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When I was growing up, my mother had a ring she never took off. It was the only ring I ever saw her wear during my childhood.
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She wore it when she swept, when she mopped and when she washed clothes on the rubborad.
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She didn’t really have any other jewelry, and, in fact, I remember my father saying that he didn’t even buy her a ring when they were married. He hadn’t thought about it, and during the ceremony, they had borrowed her brother’s ring.
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The years passed. My father, who had come from Mexico in the 1920s to try to earn a living, working long, long hours at the service stations he operated. And my mother, who was also from Mexico, toiled at home, keeping house for her husband and eight youngsters. With his hard work and her thriftiness, they sent their first son off to college, then another child and then another. The older children helped with the expenses of the younger ones.
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A few years before she died, she told me that she wanted her jewelry to go to her granddaughters. And when she died it was done.
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Then I discovered it: her first ring. Now I could identify the metal. The ring was a thin, fragile thing by now. It had been worn so long that the copper had become unattached to the circle. Its value was naught.
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To me, it symbolized the sacrifices my mother had made for us and the values that she lived. How many years had she worn it? How many times had she denied herself so that we might succeed? Why did she save this ring when it seemed worthless? Was it a symbol to her, too?
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When I look at that ring, I see the priceless jewel of my mother’s strength and the brilliance of the love that she showed us every day of her life.
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精美译文：
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婚戒
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从我小的时候起，母亲就一直戴着一枚戒指，从来没有摘下来过。这是我童年时代看到她戴的唯一的戒指。
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她睡觉的时候戴着，扫地时戴着，甚至在搓板上洗衣服时也戴着它。
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她实在没有别的首饰。而实际上，我记得我爸爸曾说过，他们结婚时他甚至都没有给她买过一枚戒指。他没有想过这件事，在婚礼上，他们是借了母亲兄弟的戒指。
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我父亲是20世纪20年代从墨西哥来这儿谋生的。许多年来，他每天都在自己开的维修站工作很长时间。我母亲也来自墨西哥，她每天在家里辛勤地劳动，为丈夫照料着家和八个孩子。由于父亲的辛劳和母亲的节俭，他们把大儿子送进了大学，然后一个接一个全都上了大学，由大的帮助小的交学费。
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在她去世的前几年，她告诉我，她想把她的珠宝首饰传给她的孙女们。她去世后，就照她说的做了。
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这时，我发现母亲的第一枚戒指。现在我还能认出那种金属。现在看来，那枚戒指很单薄，很脆弱。它戴的时间太长了，以致铜条脱离了中心。它分文不值。
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对我来说，它象征着母亲为我们所做的牺牲和她人生的价值。她戴了多少年？牺牲了多少次机会才能使我们成功？为什么在它看上去毫无价值的时候，她还保存着它？这枚戒指对她也是一个象征吗？
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每当我端详这枚戒指时，我看到了母亲力量的无价之宝，和她生命中每时每刻对我们所表现出来的伟大的母爱。
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词汇串珠：
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1．sweep [swi:p] v. 扫，拂（去）；掠过 n. 打扫 挥动
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【引申词】sweepingly[‘swi
:pɪŋlɪ] ad. 大规模地；彻底地
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例句：She swept the floor clean.
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她把地板打扫干净。
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2．mop [mɒp] n. 拖把；蓬乱的头发 v. 用拖把拖洗；擦干
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例句：I have to mop the kitchen floor at least once a day.
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