Dad and his mother got along like two cats with their tails tied together.
爸爸和他妈妈像两只猫一样相处,尾巴绑在一起。
They argued daily, about the mess from the junkyard but more often about us kids.Grandma thought we should be in school and not, as she put it, "roaming the mountain like savages".Dad said public school was a ploy by the Government to lead children away from God."I may as well surrender my kids to the devil himself," he said, "as send them down the road to that school".
他们每天都在争论垃圾场的混乱, 但更经常地谈论我们的孩子。奶奶认为我们应该在学校, 而不是像她所说, "像野蛮人一样在山上漫游" 。爸爸说公立学校是政府引导孩子们远离上帝的伎俩。"我不妨把我的孩子交给魔鬼自己,"他说,"就像送他们去那所学校一样”。
我的想法:塔拉的爸爸似乎有恋母情结,也许从小受到母亲和学校的严格管控,导致他反感教育,不信任学校。但是他把自己的想法强加在孩子身上是极不负责的。他选择在家教育子女,又不给他们自学看书的时间,一直驱赶他们去劳动,也许他相信劳动技能才是生存之本,他不愿意为政府工作劳动,也是不信任社会的体现,可是某种角度上,他说的不无道理,美国的精英教育制度确实要整顿,社会福利也要完善。