1961年,我读五年级。我的学习成绩一团糟,更糟的是,我根本认识不到应该切实关心这件事。我的父亲早已过世,我和妈妈、哥柯蒂斯一起生活。我们的世界基本上是这样:混到放学,去玩到天黑后回家看电视。我们常常趴在妈妈的床上,盯着电视一看就是几小时。但是有一天,妈妈永远地改变了我们的世界——她关掉了电视。事情完全是因我学习不好引发的。有一次妈妈在为一户人家打扫房子时,注意到一些东西——书。因此有一天妈妈回到家,关掉电视,让我们坐下来后,对我们说,她的儿子将来应该有出息。“你们哥儿俩每周要读两本书。”她说,“还要给我写一份读书笔记。”我们唉声叹气,抱怨这不公平。人家的孩子也都看电视嘛。看到争辩无用,我们便想,得啦,也许过几天她就忘掉这个决定了。其实,家中除了妈妈的那本《圣经》,我们也没有别的书可读。但是她却解 In 1961, I was in fifth grade. My academic record is a mess, worse, I simply do not realize that I should really care about it. My father has long passed away and I live with my mum and brother Curtis. Our world is basically like this: mixed to school, to play until after dark to watch TV. We often lie on mom’s bed, staring at the TV for hours. But one day my mother changed our world forever - she turned off the television. Things are entirely caused by my poor learning. Once, my mother noticed something while cleaning the house for a family-book. So one day Mom comes home, turns off the TV, lets us sit down and tells us that her son should have good news in the future. “You boys and girls are going to read two books a week,” she said, “and write me a study note.” We sighed and complained that it was not fair. People’s children also watch TV. When we see the arguments useless, we think, come on, maybe a few days later she will forget this decision. In fact, apart from the mother’s Bible, we have no other books to read. But she understood