介绍:
Among all those unpleasant words in this world,
世界上所有让人不愉快的词语中，
“death” is definitely the most dreadful one.
“死亡”无疑是最可怕的一个。
I know I was close to it, once -- when I was born, doctors failed to untangle the umbilical cord.
我知道我曾经离它很近，曾有过一次――我出生的时候，医生解不开脐带。
I was almost strangled to death.
我差点窒息而死。
Thanks to caesarean, or I wouldn’t sit here and read my autobiography to you guys today.
托了剖腹产的福，否则我今天也不能坐在这儿给筒子们念我的自传了。
My mom, this great woman who experienced both the killing pain of natural birth and C-section, is not just an endurer, but also a dreamer.
我妈，这个经历了顺产和剖腹产的双重疼痛的伟大女人，不仅仅是个勇于承受的人，更是个勇于做梦的人。
While she was regaining her health and strength in bed, she came up with this crazy idea to teach me how to read.
当她在床上恢复元气的时候，她突然生出一个疯狂的想法，要教我认字。
She convinced my dad, and I don’t know how, that this whimsical idea is worth trying.
她说服了我爸（我不知道是如何说服的），让我爸也认为这个奇奇怪怪的点子值得一试。
So, my dad, a big fan of calligraphy, wrote many basic Chinese characters on flashcards.
于是，我爸，作为一个书法爱好者，在很多小卡片上写了各种基础的中文汉字。
After that, my mom took me as well as all these flashcards with her every day.
从此之后，我妈每天出门都带上我和这些小卡片。
Wherever she went, she showed me the matches of objects in real life and the characters on flashcards.
无论她走到哪儿，她都给我指出现实生活中的事物和小卡片上的汉字的联系。
For example, when we saw a door, she showed me the “door” card and pronounced the character for me.
比如说，我们见到一扇门，她就把“门”的卡片给我看，把“门”字念给我听。
Teaching a baby to read. Sounds freaky, huh? Yeah, most of my family members thought it was ridiculous.
教一个毛毛仔认字。听起来有病，是吧？没错，当时我们家里人也大多觉得这太荒唐了。
My uncle teased that my mom was just casting pearls before swine. But you know what? It really worked.
我舅舅开玩笑说我妈是在对牛弹琴。但你知道吗？真的管用哦。
One evening, my parents were watching TV. Suddenly, my mom felt that someone was plucking the bottom of her trousers.
一天晚上，我爸妈在看电视。突然之间，我妈觉得有人在拽她的裤子。
She looked down and found me sitting on the floor with a “dog” flashcard in my hand. I gave her that flashcard and started making sounds like “woof woof.”
她往下一看，看到我坐在地上，手里拿着一张“狗”的小卡片。我把小卡片塞给她，然后开始学“汪汪”的狗叫。
My parents were both extremely shocked at that moment and decided to test me.
我爸妈当时都惊呆了，于是准备给我做个测验。
They collected all those flashcards and put them in front of me. Incredibly, no matter what object they pointed to, I picked up the correct matching flashcard for them.
他们把所有小卡片收集起来放在我面前。无论他们指向哪件物品，我都能找出对应的汉字的小卡片给他们。
I didn’t know how to speak. I didn’t know how to stand.
当时我不会说话，我不会站，
I didn’t even know how to behave myself and fall asleep at night regularly.
我甚至还不会乖乖地在晚上按照规律作息入睡。
But I, only 9-month-old at that time, was able to eat, to cry, to crawl and to read.
但我――当时九个月大的我――会吃，会哭，会爬，还会认字了。
I guess that was my first triumph on my way to conquer the mountain of language.
我猜这就是我在攻克语言的大山的路上取得的第一个胜利吧。
Many years later, I became a trilingual person.
很多年之后，我成了一个能说三门语言的人。
I can translate freely among Chinese mandarin, Cantonese and English.
我可以自由地在中文普通话、粤语和英语之间转换。
From time to time, when people say to me, “I really like your articles. It’s lovely and touching.”
时不时地，有人会对我说，“我好喜欢你的文章。很可爱，很动人。”
“You sound like an American. I can hardly notice any accent.” “You really have a gift for language.”
“你听着就像个美国人，我听不出有什么口音。”“你真的在语言上很有天赋。”
I still think it’s unbelievable and feel immensely grateful to my crazy mom.
我仍然觉得这一切都太不可思议，同时，也非常感谢我那疯狂的妈咪。
大家还在听
