在半个世纪前的阿肯色州,有许多子女成群的农家,他们以棉田为生,需要众多的子女做帮手,而嗷嗷待哺的孩子往往又使他们的日子愈加窘困。我们家就是这样一个家庭。父亲租种着一个10英亩的农场,我出生的时候,上面已经有8个哥哥姐姐。父母起早贪黑地忙碌,也难以使全家免于饥寒,有时我们戴的甚至只是纸糊的帽子。尽管如此,家里竟然奇迹般地把我们一个个送进哈佛、耶鲁、斯坦福等著名大学,培养成能过上体面生活的律师、出版商、教师和医生。想来真是不可思议。而这种不可思议,都是从父亲的梦想——通过教育改善自己的境地开始的。当我还只有三四岁的时候,父亲便在下地时带着我,为的是向懵懵懂懂的我灌输他的梦想。他采摘棉铃的姿势不是像别人那样弯着腰,而是跪在地里慢慢前移,这样他既不会漏摘,又便于给我讲故事。有意思的是,他说起我将来读大学、拿学位的情景时从不用“如果”这个词,似乎一切都是顺理成章的事。我的哥哥姐姐也一定受过这样的启蒙教育。记得我还没有上小学时,有一次我姐姐珍妮和我一起下地,她对我 Half a century ago, in Arkansas, there were many farmhouses with many children. They lived on cotton fields and needed many children to help themselves. However, the children they were fed often made their days even more embarrassing. Our family is such a family. My father rented a 10-acre farm and when I was born there were already 8 older siblings. It is hard for parents to be free from hunger and cold, and sometimes we wear even paper-colored hats. However, miraculously, our families sent us one after another to famous universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford to train lawyers, publishers, teachers and doctors who can lead a decent life. It is incredible to come. And this incredible, all from the father’s dream - through education to improve their situation started. When I was only three or four years old, my father took me with me in order to instill his dream into me who I knew. Instead of bending over like the others, his posture of picking cotton bolls was slowly moving forward on his knees, so that he would not pick it up and tell me the story. What is interesting is that it seems logical to say that I never read the word “if” when I talk about my future university studies and my scholarly situations. My brother and sister must have received such enlightenment education. I remember when I was not in elementary school, once my sister Jenny and I go to the ground, she told me