芭芭拉.布什：人生并不是只有一条路

　　She knew who she was, and she saw no need to apologize for it. In the spring of 1990, the administration of Wellesley College — the alma mater, as it happened, of Hillary Rodham Clinton — invited Barbara Bush, then the first lady of the United States, to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree. Students at the women’s college protested, declaring in a petition that Mrs. Bush had “gained recognition through the achievements of her husband,” and adding that Wellesley “teaches us that we will be rewarded on the basis of our own merit, not on that of a spouse.”

　　她知道自己是谁，她认为没必要为此道歉。1990年春天，韦尔斯利学院(Wellesley College)——碰巧是希拉里.罗德姆.克林顿(Hillary Rodham Clinton)的母校——的行政管理部门邀请时任美国第一夫人芭芭拉.布什(Barbara Bush)在毕业典礼上发表演讲，并接受荣誉学位。这所女子学院的学生发表抗议，在一份请愿书中称布什是“通过她丈夫的成就获得认可”，并接着说韦尔斯利“教导我们凭借自己而不是配偶的价值获得奖励”。

　　And so a generational battle was joined. As her husband, George H. W. Bush, put it in his private White House diary, Mrs. Bush was being attacked “because she hasn’t made it on her own — she’s where she is because she’s her husband’s wife.” Mr. Bush added: “What’s wrong with the fact that she’s a good mother, a good wife, great volunteer, great leader for literacy and other fine causes? Nothing, but to listen to these elitist kids there is.” To the young women of the last decade of the 20th century, Mrs. Bush, who had dropped out of Smith College to marry, seemed a throwback to a less enlightened time.

　　这其中还卷入了不同世代之间的争斗。她的丈夫乔治.H.W.布什(George H. W. Bush)在私人白宫日记中写道，布什夫人被攻击是“因为她不是靠自己成功的——她取得现在的成就是因为他是她丈夫。”乔治.布什接着写道：“她是一位好母亲、好妻子、优秀的志愿者、识字运动和其他高尚事业的优秀领导者，这个事实有问题吗?没问题，但听听这些自视甚高的孩子说了什么。”那些20世纪最后十年的年轻女性们觉得，从史密斯学院(Smith College)辍学的布什夫人似乎意味着倒退回一个不那么开明的时代。

　　Mrs. Bush, who died on Tuesday at age 92, never flinched, appearing at Wellesley and using her commencement address to explore the complexities of life’s choices. There was no single path, she told the graduates; one followed one’s heart and did the best one could. “Maybe we should adjust faster, maybe we should adjust slower,” she said. “But whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: Fathers and mothers, if you have children — they must come first. You must read to your children, hug your children, and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house.”

　　布什夫人已于周二去世，享年92岁。她生前从未有过退缩。她出现在韦尔斯利，并用毕业典礼致辞探究人生选择的复杂性。她告诉毕业生，并不是只有一条路，一个人应当遵从自己的内心，然后竭尽全力。“我们或许应当快一点适应，或许应当慢一点适应，”她说。“但无论什么时代，无论什么时候，有一点永远不会改变：为人父母，如果你们有孩子的话，必须把孩子放在第一位。你必须给孩子讲故事，拥抱孩子，你必须爱自己的孩子。你们家庭的成功和我们社会的成功，并不取决于白宫里面发生的事情，而是取决于你家里发生的事情。”

　　The loudest applause came when she remarked that perhaps there was someone in the audience who would, like her, one day preside over the White House as the president’s spouse. “And I wish him well,” Mrs. Bush said.

　　当她说到也许台下某个人有一天会像她一样，以总统配偶的身份管理白宫时，现场响起的掌声最热烈。“我祝他顺利，”布什说。

　　It was classic Barbara Pierce Bush: politically skillful, balanced — and good for her husband, for she presented herself as at once reasonable and reasonably conservative, which was the essence of Mr. Bush’s own political persona.

　　这是典型的芭芭拉.皮尔斯.布什(Barbara Pierce Bush)：擅长政治技巧、心平气和。这对她丈夫也很有利，因为她表现得既通情达理，又比较保守，这正是乔治.布什本人政治形象的本质。