Caroline has known me all my life. It was my privilege to see her out of hers. After my father’s death, to Mammy I came to represent the head of that family to which she had given a half century of fidelity and devotion. But the relationship between us never became that of master and servant. She still remained one of my earliest recollections, not only as a person, but as a fount of authority over my conduct and of security for my physical welfare, and of active and constant affection and love. She was an active and constant precept for decent behavior. From her I learned to tell the truth, to refrain from waste, to be considerate of the weak and respectful to age. I saw fidelity to a family which was not hers, devotion and love for people she had not borne.
从我出生时起卡洛琳就认得我。为她送终对我来说是一种特殊的光荣。我父亲死后，在大妈眼里我成了一家之主，对于这个家庭，她献出了半个世纪的忠诚与热爱。不过，我们之间的关系从来也不是主仆间的关系。直到今天，她仍然是我最早的记忆的一部分，不仅是作为一个人，而是作为我行为准则和我物质福利可靠的一个源泉，也是积极、持久的感情与爱的一个源泉。她也是正直行为的一个积极、持久的准则。从她那里，我学会了说真话、不浪费、体贴弱者、尊重长者。我见到了一种对于一个不属于她的家庭的忠诚，对并非她亲生的子女的深情与挚爱。
She was born in bondage and with a dark skin and most of her early maturity was passed in a dark and tragic time for the land of her birth. She went through vicissitudes which she had not caused; she assumed cares and griefs which were not even her cares and griefs. She was paid wages for this, but pay is still just money. And she never received very much of that, so that she never laid up anything of this world’s goods. Yet she accepted that too without cavil or calculation or complaint, so that by that very failure she earned the gratitude and affection of the family she had conferred the fidelity and devotion upon, and gained the grief and regret of the aliens who loved and lost her.
她生下来就处在受奴役的状态中，她皮肤黑，最初进入成年时她是在她诞生地的黑暗、悲惨的历史阶段中度过的，她经历过盛衰变嬗，可这些都有不是她造成的;她体会到忧虑与哀伤，其实这些甚至都还不是她自己的忧虑与哀伤。别人为此付给她工钱，可是能够付给她的也仅仅是钱而已。何况她得到的从来就不多，因此她一生可以说是身无长物。可是连这一点她也默默地接受下来，既没有异议也没有算计和怨言，正因为不考虑这一切，她赢得了她奉献出忠诚与挚爱的一家人的感激和敬爱，也获得了热爱她、失去她的异族人的哀悼与痛惜。
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