How I Tapped into My Success敲开成功之门

Shortly after I graduated from junior high school in 1968， my mother began repeating her mantra： “Learn to type， and doors will open for you， Pam.” It was nearly Pavlovian1. Anything remotely connected to typing—an image of a typewriter， hearing the word “type”—could elicit this statement from her， often accompanied with finger-wagging and a small yet audible “humpf！” I would respond with a sighed “Yes， Mom” or， when out of her view， a much-practiced eye roll.

1968年我初中毕业后不久，母亲就开始反复唠叨：“学会打字，门就会为你打开，帕姆。”这几乎成了条件反射。任何与打字沾一丁点边的东西——看到打字机的图片，听到“打字”这个词——都能诱导她说出那句话，而且她经常边说边摇晃手指，发出一声轻微但仍可听到的“哼！”我则会叹气回应一声“好的，妈妈”，或者在她看不到我的时候，熟练地翻一个白眼。

When my mother and father came from Guyana to the United States， she brought her memories， photos， and a recipe on yellowing paper for rum fruitcake. She also brought her sewing and cosmetology skills. Sewing secured her a full-time job as a finisher in New York’s garment district， and cosmetology garnered extra money from occasional hairdressing work.

我父母从圭亚那来到美国时，母亲带来了自己的回忆、照片和写在泛黄纸张上的朗姆酒水果蛋糕配方。她还带来了缝纫和美容的技巧。缝纫手艺让她在纽约服装区获得了一份全职的修补工作，而美容手法使她能从美发零活中赚取外快。

Typing was not on her résumé. To her， it was an essential “American skill.” That meant it was up to me， her American-born child， to learn to type. She raised the stakes considerably when， the summer after I graduated from junior high， she gave me a burnt sienna Olivetti portable typewriter for my birthday. “Thanks， Mom， but I can’t type，” I gently reminded her.

打字技能并不在母亲的简历上。对她来说，这是一项基本的“美国技能”。也就是说，打字要由我这个她在美国生的孩子来学。我初中毕业后的那个夏天，她送给我一台深褐色的便携式“好利获得”打字机作为我的生日礼物，这极大地提高了她的赌注。“谢谢妈妈，但我不会打字。”我语气柔和地提醒她。

“That’s going to change，” she answered， also gently. “Soon.” Mom was a woman of her word. “Soon” arrived just one week later， when we took the bus to ever-busy Steinway Street in the New York City neighborhood of Long Island City to the Crown Business Institute， which was tucked in among the shops. Besides typing， the institute offered classes in stenography， bookkeeping， and other office skills. My mother practically pushed me through the door.

“你会学会的，”她也语气柔和地答道，“很快。”母亲是个言出必行的人。仅在一周后，“很快”就来到了。当时我们乘公共汽车前往皇冠商学院，学院位于纽约市长岛地区一向繁忙的斯坦威街上，就隐匿于商店之间。除了打字，学院还开设速记、簿记等办公技能课程。我几乎是被母亲推进学院大门的。

Inside， my eye fell on rows of students typing in front of bulky Smith-Corona or Royal typewriters. Each was curved purposefully over a spiral-bound typing practice book. Beginners picked their way around their keyboard while more accomplished typists performed dazzling digital feats， producing the machine’s distinctive clackity-clacking music.

走到里面，我的目光落在一排排学生身上，他们正在笨重的史密斯-科罗纳打字机或皇家打字机前打字。每位学生都专注地弓身看一本线圈装订的打字练习册。初学者小心翼翼地在他们的键盘上摸索，更为熟练的打字员则表演着令人眼花缭乱的手指技艺，让打字机发出咔嗒咔嗒的独特乐声。

I was as impressed as I was skeptical that I would ever achieve such proficiency. But before I could utter a protest， my mother had enrolled me for six weeks of typing lessons. Now there was no turning back. Every weekday morning I reported to Crown for lessons that began at 10 o’clock; by noon we were finished， after which I went home， fingers aching from the stiff manual machines.

