大学英语精读预备级课文翻译(8)

生下了拉托尼娅。

We needed every?dime?just to?get by. College and teaching was out of the question 为了维持生计，我们需要每一角钱，上大学和教书是不可能的。

.I did, however,?wind up with?a job in a school --as a?janitor’s?assistant.

I cleaned 17 classrooms at Larrymore Elementary School each day, including Mrs. Cooper’s. She had transferred to Larrymore after Smallwood closed down.

不过，我最后在一所学校找到一份工作——当清洁工。我每天打扫拉里莫尔小学的17间教室，其中包括库珀夫人的教室。斯莫尔伍德小学关闭后她调到了拉里莫尔小学。

I told Mrs. Cooper that I still wanted to teach, and she would repeat the words she had written on my report years earlier. But bills always seemed to get?in the way.

我经常对库珀夫人说我仍然想教书，而她总是重复前几年在我作业上写下的那番话。但是，各种开支的账单似乎总是在妨碍我。

Then one day in 1986 I thought of my dream, of how badly I wanted to help children. But to do that I needed to arrive in the mornings, as a teacher -- not in the afternoons to mop up.

1986年的一天，我想起我的梦想，想起我多么想帮助孩子们。但是，要做到这点我必须作为教师在早上来到学校，而不是下午来拖地。

I talked it over with Ben and Latonya, and it was settled: I would?enroll?at Old?Dominion University. For seven years I attended classes in the mornings before work. When I got home from work, I studied. On days I had no classes to attend, I worked as a teaching assistant for Mrs. Cooper.

我跟本和拉托尼娅详细讨论了这个问题，问题得到了解决：我注册了老弗吉尼亚大学。7年来，上班前，我去上课；下班回家后，我学习。没有课的那一天，我担任库珀夫人的教学助理。

On May 8, 1993, my dream day arrived -- graduation. Getting my college degree and state teaching license officially?qualified?me to be a teacher, but jobs were scrace.

1993年5月8日，是我圆梦的日子——毕业。获得大学学位和州颁发的教学许可证使我正式具备了教书的资格，但是工作缺相当的稀缺。

I interviewed with three schools. At Coleman Place Elementary School, principal Jeanne Tomlinson said, “Your face looks so familiar.” She had worked at Larrymore more than 10 years earlier. I had cleaned her room, and she remembered me.

我去了三所学校面谈。在科尔曼普莱斯小学，校长珍妮·汤姆林森说：“你看起来很面熟。”10多年前她在拉里莫尔小学工作过。我打扫过她的房间，她记得我。

Still, I had no concrete offers. The call came when I had just signed my 18th