Karl Malone: Hard Work Pays Off
As a young boy, I grew up with my eight sibilings in a tin-roofed shack in Summerfield, Louisiana. I didn’t see my circumstance as an obstacle, even though we didin’t even have a real toilet in the house. I saw my life more as a card that had been dealt to me and I tried to make the most of it.
在我是個小男孩時,我和我的八個兄弟姐妹在路易斯安娜薩默菲爾德的一個鐵皮棚屋中長大。即使我們的屋里沒有一個真正的廁所,我也沒有把這種環(huán)境視為一個障礙。我更多地將我的生活看作是發(fā)給我的一張牌,努力充分發(fā)揮它的作用。
I was the youngest of five boys and also had four sisters who had to pull together and take care of each other. Dad wasn’t around, so I never knew him well. He committed suicide when I was three years old, leaving Mom with the job of raising and providing for nine kids. She worked at a sawmill running a foklift for fifty dollars a week and had another job at a poultry plant. She was a very hard worker, and in order to make ends meet, she hardly ever rested.
我是五個男孩中最小的一個,還有四個姐妹.家境迫使我們團結(jié)一致,相互照顧.爸爸已經(jīng)不在人世,所以我根本不怎么了解他.我三歲時他自盡了,把撫養(yǎng)九個孩子的責(zé)任留給了媽媽.她在一家鋸木常開叉車,周薪50美元,還在一個家禽廠干著另一份活.她工作非常努力.為了養(yǎng)家糊口,維持生計,她幾乎沒有休息過.
My mom believed in doing all she could do to take care of her responsibilities, so no matter what , she never asked for a handout. You can imagine; we kids didn’t get what we wanted, but we always got the things we needed. With my mom as my example, I learned that hard work is the best way to get what you want.
我媽媽相信,只要竭盡全力,就能盡好她的責(zé)任,因而無論如何,她從不乞求施舍.你可以想象,我們這些孩子得不到我們想要的,可我們總能得到我們的基本所需.有了我媽媽的榜樣,我懂得了辛勤工作時獲得想要的東西的最佳途徑.
While growing up, I was surrounded with temptations to do negative things like drugs, alcohol and all that. I chose not to go there. Even as a little boy, I knew I was going to be successful. Some people take that to be cocky or conceited, but I wasn’t going to let anybody tell me that I couldn’t do whatever I set out to do.
在成長過程中,我的周圍常常有做壞事的種種誘惑,如毒品,烈性酒等等.我選擇不和這類事情沾邊.甚至在我還是個小男孩時,我就知道我會成功.有些人認為這是自以為是或者驕傲自大,可我不讓任何人對我說我不能做我決意要做的任何事.
Of course, I dreamed about what I wanted to be when I grew up. At first, I would be a state trooper, then I wanted to be in the Special Forces. After a while, I decided that I wanted to drive eighteen-wheelers. There was even a period of time that I wanted to be in construction. I wanted to play football in high school; in fact, I still do. But regardless of what I chose, I wanted to make my brothers, sisters and mom proud of me---not only by being successful in what I chose to do , but also a person who could be looked up to for the night reasons.
當(dāng)然,我又長大后想干什么的夢想.我先是想當(dāng)個州警察,后來想?yún)⒓犹胤N部隊.過了一陣子,我決定要去駕駛18輪大卡車.甚至有一段時間我想進建筑業(yè).中學(xué)時我想打橄欖球;事實上,現(xiàn)在我還是這么想.但不管我的選擇如何,我都要讓我的兄弟姐妹和媽媽為我感到驕傲——不僅在我選擇的領(lǐng)域中獲得成功,而且因正當(dāng)理由受人欽佩。