我在钦佩他们的同时也怀疑自己是否也能达到这样的熟练程度。还没等我提出抗议，母亲就已为我报名为期六周的打字课。这下没有回头路了。每个工作日的早晨，我都到皇冠商学院参加十点开始的打字课。中午下课回家，我的手指因操作僵硬的打字机而疼痛。

As the lessons progressed， Mom began to show me a side of herself that I had never seen. The usually mild-mannered woman morphed into a drill sergeant who made me practice my typing strokes over and over until I was sure that even my Olivetti was begging for mercy.

随着课程的进行，母亲开始向我展示我从未见过的一面。这个平时温文尔雅的女人摇身一变成为一名操练教官，让我一遍又一遍地练习打字，直到我确信连我那台“好利获得”打字机都在求饶。

“Do this row of M’s again，” she’d order. “No TV until you improve your spacing，” she’d add， or “You’re supposed to type 10 rows of W’s， not just eight！” Who is this woman？ I wondered， and what had she done with my mom？ Someone who purportedly knew zilch about typing had become an expert， seemingly overnight. Mom wanted me to succeed， and to make that happen she studied my typing practice book， memorizing the keyboard， the techniques， and the various exercises. She did everything short of typing them herself.

“把M排再打一遍。”她命令道。她还会补充说：“在你调好间距之前不许看电视。”或者说：“你应该打十行W排，不要只打八行！”我想知道，这个女人是谁？她对我母亲做了什么？一个据说对打字一无所知的人成了专家，而且似乎就是一夜之间的事情。母亲希望我能成功，而为了让我成功，她研究了我的打字练习册，记住了键盘布局、打字技巧和各种练习。除了自己打字外，她什么都做了。

As she had done when I was learning to play the piano （except this time there was no metronome）， my mother prodded me when I became lax in my practicing， encouraged and comforted me when I struggled or wanted to give up. When I became fatigued and frustrated， she hauled out her well-worn but still effective typing-can-open-doors dictum， and I would set my gaze like a flint on the practice book， making music on my Olivetti portable.

亦如她在我学弹钢琴时做的那样（除了这次没有节拍器），我练习稍有松懈时她敦促我；我遇到困难或想放弃时她鼓励、安慰我。当我感到疲劳和沮丧时，她就搬出她那句老生常谈但仍然有效的格言——“打字可以为你打开大门”，接着我便会板起面孔专注地盯着练习本，用我的便携式“好利获得”打字机奏响乐曲。

Sharing space in an old file folder with my high school and college diplomas is the certificate I received from the Crown Business Institute attesting to my successful completion of the typing course， which had culminated in an aptitude test. When I first showed it to my mother， decades ago， it was only the second time I had ever seen her cry.

在一个旧文件夹里，与我高中文凭和大学文凭放在一起的是我从皇冠商学院获得的结业证书，它证明我成功修完了打字课程并且顺利通过了能力测试。几十年前，当我第一次把结业证书展示给母亲，她哭了，那是我第二次看到她哭。

Mom was right. Many doors did open for me once I’d become as confident and fleet-fingered as those students I’d marveled at that first day I reluctantly arrived at Crown. My life would have been markedly different had Mom not insisted on my learning to type at a relatively young age and while she was able to help me. I mastered the typewriter， but the key to my success was the woman who pushed me through one door so future doors could open. That old and faded certificate is just as much hers as it is mine.

母亲说的没错。我还记得自己第一天不情愿地走进皇冠商学院，对学生们自信满满的样子和极其熟练的指法深感惊奇。一旦我变得和他们一样，许多扇门确实为我打开了。如果不是母亲在我年纪尚小而她又有能力帮助我时坚持要我学打字，我的生活会与现在判然有别。我掌握了打字技能，但我成功的关键在于那个将我推进一扇门的女人，我因此能够打开未来的很多扇门。那张已经褪色的旧结业证书既是我的，也是她的。

（译者单位：山东省泰安第二中学）

1 Pavlovian和巴甫洛夫的工作有关的。巴甫洛夫为俄国生理学家，在研究消化生理的过程中，发现了条件反射的生理机制。