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【原文】
Amy Chua’s email in-box has become the latest front in the mommy wars. Ever since the publication of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, her controversial book on parenting the Chinese way, Chua has been under attack. Many of them are notes of praise and thanks, she says. But many are vicious.
Broadly speaking, Chua’s book is about how she endeavored to raise her two American girls, now teenagers, the way her Chinese-immigrant parents raised her. For Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, the Chinese way includes lots of rules and high expectations—and disciplinary techniques that can come across as cruel and unusual. She makes one daughter stand outside in the frigid winter weather, for not practicing the piano as instructed. The book has come to be seen as an accusation of the permissive parenting that permeates the country’s affluent neighborhoods, where kids get ice-cream just for making their beds.
Now it’s Chua who’s enduring the vicious judgments. On Internet discussion boards her critics say that she has no regard for the plight of working families, that she values achievement and status above all, and that the parenting strategies she advocates produce weak-willed, self-loathing robots destined for the therapist’s couch. Chua, whose daughters enliven nearly every page of her book, tries not to take these attacks personally, but they upset her. Her girls are confident and happy, she says.
Chua wants to set the record straight: her book is not a how-to book. It’s a memoir about her struggles with child rearing. She passes no judgment on anyone else. “I believe that there are many ways of being a good parent,” she says. “My husband”—who is Jewish American—“was raised in a very permissive, liberal family, and he came out great.” The chatterers, she says, fail to understand that her book acknowledges the limitations of the Chinese way. The narrative centers on Chua’s efforts to make musical talent out of her daughters by forcing them to practice three hours a day, minimum, starting in nursery school.
The climax of the book occurs in a restaurant, with 13-year-old Lulu screaming, “I hate the violin. I hate you, and I hate this family!” She throws a water glass to the floor, where it shatters. The tiger mother compromises and gives Lulu permission to quit so she can spend more time playing tennis—a non-Chinese-mother-approved activity. “If there’s a takeaway from the book, it’s about a search for balance,” Chua says. “And maybe the dominant mainstream permissive Western model is not ideal, but nor is the extremely strict ‘only violin or piano.’ ”
【詞彙突破】
(標有*號的詞彙爲超綱詞)
controversial /7kCntrE5v:Fl/ adj. 有爭議的;引起爭論的：a controversial person/ decision/ organization/ book 有爭議的人物/決定/組織/書
vicious /5vIFEs/ adj. 惡意的; 刻毒的： vicious gossip惡意中傷的閒話
come across (as sth) 給人以……印象; 使產生……印象： He comes across as a very intelligent sensitive man. 他給人的印象是一個很聰明又敏感的人。
*frigid /5frIdVId/ adj. 寒冷的; 嚴寒的
accusation /7Akju:5zeIFn/ n. 指責;控告：Accusations of corruption have been made/brought/laid against him. 對他貪的控告已經提出。
permissive /pE5mIsIv/ adj. 寬容的; 放縱的： I was not a permissive parent. 我不是一個放任孩子的家長。
permeate / 5p:mIeIt/ v. 瀰漫;遍及： The smell of cooking permeates (through) the flat. 整套房間都瀰漫着飯菜的氣味。
affluent /5AflUEnt/ adj. 富裕的;豐富的：the affluent societies of the western world 西方世界的富裕社會
plight /plaIt/ n. 苦境; 困境： He has been sleeping rough in the streets to highlight the plight of the homeless. 他一直露宿街頭， 以引起大衆對無家可歸者境況的關注。
*self-loathing /7self 5lEUWIN/ n. 自我怨恨; 自怨自艾
destine /5dZstIn/ v. 註定; 預定： a film destined to become a classic一部必定會成爲經典的電影
therapist /5WerEpIst/ n. 治療學家： beauty therapist 美容師
enliven /In5laIvn/ v. 使活躍; 使有生機：The wartime routine was enlivened by a series of concerts. 一系列的音樂會使戰時的'日常事務變得輕鬆愉快。
take sth personally 認爲某人的言行鍼對自己而不快;把……看作人身攻擊：You must not take my remarks about your plan personally. 你不可把我對你那份計劃的批評看作是對你的人身攻擊。
set/put the record straight (對事實、 事件等)糾正誤解; 澄清： To set the record straight, I must say now that I never supported the idea. 我必須在此表明， 我從未支持過那個意見。
memoir /5memwB:(r)/ n. 記事錄; 回憶錄; 自傳： She wrote a memoir of her stay in France. 她寫了一篇旅法回憶錄。
compromise /5kCmprEmaIz/ v. 妥協;讓步;降低標準：He wanted his own way and refused to compromise. 他一意孤行， 拒絕讓步。
takeaway /5teIkEweI/ n. (有借鑑價值的)信息(或知識)：There are actually several takeaways from the recent report that could give our company great marketing edge. 實際上， 最近的報告中有幾條有借鑑價值的信息， 能夠使我們的公司獲得很大的市場優勢。
【句式分析】
On Internet discussion boards(狀語) her critics( 主語) say ( 謂語 )that she has no regard for the plight of
working families(賓語從句1), that she values achievement and status above all(賓語從句2 ), and that the parenting strategies she advocates produce weak-willed, self-loathing robots destined for the therapist’s couch(賓語從句3).
