followed, I failed her so many times.. I dropped out of college.

(1) These sentences sum up what happened in the many years that passed between the time when the daughter was a small child and when she was thirty. Although this part is ill narrated by the daughter, now she had grown up to be a mature woman. While the narrator remains the same, the point of view has shifted.

(2) I failed her so many times: This is explained by the next sentences: I didn't get straight As. I didn’t become class president. I didnt get into Stanford. I dropped out ofcollege.3) fall short of expectations: to fail to meet the expectations.

Paras. 78

For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.

Paras. 79

And for all those years we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible declarations afterward at the piano bench. Neither of us talked about it again, as if it were a betrayal that was now unspeakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped for something so large that failure was inevitable.

Paras. 80

And even worse, I never asked her about what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?

Paras. 81

For after our struggle at the piano, she never mentioned my playing again. The lessons stopped The lid to the piano was closed shutting out the dust, my misery, and her dreams.

The lid to the piano was closed, shutting out the dust, my misery, and her dreams: When the lid to the piano was closed, it shut out the dust and also put an end to my misery and her dreams.

Paras. 82

So she surprised me. A few years ago she offered to give me the piano, for my thirtieth birthday. I had not played in all those years. I saw the offer as a sign of forgiveness, a tremendous burden removed.

Paras. 83

"Are you sure?" I asked shyly. "I mean, won't you and Dad miss it?"

Paras. 84

"No, this your piano," she said firmly. "Always your piano. You only one can play."

"No, this your piano. Always your piano. You only can play": No, this is your piano. It has always been your piano. You are the only one who can play

Paras. 85

"Well, I probably can't play anymore," I said. "It's been years."

Paras. 86

"You pick up fast," my mother said, as if she knew this was certain. " You have natural talent. You could be a genius if you want to."

"You could been genius if you want to": You could have been a genius if you had wanted to. After so many years, this is the first time that the mother said such encouraging words to the daughter. These words show that the mother knew her own daughter very well. SheZag fully recognized her natural talent and clearly knew that she did not want to try her best. And she was neither angry nor sad: This calm tone shows that she had completely reconciled herself to the reality.

Paras. 87

"No, I couldn't."

Paras. 88

"You just not trying," my mother said. And she was neither angry nor sad. She said it as if announcing a fact that could never be disproved. "Take it," she said.

Paras. 89

But I didn't at first. It was enough that she had offered it to me. And after that, every time I saw it in my parents' living room, standing in front of the bay window, it made me feel proud, as if it were a shiny trophy that I had won back.

And after that, every time I saw it. I had won back.

(1)the bay window: a window or set of windows jutting out from the wall of a building and forming an alcove within, usually with glass on three sides

(2)Why did the daughter feel proud and see the piano as a trophy she had won back? The piano had become a symbol. When she was forced to learn to play it, it was a symbol of her misery and her mother's dreams. When her mother offered it to her for her thirtieth birthday, the offer meant forgiveness and reconciliation. Now she heard her mother praising her. Her mother's appreciation was like a trophy that she had won at long last.

Paras. 90

Last week I sent a tuner over to my parent's apartment and had the piano reconditioned, for purely sentimental reasons. My mother had died a few months before and I had been begetting things in order for my father a little bit at a time. I put the jewelry in special silk pouches. The sweaters I put in mothproof boxes. I found some old Chinese silk dresses, the kind with little slits up the sides. I rubbed the old silk against my skin, and then wrapped them in tissue and decided to take them hoe with me.

tuner; a person who tunes musical instrument( a piano tune)调音师

recondition: to put back in good condition by cleaning, or repairing

all the colors I hated: The colors were too bright, loud for a refined, sophisticated taste.

moth-proof: treated chemically so as to repel the clothes moths proof:(combining form) treated or made so as not to be harmed by something, or to be protected from or against, resistant to, unaffected by, e. g. a fireproof wall, water proof boots, a bulletproof car

I rubbed the old silk against my skin. take them home with me: What the daughter did has symbolic meanings. It tells us that she loved and missed her mother and she decided to keep those typical Chinese dresses as part of her Chinese heritage.

Paras. 91

After I had the piano tuned, I opened the lid and touched the keys. It sounded even richer that I remembered. Really, it was a very good piano. Inside the bench were the same exercise notes with handwritten scales, the same secondhand music books with their covers held together with yellow tape.

Paras. 92

I opened up the Schumann book to the dark little piece I had played at the recital. It was on the left-hand page, "Pleading Child." It looked more difficult than I remembered. I played a few bars, surprised at how easily the notes came back to me.

Paras. 93

It was called "Perfectly Contented." I tried to play this one as well. It had a lighter melody but with the same flowing rhythm and turned out to be quite easy. "Pleading Child" was shorter but slower; "Perfectly Contented" was longer but faster. And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.

And for the first time, or so it seemed, I noticed the piece. longer, but faster.

(1) Translate these sentences into Chinese:第一次,或好像感觉是第一次,我注意到右边的乐曲。它的名称是“心满意足”。我也试着弹这首曲子。它的曲调比较轻松,但节奏同样流畅,不是很难。“祈求的孩子”较短、较慢,而“心满意足”更长、更快一些

(2)or so it seemed: Since she practiced "Pleading Child" so often she must have seen the other piece on the right-hand side, but at that time with all her attention concentratedon"Pleading Child", she simply didn't notice it.

And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.

(1) Translate the sentence into Chinese::在我弹了几遗后,我意识到,原来这两个曲子是同首歌的两个组成部分。

(2)What did the narrator mean when she said they were two halves of the same song? Why does the author end the story this way? The last sentence is very meaningful. At this stage, the narrator was able to see that her childhood was made up of two sides. Although there were unhappy moments, on the whole it was filled with perfect happiness. The titles of the two different piano pieces are clearly suggestive. When she was a little girl, she only saw one side of her childhood. She couldn't understand her mother, regarding her mother's hopes and expectations as tormenting pressure that only brought misery to her. So she saw herself as a pleading child. Now as she realized how her mother loved and appreciated her, she felt perfectly contented. This last sentence is significant because it contains the narrator' s epiphany(领悟,顿悟),of insight discovery or revelation, by which the character's view is greatly