喜福會

　
千里鵝毛（Feathers from a Thousand Li Away）

老婦仍記得多年前在上海她已近乎愚昧的代價所買的一隻天鵝。這隻珍禽，照市場攤販誇說，一度是一隻扯著脖子期待躍升一變為鵝的鴨。現在你看哪——它美的吃不得了。

The olde woman remembered a swan she had bought many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum. This bird, boasted the market vendor, was once a duck that stretched its neck in hopes of becoming a goose, and now look! - it it too beautiful to eat.

而後女人和天鵝行過幾千里寬的海洋，把他們的脖子伸向美國。旅途上她對天鵝唧咕：「在美國我要一個和我一模一樣的女兒。在那兒沒有人會說她的身價是依她丈夫打嗝的聲音大小而定。在那兒沒有人會鄙視她，因為我只准她說標準的美式英語。在那兒她總得嚥不下任何悲苦！她會懂我的心意——因為我要給她這隻天鵝——一隻變得超乎她所期望的動物。」

Then the woman and the swan sailed across an ocean many thousands of li wide, stretching their necks towards America. On her journey she cooed to the swan: "In America I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband's belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English.And over there she will always be too full to swallow any sorrow! She will know my meaning, because I will give her this swan-- a creature that became more than what was hoped for."

可是當她到達新的國度時，移民官員把她的天鵝拿走了，只留給這個張臂舞爪、手足失措的女人一隻鵝毛為念。同時他得填寫各式各樣的表格，忙得她忘卻了她來時的目標和她所遺留在身後的一切。

But when she arrived in the new country, the immigration officials pulled her swan away from her, leaving the woman fluttering her arms and with only one swan feather for a memory. And then she had to fill out so many forms she forgot why she had come and what she had left behind.

而今女人遲暮。她擁有一個只講英文長大的女兒，吞嚥的可口可樂還比悲苦要來得多。長久以來，女人就想給她女兒這唯一的一支天鵝羽，告訴她：「這隻羽也許看似毫毛，然而它自千里外來，夾帶著我由衷的美意。」她等著，年復一年，盼望著她能以標準美式英語告訴她女兒這一切的那一天。

Now the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow. For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single feather and tell her, "This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions." And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English.

01宿願（Suyuan）與菁妹（Jing-Mei 'June' ）
02安美（An-Mei）與若絲（Rose）
03瑩影（Ying-ying）與利娜（Lena）
04靈多（Lindo）與未伏里（Waverly）