终身难忘的一段往事(英汉对照)

终身难忘的一段往事
An Unforgettable Thing for Life
In 2001, in the wave of streamlining structures and improving efficiency, I was transferred from the technical office to work in shifts. I was reduced, the youngest in the department, and the only one with full-time academic credentials in the office.
As for the reason, I knew better. Having no tact and just keeping slogging away, I only pulled the cart forward, without raising my head to look around. Furthermore, I couldn’t act according to circumstances, and suck up to leaders through all means. And I even did not understand the principle of “You must learn more things beyond poems if you want to learn writing them.”Thus, if I don’t go to hell, who will? In that leader’s opinion, I could enjoy reading in the still of night in the new job place.
That year, my daughter was only 6 years old. My wife worked in shifts in a branch factory in the downtown area 10 kilometers away. If I went to work in four shifts, who would look after my daughter at night? Mother needed to take care of my grandparents in the family, so my daughter was sent to the nursery from the age of one year old.
As I was in such a desperate position, I went to the leader’s home for help, carrying my daughter in my arms. Naturally, she
exhausted herself by talking more unrelated words of no importance: as it is an irresistible trend, and a pressing situation, everyone has the possibility to be reduced, and you should find ways and means to overcome it.
I did not say anything more, holding my daughter, I got out of the door of my leader. All of a sudden, tears came into my eyes... Along the way, I lowered my head and walked silently, for fear that my daughter would see it. But my daughter in my arms stretched out her hand to wipe the tears from my eyes, without saying a word.
Returning home, I put my daughter on the sofa, wondering how to tell my daughter about the future plan about her. My daughter, sitting on the sofa, suddenly said, "I’ll fight with her", which I would never forget.
My daughter, who was only 6 years old, knew everything and understood the hardships and difficulties of life. Therefore, after growing up, she has always been strong-minded and independent.
After a whole year’s work in shifts, when I got a really tough time, I resigned from the original factory and joined a foreign trade company. In 2003, I was admitted to the government department by the entrance examination.
In 2008, the factory where I once worked went bankrupt because of poor management.
Even today I still think of this thing sometimes—even if I
had not been reduced from the office, even if I had muddled along till the bankruptcy, what could I do as a man of 40? I even become thankful from my heart for that experience. Isn't that the reason to boil a frog in warm water?
What my daughter said at the age of six is still ringing in the ear, like the gleam in the dark, giving me a little light and hope, and making me feel the warmth in a cold world.
2001年，在原单位精简机构、减员增效的浪潮中，我被从科室里精简了下来，去干一个四班倒的工作。

科室里最年轻，唯一一个具有全日制学历的读书人被减了下来。

至于原因，自己也心知肚明。

只知低头拉车，不知抬头看路；又不懂得功夫在诗外的道理，只知傻干，又不会逢场作戏，奉承巴结，请客送礼。

我不下地狱，谁会下？按照那位领导的意思，新的工作是个“夜深人静好读书”的地方。

那一年，女儿才6岁，妻子又在10公里外的市区里的一个分厂工作，两班倒。

如果我去上四班倒的工作，孩子又如何办呢？晚上谁来照看呢？因家中还有爷爷奶奶，母亲无法前来照看我的孩子，女儿从一岁多点就进了托儿所。

走投无路的我，抱着女儿去了分管我们科室的领导家里。

自然是一大堆无关痛痒的话，大势所趋，形势所迫，每个人都有可能，困难想法克服云云。

我没有再说什么，抱着女儿出了领导家的门，突然间泪水就来了……一路上我低头默默走着，生怕女儿看到。

哪知怀中的女儿却伸出手去抹我眼角落下的泪水，没说一句话。

回到家中，我把女儿放到沙发上，正在盘算着该如何去跟女儿说以后的打算。

坐在沙发上的女儿却突然说了句话——“我跟她拼了去”，只让我终身难忘。

年仅6岁的女儿已经什么都明白了，也懂得生活的艰难和不易。

所以，长大后的女儿一直都很自立，做事也有主见。

我在跌打滚爬中，整整干了一年的四班倒的工作。

一年后，女儿开始上小学了，我便辞职离开了原单位，招聘去了一家外贸公司。

2003年，通过招考进了政府机关。

而那以前的原单位，因经营不善，2008年就破产了。

我现在有时还会想，如果当年没有把我精简下来，就算在科室里混到企业破产，可那时已经40岁的我还能干些什么呢？我甚至从心里要感谢起那一段经历了，温水煮青蛙不就是这个道理吗？
只是女儿6岁时说的那句话，至今还回响在耳边，如黑暗中的荧光，却让我看到了一点光明和希望，也让我在世态炎凉中，感受到了一丝的温暖。