本句的主幹結構爲... her critics say that...。主語是her critics，即她的批評者或批評她的人。謂語是say，賓語是三個由that引導的並列賓語從句。在賓語從句1中，she爲主語，has no regard爲謂語和賓語。在賓語從句2中，she爲主語，values爲謂語，achievement and status爲賓語，above all作狀語修飾values。在賓語從句3中，the parenting strategies 爲主語，其後she advocates爲定語從句對其進行修飾。produce爲謂語，weak-willed, self-loathing robots爲賓語，其後destined for the therapist’s couch爲過去分詞短語作後置定語進一步補充說明robots。
【全文翻譯】
蔡美兒的郵箱最近已經變成了媽媽們戰爭的前線。自從她的《虎媽戰歌》 —— 一本關於中國式教育方式的飽受爭議的書——發表以來，蔡美兒一直飽受抨擊。蔡美兒說，很多人表達了對她的讚揚與感謝， 但也有很多惡語威脅。
總體上而言，蔡美兒的書講述了她是如何努力撫養她的兩個現在十幾歲的美國女兒的， 而這種教育方式正是她的中國移民父母對她所採取過的。蔡美兒是美國耶魯大學法學院的教授，對她來說，中國式的教育包含着許多規矩與較高的期望，甚至還有些讓人覺得殘酷與不可思議的紀律。有一次，她讓一個女兒在寒冬天氣裏在屋外罰站，只因爲她沒有按照指示彈鋼琴。蔡美兒的《虎媽戰歌》一書已經被看作是對自由式教育的譴責，這種教育方式在美國富裕家庭中盛行， 孩子們僅僅因爲自己鋪牀就可以得到冰淇淋作爲獎勵。
現在蔡美兒正忍受着他人的批評。網絡論壇上，批評她的人說道： 蔡美兒沒有考慮工薪家庭的困境，她視成就與地位高於一切， 她所主張的教育方法會培養出意志力薄弱、自怨自艾的機器人，註定要躺在理療師的沙發上接受心理治療。蔡美兒兩個女兒活潑的形象幾乎出現在書中的每一頁，爲她的書增色不少。她儘量不把這些抨擊看成是人身攻擊，但無論如何， 她還是感到很壓抑。她說， 她的兩個女兒非常自信， 生活也很幸福。
蔡美兒解釋說：這本書並不是指導大家如何去教育孩子。而是她辛苦育兒的回憶錄。她也沒有對其他任何人的教育方式做出評價。“我想， 很多方法都可以使我們成爲優秀的家長，我的丈夫是一名猶太裔美國人，他從小就生長在一個自由、開放的家庭中，他就非常優秀。”蔡美兒說。在書中，她也談到了中國式教育的弊端，而那些喋喋不休的人並沒有注意到這一點，她說。報道只關注爲了讓她的兩個女兒成爲音樂神童，從育兒園開始，蔡美兒就強迫孩子們每天至少練習3個小時的樂器。
這本書的高潮部分發生在一個餐館裏。13歲的露露尖叫道：“我討厭小提琴，我恨你， 恨這個家庭!”。她拿起一個水杯狠狠地摔碎在地上。於是“虎媽”做出讓步，允許露露放棄學習小提琴，而有更多的時間打網球——儘管這並不是一箇中國媽媽會認可的做法。“如果說人們能從書中學到點什麼的話， 那就是我們需要尋求一種平衡了，”蔡美兒說，“也許主流的放任式西方教育方式並不理想，但極端嚴厲的‘只能選小提琴或鋼琴’(的方式)也不好。
