English Original
Papa's jaw dropped when Mama told him that Sister had cheated on her final exams—not to succeed but to fail.
"It's unbelievable!" he said. "Sister has always been so proud of her good grades!"
"Yes, she has," said Mama. "But it's not unbelievable. It just shows how badly she wanted off the swimming team."
"Wanted off the swimming team?" said Papa. "She never said anything about that to me."
"Of course she didn't," said Mama. "She was afraid you'd blow your top. You already had her getting a swimming scholarship to college and winning gold medals at the Olympics. Can you imagine how much pressure she must have felt? For her, being on the team couldn't have been much fun."
"Oh, my gosh!" Papa said, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I've been so stupid! I just thought she'd want to be a champion swimmer because she's so good at it."
"It's like anything else, dear," said Mama. "No matter how good at it you are, if it stops being fun, you won't want to do it anymore."
Papa put his head in his hands. "She must be really mad at me," he mumbled. "Maybe I should say sorry to her."
Sister's footsteps could be heard on the stairs. She came into the kitchen and looked hopefully up at her parents.
"Honey," said Mama with a smile, "Your papa and I have decided that there's no reason for you to be on the swimming team if you don't want to."
Sister's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yippee!" she cried.
"And," added Papa, "there's no need for any more drills. I'm sure you'll bring your grades back up all by yourself."
Sister ran to Papa and jumped into his arms. She gave him a big hug. "I'm going to go play cards with Lizzy!" she said. "See you later!"
From the kitchen window, Mama and Papa watched their daughter run down the sunny road toward Lizzy's house.
"It's good to see her happy again," said Mama.
"It sure is," Papa agreed. "As for the swimming team, there's always next year."
"If?" Mama prompted him.
"Oh, right," said Papa. "If she wants to."
Mama smiled. "At least you're learning, dear," she said. She kissed him.
"Well, you know what they say," Papa said. "Better late than never."
中文翻译
当妈妈告诉爸爸，姐姐在期末考试中作弊了——不是为了及格，而是为了不及格时，爸爸惊得下巴都掉了。
“这太难以置信了！”他说，“姐姐一直为自己的好成绩感到骄傲！”
“是的，她是这样，”妈妈说，“但这并非难以置信。这恰恰表明她多么想退出游泳队。”
“想退出游泳队？”爸爸说，“她从来没跟我提过这事。”
“她当然不会提，”妈妈说，“她怕你会大发雷霆。你已经为她规划好了，要拿游泳奖学金上大学，还要在奥运会上拿金牌。你能想象她承受了多大的压力吗？对她来说，待在队里不可能有多少乐趣。”
“哦，天哪！”爸爸说，用手拍了下额头。“我太蠢了！我只是因为她游得那么好，就以为她想成为冠军游泳运动员。”
“亲爱的，这和其他事情一样，”妈妈说，“无论你多么擅长一件事，如果它不再有趣，你就不想再做了。”
爸爸双手抱头。“她一定很生我的气，”他咕哝道，“也许我该向她道歉。”
楼梯上传来姐姐的脚步声。她走进厨房，满怀希望地抬头看着父母。
“亲爱的，”妈妈微笑着说，“你爸爸和我决定了，如果你不想待在游泳队，就没有理由强迫你。”
姐姐的脸像圣诞树一样亮了起来。“太好了！”她喊道。
“而且，”爸爸补充道，“不需要再做任何额外训练了。我相信你自己就能把成绩提上来。”
姐姐跑到爸爸身边，跳进他的怀里，给了他一个大大的拥抱。“我要去和莉齐打牌了！”她说，“待会儿见！”
从厨房的窗户，妈妈和爸爸看着女儿沿着洒满阳光的路跑向莉齐家。
“看到她重新开心起来真好，”妈妈说。
“确实，”爸爸表示同意。“至于游泳队，总还有明年。”
“如果？”妈妈提醒他。
“哦，对，”爸爸说，“如果她想的话。”
妈妈笑了。“至少你在学了，亲爱的，”她说，并亲吻了他。
“嗯，你知道人们常说的，”爸爸说，“迟做总比不做好。”