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素兰20周年专栏 | 对话彭美萱（一）：关于奶奶的回忆 [复制链接]

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只看楼主 倒序阅读 0 发表于: 2022-10-17
素兰20周年专栏 | 对话彭美萱（一）：关于奶奶的回忆


2022年8月20日下午，在素兰基金会2022年年会暨成立20周年会议上，杨秀春对彭晏素兰女士之孙女、彭定中先生之女儿彭美萱（Michelle）进行了专访。受新冠疫情影响，此次会议以视频会议的形式进行。在此次访谈中，杨秀春先以中文提问，再以英文复述问题；彭美萱（Michelle）以英文回答后，杨秀春再进行英译中翻译。访谈内容经整理分为三篇陆续发布，此为第一篇。

杨秀春：
今年是素兰基金会成立20周年，也是你的奶奶彭晏素兰女士离世的20周年。在基金会成立10周年时，你写过一篇回忆奶奶的文章《我的宝贝》，你在文章里写道，“我的宝贝”是奶奶对你专用的称呼。当然，奶奶在世时可能不会想到，缘于她生前的助学愿望，在她的儿女、后辈们的共同努力下，今天，在这个以她名字命名的基金会里，她有了150个“宝贝”——虽然她从未有机会见过这些“宝贝”们。在这样一个特殊的日子里，你是否可以给我们分享一些和奶奶有关的故事？
We are now celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Su-Lan foundation. Also, it's the 20 years of the passing of your grandmother Mrs. Yen Su-Lan Pang. Ten years ago, you wrote an article for the booklet on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Su-Lan foundation. In that article, you told us 我的宝贝 is what your grandmother would say to you when you were little. When she was still alive, she would never have envisioned that her initial ideal to help poor students has now assisted over 150 宝贝, even though she had never met anyone of these 宝贝. The continued effort through the years by her son, her daughters, and her grandchildren has made it possible. Therefore, on this special and meaningful day, would you please share some moments about your grandmother which were still fresh in your memories?


彭美萱(Michelle):
The memories I have of my grandmother or NaiNai is rather fragmented but what I do remember about her was that she always seemed to be very happy to see me. I’m sure many people on this call can also appreciate this experience with their grandparents. I think as grandkids we always have a sweet spot in their heart, and they tend to spoil us and dote on us every chance they have. It’s like my dad and Hiro who have that extra special bond as grandparent and grandchild.
今天回想奶奶，我脑海里都是一些零碎的记忆了，但有一点我记得很清楚，那就是奶奶每次见到我都非常开心。在这一点上，我相信很多今天在这里开会的家人们也会有同样的感受，我们在爷爷奶奶或外公外婆心中，总是有着一种孙辈所独享的特殊地位——所谓隔代亲，他们一有机会总是宠溺我们。就像我的父亲和我的儿子Hiro，也有着一种只属于他们二人的特殊关系。

Like all Chinese grandmothers, the first thing she would ask when I visited her apartment was if I had eaten and she always had food prepared. She would make this wonderful ground pork with preserved pickled vegetable dish. Fortunately, Xiao GuGu can now replicate this dish wonderfully and I am lucky enough to enjoy it even today. It always brings back memories of my grandmother when I eat it.
就像所有的中国奶奶/外婆们一样，每次我去奶奶家，她最先问的一定是“你吃饭没有？”然后她总是会给我准备好吃的东西。她会给我做非常好吃的雪里蕻炒肉末。很幸运的是，我的小姑姑（编者注：即彭丽明婆婆）也学会了做这道菜，所以直到现在我也仍然有机会享受这道美味。每次吃到小姑姑做的雪里蕻炒肉末时，我就会想起奶奶。

Another dish she would make is the egg drop rice wine soup that was always soothing to the soul, and I can still remember her shuffling around her tiny kitchen in Pittsburgh as she prepared a piping hot bowl for me. While we could not fully communicate, I could always feel the love and kindness through her food.
奶奶经常给我做的另一道菜是酒酿蛋汤，这个简直好吃到抚慰灵魂！我现在还记得奶奶在匹兹堡家中的小厨房里为我准备滚烫的蛋汤时拖着脚步走路的样子。尽管因为语言障碍，我和奶奶不能很顺畅地交谈，但从奶奶给我张罗的这些美味里，我总是能感受到她对我的那份爱和慈祥。

Another thing that stands out in my memories of her was that my grandmother never liked to waste things. If she used a piece of Kleenex tissue, she would tear it in half or separate the layers and use them very sparingly and deliberately. Every time her stockings had a rip, she would repair them by stitching them up again and again. This frugal attitude of “every penny counts” is a testament of her resilience during tough times and it certainly has been passed down as a family value.
另一件印象很深的事，就是奶奶从来都不喜欢浪费。一张纸巾，她会把它撕成两张来用，如果是那种双层的纸巾，她会把它剥开为两张来用——总之用得极尽节俭而又从容不迫。每次她的袜子破洞了时，她都是缝补之后继续穿，一直这么缝缝补补地穿下去。她这种每一分钱都省着花的节俭理念，是在过去的苦难岁月中形成的，显然，这已经作为我们素兰的家训被一代一代传承了下来。

She was also very conscious about being presentable and always tried to dress nicely. When we went to a cruise together to the Caribbean, you would see a tiny Chinese lady sitting by the pool side in her Qi Pao among the many tourists in their bikinis and swimming trunks – that was a very funny sight. She would also carry around this very worn-out and tattered black handbag, which to me symbolizes who she was and when she passed away, it was the one thing I requested to have – I have it here today with me to show you.
奶奶非常注重仪容仪表。我们曾经一起去加勒比海地区旅游。有一个场景我现在还记得非常清楚——泳池边上，在一堆身着比基尼和泳装的游客中，一位穿着旗袍的小个子中国女人站在那里，显得格格不入，那个场景真的很有意思。她可能还随身带着她那个破旧的黑色手提包。奶奶过世后，我把这个手提包珍藏了起来。对我来说，这是奶奶的象征。来，我给你们看看奶奶的这个包。

Looking back, I regret not having spent more time with her or at least when I was with her, to be more kind to her and to learn, firsthand about her experiences. I would therefore strongly encourage those that have grandparents to take that extra effort to give them a call or make a visit to connect with them and perhaps learn more about your own family history through them and in turn learn more about yourself.
今天回想起来，我后悔自己当时没有多陪陪奶奶，或者说，至少在陪着奶奶时没有对她更好一些，也没有从她那里多学到一些人生经验。所以，今天在这里，我强烈地呼吁大家——如果你们的爷爷奶奶外公外婆还在世，你们一定要多给他们打打电话，或者有条件的话就多去看看他们，也许你们可以从他们那里多了解到一些家庭的过往历史，从而也能对你们自己多一些了解。
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