爱上双语(11)Everybody has the capacity to be self-suff...

Some years ago I took on an assignment in a southern county to work with people on public welfare. What I wanted to do was to show that everybody has the capacity to be self-sufficient and all we have to do is to activate them. I asked the county to pick a group of people who were on public welfare, people from different racial groups and different family constellations. I would then see them as a group for three hours every Friday. I also asked for a little petty cash to work with as I needed it.

几年前我在南部某郡接受了一项工作任务，与靠领取政府福利救济金的人共事。我想做的就是向每一个人证明他们都有自给自足的能力，而我们所要做的就是激励他们。首先，我让郡长给我挑选了一组靠领取政府福利救济金生活的人，他们均来自不同的种族部落、家庭群体。每周五，我与他们以小组的形式见面谈话三个小时。由于工作需要，我还申请了一小笔备用金。

I asked what their dreams were. Everyone looked at me as if I were a kind of wacky. “Dreams? We don’t have any dreams.”

我问他们的梦想是什么。大家却都以一种古怪的表情看着我。“梦想？我们没有梦想。”

I said, “Well, when you were a kid, what happened? Wasn’t there something you wanted to do?”

我说:“好的!那么当你还是个孩子的时候发生过什么? 那时难道就没有什么你想要做的事情吗?“

One woman said to me, “I don’t know what you can do with dreams. The rats are eating my kids. ”

一位妇女说:“我不知道你可以用梦想解决什么问题。我只知道我的孩子正在一口一口被老鼠吃掉。”

“Oh,” I said, “that’s terrible! No. Of course you’re very much involved with the rats and your kids. How can that be helped?”

“噢，”我说，“真是太恐怖了。不，当然，你的确被这些老鼠和孩子所累。怎样做才能阻止这种事情的发生呢?”

“Well, I could use a new screen door, because there are holes in my screen door.”

“唉，我家纱门上都是洞，我需要一个新纱门。”

I asked, “Is there anybody around you who knows how to fix a screen door?”

“在座的各位，有谁会装纱门?”我问。

“Maybe I can have a try,” a man said.

“或许我可以试试。”一位男士说道。

The next week when the group was seated, I said to the woman, “Well, is your screen door fixed?”

下周五，大家又坐到了一起时，我问那位女士：”一新纱门装好了吗?”

“Oh, yes,” she said.

“噢，是的。”她答道。

“Then we can start dreaming, can’t we?”She sort of smiled at me.

“那么，我们可以开始梦想了，对不对?”她看着我，笑得很开心。

That helped the group to begin to dream. The seemingly small successes allow the group to see that dreams were not insane. The small steps began to get people to see and feel that something really could happen.

这件事使整个组的人都开始寻找梦想了。表面上的小成功就让组员们认识到梦想并不荒唐。不断的进步令人们逐渐意识和感觉到改变真的可能发生。

Everyone found something. The man who put in the screen door became a handy man, and another woman who took in the children became a licensed foster care person. In twelve weeks, I had all these people off public welfare. I’ve not only done that once. I’ve done it many times.

每个人者都发现一些值得重视的东西。那位装纱门的男士后来成为一名勤杂工。另外一位带小孩的妇女成为一名持证的护卫人员。帮助所有的小组成员摆脱福利救济总共用了12周时间。这不是一次性完成的，而是分好几次，逐步努力实现的。