His hands were once so warm， which had lived so well， but had never learned to write.
My Fathers Hands
His hands were rough and exceedinglyexceedingly adv.非常地， 极度地 strong. He could gently pruneprune v.剪除 a fruit tree or firmly ease a stubbornstubborn adj.顽固的， 固执的， 坚定的， 坚决的， 难应付的， 难处理的 horse into a harnessharness n.(全套)马具， 系在身上的绳子， 甲胄 .
那双手曾是那般温暖，那双手曾让他丰衣足食，但却从来没有学会写字。
父亲的双手
父亲的双手粗糙却十分有力。他能轻松自如地修剪果树，或者稳当从容地给性子烈的马按马具。
What I remember most is the special warmth from those hands as he would take me by the
shoulder and point out the glittering swoopswoop n.突然下降， 猛扑 of a blue hawk， or a rabbit asleep in its lair.
They were good hands that served him well and failed him in only one thing. They never learned to write.
My father was illiterateilliterate adj.不识字的， 没受教育的 . The number of illiteratesilliterate n.文盲 in our country has steadily declined， but if there were only one I would be saddened， remembering my father and the pain he endured because his hands never learned to write. He started school in the first grade， where the remedy for a wrong answer was ten ruler strokes across a stretched palm. For some reason， shapes， figures and letters just did not fall into the right pattern inside his six year old mind. His father took him out of school after several months and set him to a mans job on the farm.
令我最难忘的是，他挽着我的肩膀，将俯冲下落的蓝鹰或熟睡在洞里的兔子指给我看时，我感到那双手有一种特别的温暖。
这双手让他丰衣足食，但唯一的缺憾是这双手却从来没学会写字。
我的父亲不识字。虽然在我们国家文盲人数不断减少着，但只要还有文盲我就会感到难过，这让我想起父亲以及没有文化给他带来的痛苦，因为那双手从来没有学会写字。他上一年级时，如果答错问题，老师就会用戒尺在他手心打10下。不知道为什么，当时年仅6岁的父亲就是记不住形状、数字还有字母之类的。几个月之后，祖父就让他退学了，安排他到农场干着成人的活儿。
Years later， his wife， with her fourthgrade education， would try to teach him to read. And still later I
would grasp his big fist between my small hands and awkwardlyawkwardly adv.笨拙地， 无技巧地 help him to trace the letters of his name. He submitted to the ordealordeal n.严酷的考验， 痛苦的经验， 折磨 for a short time， but soon grew restlessrestless adj.得不到休息的， 不平静的， 不安宁的 and would declare that he had had enough.
One night， when he thought no one saw， he slipped away with my second grade reader and labored over the words until they became difficult. Thereafter， no amount of persuadingpersuade v.说服， 劝说， (使)相信， 劝某人做(不做)某事 could bring him to sit with pen and paper. He did still like to listen to my mother， and then to me， read to him. He especially enjoyed listening to us read to him from the Bible.
数年后，上过四年学的妻子试着教他读书。再到后来就是我用小手紧握着他的那只大拳头，费力地帮他描写他的名字。他只坚持了很短的一段时间，不久他就变得没有耐心了，并且宣称他已受够了。
有天晚上，当他认为无人看见他时，悄悄带走我二年级的课本，然后吃力地读着上面的字，直到再也难于读下去。此后，不管怎样劝他都无法再让他坐下来学习写字了。但他还是喜欢听母亲和我为他读书，他很是喜欢我们为他读《圣经》。
My father was forced to let the bank take possession of most of the acreage of his farmland one year when a crop failure meant he couldnt make the mortgagemortgage n.抵押v.抵押 payment. He was able to keep one acre of the farmland where the small farm house was located.
From the farm to road building and later to factory work， his hands served him well. His mind was keen， and his will to work was unsurpassedunsurpassed adj.未被凌驾的， 非常卓越的 . His enthusiasm and efficiencyefficiency n.效率， 功效 brought an offer to become a line boss—until he was handed the qualificationqualification n.资格， 条件， 限制， 限定， 赋予资格 test.