Years later， when Mother died， I tried to get him to come and live with my family， but he insisted on staying in the small house with the garden plot and a few farm animals close by.
有一年庄稼歉收，父亲无法偿还银行的抵押贷款，无奈之下只好将大部分农场作为抵押。他只保留了一英亩地，小农舍就坐落在那儿。
无论是在农场、公路建筑还是后来到工厂工作，这双手让他生活得不错。他头脑灵活，工作意识超凡。凭着工作热情和效率，他当上了工头，直到他有资格参加考试。
几年后，母亲离开了人世，我想让父亲搬过来和我们一起住，但他坚持住在那间带有花园的农舍里，父亲在农舍附近还养了一些家禽和牲口。
His health began to fail， and he was in and out of the hospital with two mild heart attacks. Old Doc. Green saw him weekly and gave him medicationmedication n.药物治疗， 药物处理， 药物 ， including nitroglycerinnitroglycerin n.［化］硝化甘油， 炸药 tablets to put under his tongue should he feel an attack coming on.
My last fond memory of Dad was watching as he walked across the brow of a hillside meadowmeadow n.草地， 牧场 with those big warm hands resting on the shoulders of my two children. He stopped to point outpoint out v.指出 a pond where he and I had fished years before.
The night， my family and I flew back to our own home. Three weeks later Dad was dead because of a heart attacka heart attack n.心脏病发作 .
他的身体越来越差，两次因为轻微的心脏病发作而住院。格林老大夫每周都来看望他并给他开一些药，其中包括硝酸甘油片，以备发作时含在嘴里缓解病情。
感受父亲最后一次的慈爱，是看着他把那双温暖的大手搭在我两个孩子肩上，带着他们走过牧场的那座小山坡，然后停了下来，将那个几年前我和他一起钓过鱼的池塘指给孩子们看时的情景，但这成了永远的记忆了。
那晚，我和家人回到了自己的家里。父亲在三个星期后因心脏病发作去世了。
I returned to my fathers home for the funeralfuneral n.葬礼， 出殡. Doc. Green told me how sorry he was. In fact， he was bothered a bit， because he had just written Dad a new prescriptionprescription n.指示， 规定， 命令， 处方 ， and the druggist had filled it. Yet the bottle of pills had not been found on Dads person. Doc Green felt that a pill might have kept him alive long enough to summonsummon v.召集， 召唤， 号召， 鼓起， 振作 help.
I went out to Dads garden plot where a neighbor had found him. In grief， I stoopedstoop vi.弯下， 弯下上身， 屈服， 弯腰 to tracetrace vt.描绘， 映描， 画轮廓， 追踪 my fingers in the earth where he had reached the end of his life. My hand came to rest on a halfburied brick， which I aimlessly lifted. I noticed underneathunderneath prep.在……的下面 it the twisted and battered， yet unbroken， container that had been beaten into the soft earth.
我回老家参加了父亲的葬礼。格林大夫对我他很难过。其实他觉得有点困惑，因为他刚给父亲开了新药，而且药剂师也配好了药，可在父亲身上并没有发现那瓶药。格林大夫认为只要一粒药就可以支撑他叫人来救他。
我来到父亲的花园，邻居就是在这里发现了父亲。我万分悲痛，弯腰用手抚摸着这块土地，父亲就是在这儿去世的。我的手碰到一个半埋在地里的砖块，我下意识地拿它起，看到砖块下有一个被砸变形的、但仍完好无损的药瓶深陷在软泥里。
As I held the container of pills， the scene of Dad struggling to remove the cap and in desperationdesperation n.绝望 trying to break it with the brick flashed painfully before my eyes. With deep anguishanguish n.痛苦， 苦恼 I knew why those big hands had lost in their struggle with death. For there， imprintedimprint v.留下烙印 on the cap， were the words： “Childproof cap—Push down and twist to unlock.” The druggistdruggist n.药商， 药剂师， 药材商 later confirmed that he had just started using the new safety caps.
I knew it was not a rationalrational adj.理性的， 合理的， 推理的 act， but I went right downtown and bought a pocket dictionary and a gold pen set. I bade Dad goodbye by placing them in those big hands， once so warm， which had lived so well， but had never learned to write.
当我手握这个药瓶，我的眼前浮现父亲拼命想打开瓶盖、在绝望中努力用砖块砸碎它的场面，带着深深的伤痛，我终于明白为什么这双大手在与死亡的斗争中丧失了作用，因为在瓶盖上印有“儿童安全保护盖——往下推然后拧开”的字样。药剂师后来也确定他是刚开始学会打开这种新安全瓶盖的。
我明白这是不理智的行为，但我还是奔赴城里，买了一本袖珍字典和一支金笔。在告别父亲的遗体时，我把它们放到了父亲手里，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。
父亲在我们的生命中有着不可替代的影响，他的坚强和高大的形象，会是我们人生路上的榜样。父亲勤劳、善良，有着一颗努力追求生活的心。在这里我们更应该对这种不断学习和进步的态度，深深地鞠上一躬。