趙毛在開始寫自傳第二章“我生命中最重要的人”時頗費了點時間選主人公。迫於交作文期限逼近，他要我幫他選人。我建議他寫他老爸，並羅列他老爸之優秀品質和對他的寵愛。後他又和他老爸商量，最後還是決定讓我粉墨登場。
我把大意翻譯在此，他的作文附在後麵。
每篇好的自傳都會寫到誰影響了作者的一生。選誰對你一生最重要和對你最有影響時是看者容易做者難。經過無數天的反複思考，我決定寫我的媽媽。這不應該是什麽驚奇，無論你是誰，媽媽都會在你的生命中扮演至少一個重要角色，那就是生了你。我媽媽在生我時由於大出血差點丟了性命。我超過預產期（兩周，長得很大），媽媽個頭又小，難產應該是早預料到的。感謝（上帝），媽媽沒有光榮犧牲。
媽媽為我做很多事，我會在以後的段落中描述細節。媽媽最愛做的就是嘮叨。我一般都會煩她罵我和推我, 但如果我沒有更好的事做的話，我會聽她的。有那麽幾次要不是媽媽吼得厲害，我完全忘了我的家庭作業。老實地說，有時當我拿出寫好的作業鬆了一口氣，我就很感激她的提醒。一般來說，我會自覺完成作業。如果哪天拖拉，我也不想有人來逼作完成。
媽媽做的另外的事就是燒飯。她不僅承頭於工作中，而且也承頭於每天不能避免象做飯的家務瑣事中。媽媽很小就開始給她全家(很多姊妹喲)做飯，這讓她有足夠的時間改良菜譜。媽媽做菜用自己的菜譜而不是用菜譜書上經典的菜譜，這樣燒出來的菜最好吃。如果媽媽不做飯，我大半時間不會吃飯。爸爸總是很忙或回家很晚，媽媽總是每天做飯或把剩菜熱熱給我。對一個空著肚子的孩子來說，有人做飯是不可缺的。
因為媽媽可以在家上班而爸爸不行，所以她常常在我生病時照料我。她精心看護，還為我取來我所需要的任何東西。她還懂用幾種中草藥治病或幫助康複。她在我生病時還幹其他的事，比如抱怨我沒把手放在被窩裏保持暖和或沒穿棉拖鞋。但是大部分時間她所做的就是呆在家裏陪我。有人陪伴度過困難時光是一件很重要的事。
媽媽是我的榜樣。她常常超質超量完成工作，讓她在她的公司成有價值的人。她對工作的熱愛和幹事的動力真讓我佩服。她還常常通過刻苦練習努力完善自己。我作為一個學生，必須象她那樣才能取得好成績。媽媽曾經自學考工作需要的專利執照，那時她每天花幾個小時看教學錄像，記筆記，自我測試，並反複看那些不懂的部分。我親曆她的複習過程，那真是讓人身心疲憊的日子。但當她考試取得好成績時，她的努力得到了回報。毫無疑問，這對我很重要。我從她的經曆學到了隻有努力才會獲得好成績。基於以上原因，我認為媽媽是一個很優秀的榜樣。
因為爸爸總是忙，媽媽常常計劃我們休假的地方，她安排我們去世界各地。度假主要是好玩，但它還幫助我了解各國文化，世界風情，讓我看到每個國家真實的一麵。我感謝媽媽花時間帶我去不同的地方度過一個個難忘的假期。
媽媽為我做得很多很多，諸如燒飯，做清潔等等。對於尤其象我這樣的孩子，媽媽扮演了很重要的角色。作媽媽這個工作不太容易。但如果你是一個好媽媽，你的影子會在你的孩子身上體現出來。我選媽媽為我生命中最重要的人當然不僅僅是因為她是我媽媽，而且她是一個好媽媽。所有的父母都應該象她這樣。
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Chapter 2
The Most Important Person in My Life
As the title suggests, this is a piece on the most important person in my life. Why should this be included? The reason is because every good autobiography has a bit one those who influenced the writer and why. To choose the most important and influential person in your life is not as easy as it seems. After much thinking, a bit more thinking, and a little more thinking, I chose the person. It is… my mom! This should not be a surprise. No matter who you are, your mother should have played at least one major role in your life: brought you tumbling head first into the outside world. That is something important, all right! But what makes it a true labor of love is that my mom nearly died in the process due to a massive hemorrhage. That was to be expected, since I was overdue and my mom is naturally small. But thankfully, she lived, and is now the most important and probably influential person in my life.
My mom does a lot of things for me. I will talk about more of them later. One of the most important actions my mom performs is nag. I am usually annoyed at her scolding and pushing, but if I have nothing better to do, I will listen. There are a few instances where I might have even forgotten entirely about my homework, had it not been for my mom’s yelling and such. Honestly, I am grateful at times when I pull out my completed homework and sigh in relief, remembering it was my mom’s grumbling that made me work. Usually, I have some incentive to get my work done, but when I don’t, there’s always the prospect of NOT being nagged to do so.
Another important role my mom plays is that of chef. My mother has initiative, and not only in work but also in everyday unavoidable tasks, like cooking. My mother was responsible from a very early age for cooking for her family (a lot of siblings and her parents). This has given her a lot of time to develop good recipes. One thing that I think makes my mother’s cooking the best is that it is an original recipe, not a generic cookbook “classic”. Not only that, but if my mom wasn’t there to cook, I wouldn’t be eating half the time! My dad usually is too busy, and he has a lot of work to do, or gets home late. My mom is always there to cook, or throw together leftovers to make something. Important indeed is the presence of one that cooks, especially to a hungry kid.
My mother is also the one who helps me through sickness, in part because she can work at home but dad cannot. She gives me lots of attention and care, and fetches everything I need. She can also make a few herbal PROVEN remedies, and has knowledge of what to eat to help ease recovery or fight sickness. There are other things she does too, like scolding me for not keeping my hands under the blanket, or making sure I wear bunny slippers to keep warm. But the most important thing she probably does is simply being there for me when sick. Having someone to rely on during tough times is a great thing.
My mother is a good role model to look up to. She always gets the job done, and gives 110%, making her valuable to companies. Yet what really gets me thinking is that she has motivation and initiative to do her work. She also always tries to perfect what she can’t get right and trains herself through vigorous practice to excel. As a student right now, following her lead is essential. My mom once was studying for this big patent bar exam for work. She watched the exam videos hours each day, took notes, quizzed herself, and replayed parts she did not understand. I watched her do this. It was a grueling process, seeing these weeks and weeks of studying. But when she did excellent on the exam, it shows that hard work pays off really good. That is an important thing to know, no doubt. I learned it like most creatures: watching someone else apply it. I can consider my mom a very excellent role model for these reasons.
Since my dad is usually busy doing something, my mom is also the travel planner. She puts us on trips to places all around the world. It’s mainly to have fun, but it is also to help expand my cultural horizons. It lets me see past the stereotypes painted about a country to what it really is. It lets me see how people live in other horizons. But mainly I’m grateful for that my mother took the time to make my vacation time the best in some other place.
My mother has done a lot of things for me. She cooks, cleans, and much more. Being a mother is a very important role, and it is essential that you perform it well, especially for kids like me. It is a hard job, but if you do it well it shows up in your kids. I chose my mom as the most important person in my life because she’s, well, my mom! And she does her part well. Really, that’s all a good parent needs to do. My mother has all of it (I think), and it all comes together.
July 5th, 2011
