赵毛在开始写自传第二章“我生命中最重要的人”时颇费了点时间选主人公。迫于交作文期限逼近，他要我帮他选人。我建议他写他老爸，并罗列他老爸之优秀品质和对他的宠爱。后他又和他老爸商量，最后还是决定让我粉墨登场。
我把大意翻译在此，他的作文附在后面。
每篇好的自传都会写到谁影响了作者的一生。选谁对你一生最重要和对你最有影响时是看者容易做者难。经过无数天的反复思考，我决定写我的妈妈。这不应该是什么惊奇，无论你是谁，妈妈都会在你的生命中扮演至少一个重要角色，那就是生了你。我妈妈在生我时由于大出血差点丢了性命。我超过预产期（两周，长得很大），妈妈个头又小，难产应该是早预料到的。感谢（上帝），妈妈没有光荣牺牲。
妈妈为我做很多事，我会在以后的段落中描述细节。妈妈最爱做的就是唠叨。我一般都会烦她骂我和推我, 但如果我没有更好的事做的话，我会听她的。有那么几次要不是妈妈吼得厉害，我完全忘了我的家庭作业。老实地说，有时当我拿出写好的作业松了一口气，我就很感激她的提醒。一般来说，我会自觉完成作业。如果哪天拖拉，我也不想有人来逼作完成。
妈妈做的另外的事就是烧饭。她不仅承头于工作中，而且也承头于每天不能避免象做饭的家务琐事中。妈妈很小就开始给她全家(很多姊妹哟)做饭，这让她有足够的时间改良菜谱。妈妈做菜用自己的菜谱而不是用菜谱书上经典的菜谱，这样烧出来的菜最好吃。如果妈妈不做饭，我大半时间不会吃饭。爸爸总是很忙或回家很晚，妈妈总是每天做饭或把剩菜热热给我。对一个空着肚子的孩子来说，有人做饭是不可缺的。
因为妈妈可以在家上班而爸爸不行，所以她常常在我生病时照料我。她精心看护，还为我取来我所需要的任何东西。她还懂用几种中草药治病或帮助康复。她在我生病时还干其他的事，比如抱怨我没把手放在被窝里保持暖和或没穿棉拖鞋。但是大部分时间她所做的就是呆在家里陪我。有人陪伴度过困难时光是一件很重要的事。
妈妈是我的榜样。她常常超质超量完成工作，让她在她的公司成有价值的人。她对工作的热爱和干事的动力真让我佩服。她还常常通过刻苦练习努力完善自己。我作为一个学生，必须象她那样才能取得好成绩。妈妈曾经自学考工作需要的专利执照，那时她每天花几个小时看教学录像，记笔记，自我测试，并反复看那些不懂的部分。我亲历她的复习过程，那真是让人身心疲惫的日子。但当她考试取得好成绩时，她的努力得到了回报。毫无疑问，这对我很重要。我从她的经历学到了只有努力才会获得好成绩。基于以上原因，我认为妈妈是一个很优秀的榜样。
因为爸爸总是忙，妈妈常常计划我们休假的地方，她安排我们去世界各地。度假主要是好玩，但它还帮助我了解各国文化，世界风情，让我看到每个国家真实的一面。我感谢妈妈花时间带我去不同的地方度过一个个难忘的假期。
妈妈为我做得很多很多，诸如烧饭，做清洁等等。对于尤其象我这样的孩子，妈妈扮演了很重要的角色。作妈妈这个工作不太容易。但如果你是一个好妈妈，你的影子会在你的孩子身上体现出来。我选妈妈为我生命中最重要的人当然不仅仅是因为她是我妈妈，而且她是一个好妈妈。所有的父母都应该象她这样。
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Chapter 2
The Most Important Person in My Life
As the title suggests, this is a piece on the most important person in my life. Why should this be included? The reason is because every good autobiography has a bit one those who influenced the writer and why. To choose the most important and influential person in your life is not as easy as it seems. After much thinking, a bit more thinking, and a little more thinking, I chose the person. It is… my mom! This should not be a surprise. No matter who you are, your mother should have played at least one major role in your life: brought you tumbling head first into the outside world. That is something important, all right! But what makes it a true labor of love is that my mom nearly died in the process due to a massive hemorrhage. That was to be expected, since I was overdue and my mom is naturally small. But thankfully, she lived, and is now the most important and probably influential person in my life.
My mom does a lot of things for me. I will talk about more of them later. One of the most important actions my mom performs is nag. I am usually annoyed at her scolding and pushing, but if I have nothing better to do, I will listen. There are a few instances where I might have even forgotten entirely about my homework, had it not been for my mom’s yelling and such. Honestly, I am grateful at times when I pull out my completed homework and sigh in relief, remembering it was my mom’s grumbling that made me work. Usually, I have some incentive to get my work done, but when I don’t, there’s always the prospect of NOT being nagged to do so.
Another important role my mom plays is that of chef. My mother has initiative, and not only in work but also in everyday unavoidable tasks, like cooking. My mother was responsible from a very early age for cooking for her family (a lot of siblings and her parents). This has given her a lot of time to develop good recipes. One thing that I think makes my mother’s cooking the best is that it is an original recipe, not a generic cookbook “classic”. Not only that, but if my mom wasn’t there to cook, I wouldn’t be eating half the time! My dad usually is too busy, and he has a lot of work to do, or gets home late. My mom is always there to cook, or throw together leftovers to make something. Important indeed is the presence of one that cooks, especially to a hungry kid.
My mother is also the one who helps me through sickness, in part because she can work at home but dad cannot. She gives me lots of attention and care, and fetches everything I need. She can also make a few herbal PROVEN remedies, and has knowledge of what to eat to help ease recovery or fight sickness. There are other things she does too, like scolding me for not keeping my hands under the blanket, or making sure I wear bunny slippers to keep warm. But the most important thing she probably does is simply being there for me when sick. Having someone to rely on during tough times is a great thing.
My mother is a good role model to look up to. She always gets the job done, and gives 110%, making her valuable to companies. Yet what really gets me thinking is that she has motivation and initiative to do her work. She also always tries to perfect what she can’t get right and trains herself through vigorous practice to excel. As a student right now, following her lead is essential. My mom once was studying for this big patent bar exam for work. She watched the exam videos hours each day, took notes, quizzed herself, and replayed parts she did not understand. I watched her do this. It was a grueling process, seeing these weeks and weeks of studying. But when she did excellent on the exam, it shows that hard work pays off really good. That is an important thing to know, no doubt. I learned it like most creatures: watching someone else apply it. I can consider my mom a very excellent role model for these reasons.
Since my dad is usually busy doing something, my mom is also the travel planner. She puts us on trips to places all around the world. It’s mainly to have fun, but it is also to help expand my cultural horizons. It lets me see past the stereotypes painted about a country to what it really is. It lets me see how people live in other horizons. But mainly I’m grateful for that my mother took the time to make my vacation time the best in some other place.
My mother has done a lot of things for me. She cooks, cleans, and much more. Being a mother is a very important role, and it is essential that you perform it well, especially for kids like me. It is a hard job, but if you do it well it shows up in your kids. I chose my mom as the most important person in my life because she’s, well, my mom! And she does her part well. Really, that’s all a good parent needs to do. My mother has all of it (I think), and it all comes together.
July 5th, 2011
