四分之一个世纪
在高等教育工作四分之一个世纪了。上大学前我曾经对母亲说一不当老师，二不教英语。母亲是中学英文教师。我的第一份工作是在高校教英语（做研究）。想来母亲的榜样作用在于她一以贯之的行动。对工作的投入，教育在那个时代遭遇的前所未有的挑战，她个人所战胜的几乎不可逾越的鸿沟。勤工俭学、开阔眼界也很重要。
母亲去世后我不必飞过半个地球去看她。对我而言，所有的美好风景和事物都有她的影子。
A
Quarter of a Century
I have
been working in higher education for a quarter of a century. Before I went to
college, I told Mother that I would not become a teacher, not mention an
English teacher. Mother was a high school English teacher. It turned out my
first job was teaching English (and doing research) in a Chinese college. It
seems that Mother’s influence is in her action: she was dedicated to her career,
when education was faced with unprecedented challenge in that historical
period, and she had to defeat the seemingly invincible obstacles in her life. Part-time
jobs that broadened horizon were also important.
I don’t
have to fly half a globe to visit Mother since her passing. For me, she is in
all the beautiful scenery and occurrences.
