一个用新眼光重新发现世界的机会 A chance to rediscover world through new eyes

“Child of my child, heart of my heart.

Your smile bridges the years between us ... "

“我的孩子，我的宝贝，你的笑容填补了我们之间的岁月......”

I'm generally not one to post maxims or sayings, such as the one by an anonymous author in this column. But this occasion seems to call for an exception. My eldest son called me from Miami late last year to say we were going to be grandparents.

我通常不会发表格言或谚语，就像本专栏中那个匿名作者发表的那样。但这次是个例外。我的长子去年年底从迈阿密打来电话说我们要当爷爷奶奶了。

While this was not expected, it has to be one of the most joyous bits of news I've ever had. I have never pressured my children to get married or have children, feeling that these things are best left to my children themselves and time. We are happy, however, to welcome the person he's chosen as a life partner into the family. They seem like a good match.

虽然出乎意料，但这肯定是我听到过的最让人高兴的消息之一。我从不强迫我的孩子结婚生子，也觉得这些事情最好留给他们自己和时间决定。尽管如此，我还是很高兴地欢迎他选择的生活伴侣进入我们这个家庭。他们看起来很般配。

"I am young again, discovering the world through your eyes."

“通过你的眼睛发现世界，我又年轻了一次”。

I told my son that his life was going to change more than ever. (I'm sure I'm not the first to tell him that.) But I also realized that our lives were going to change. I see photos of friends and family of my generation who seem a little younger as they cuddle grandbabies and play with grandchildren.

我告诉我儿子，他的生活将会发生前所未有的改变。（我确信自己不是第一个对他说这话的人）。但我也意识到我们的生活将会改变。我看到与我同龄的朋友和家人的照片，他们抱着孙子孙女，陪他们玩耍，看起来更年轻了。

These grandparents drop any pretense of "acting their age", not hesitating to dress up in funny clothes and get down on their hands and knees to play games with the youngsters.

这些爷爷奶奶抛却长者装模作样的矜持，毫不犹豫地穿上滑稽有趣的衣服，匍匐在地上和孩子们一起玩耍。

Parents are often so busy with jobs, paying bills and otherwise keeping a family afloat that they have less time than they’d like to savor the special moments of their children's growing up. While children certainly need attention from their parents, grandparents can be valuable backups. That is the case in China, where families have remained tight-knit even in a quickly changing society.

父母经常忙于工作、支付账单、维持家庭的生计，以至于陪伴孩子成长过程中特别时刻的时间，要比他们希望的少得多。然而，孩子们是需要父母关心的，祖父母因此成为重要的后盾。中国的情况即是如此，在这里，即使社会快速变化，家庭依然紧密相连。

 "You have the time to listen and I have the time to spend,

Delighted to gaze at familiar, loved features made new in you again."

“你有时间倾听，我有时间消磨，视线追随着熟悉的身影，爱意满满，从可爱的优点重不断发现新的优点。”

I was especially close to my maternal grandparents. I learned how to change the oil in a car engine and how to change a tire thanks to my grandfather. My grandmother taught me about family history, which gave me a much greater sense of my place in the world. I still use some of the 19th century expressions that they did.

我和我的外祖父母特别亲近。外祖父教会我如何给汽车发动机换机油，如何换轮胎。我的外祖母告诉我家族的历史，令我对自己立足于这个世界有一种很棒的感觉。所以我至今还在使用一些他们19世纪的表达方式。

My mother died when I was in my 20s, and it makes me sad that she missed knowing my children, and now my grandchild. My children's grandmother on their mother's side (Abuela, meaning grandmother in Spanish) has been an important influence on them, even though she lives far away, in Argentina. She is in her 90s but remains important in their lives.

我母亲在我20多岁时就去世了。我很难过她没见到我的孩子，也没见到我的孙子。我孩子的外祖母对他们的影响很大，尽管她住在遥远的阿根廷，已经90多岁了，但她在他们的生活中依然很重要。

My wife's grandmother and great-grandmother -- "Ninny" and "Big Momma" -- who helped raise her in Alabama, had a huge influence on her, teaching her the value of hard work and honesty. She often uses some of their favorite sayings. She still uses her great-grandfather’s hand-written recipe for barbecue sauce.

我妻子的祖母和曾祖母在阿拉巴马州扶养她长大，对她产生了很大的影响，教她懂得努力工作和诚实的价值。她经常用一些她们最喜欢的谚语。她也仍然用她曾祖父的手写烧烤酱配方。

 "Through you, I see the future. Through me, you'll see the past.

In the present, we'll love one another as long as these moments last."

“我通过你想象未来，你通过我追溯过去。现在，只要时光延续，我们就会彼此相爱”。

So we have good role models for being grandparents. Those role models have not disappeared but still guide us and are loved by use today.

所以我们有做祖父母的好榜样。这些榜样并没有消失，仍然指引着我们，仍在今天收到爱戴。

Being a grandparent helps crystallize what’s really important in life: Family and good friends. It drives home the importance of passing on things like family history to your children and their children. It makes you care more about the future – a grandchild born this year could see the dawning of the 22nd century. The need to make that future a good one has never seemed more important.

成为祖父母，有助于帮我们明确生活中真正重要的东西：家庭和挚友。这让家人明白了把家族历史这样的东西传承给孩子以及孩子的孩子的重要性。它也让你更关心未来——我的孙子能看到22世纪的曙光。让未来变得美好，似乎从未如此重要。