To this day, the very thought of red oak bark tea nauseates me; my mouth still retains that bitter flavor. As a child in a rural community in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, even the threat of home remedies like red oak bark tea was usually sufficient to scare the sickness out of me. Once, when my mother administered powdered alum to my sore throat, I concluded that my family must have had enough of me. They assured me, however, that alum was not supposed to make you gag quite that much.

I never considered becoming a doctor as a child. My family could rarely afford the luxury of proper medical treatment. Thus, unpleasant home remedies were my earliest experiences of healthcare, and I cannot say that they were exactly prepossessing. Nor was my opinion unusual in my environment: in my rural farming town, doctors were the people you went to when all your family remedies had failed, and you couldn’t get out of bed to go to work anymore. Medicine was seen less as a way to improve your quality of life than as an expensive method of postponing the inevitable.

I could not point to a specific date as the day I decided that I wanted to commit my life to medicine. Rather, it was a gradual realization that grew out of my love for biology and my sense that the path I was taking was not meant for me.

Merely attending junior college was an enormous achievement for me, as none of my family had ever graduated from high school. Initially, I intended to earn my associate's degree in biology. Unfortunately, my family’s difficult financial situation prevented me from following my interest in this field, for I soon had to find a full-time job to help out at home. I continued taking classes at night, but unfortunately, no lab courses were offered in the evening. Finally, after four years, I completed the requirements for an associate’s degree in economics. That was when I realized that I wanted to explore biology further. At moments, I even began to think of attending medical school, only to dismiss these daydreams as no more plausible than winning the lottery.

I soon married and entered a very difficult period in my life. Trying to keep my husband happy and my marriage together, after earning my associate's degree I quit the job I had enjoyed since high school graduation. I proceeded to change jobs every six months or so for the next two years before separating from my husband. When I knew there would be no reconciliation, I decided to follow the dream I had put on hold, and I applied to the institution I now attend to study biology. Being a doctor may not have been a lifelong dream for me, but it is my calling.

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

該文是寫(xiě)一名女性為自己的遲來(lái)的醫(yī)學(xué)夢(mèng)想奮斗的故事。早年對(duì)家庭式治療的厭惡，萌生起她對(duì)生物學(xué)以及醫(yī)學(xué)的興趣。但礙于家庭環(huán)境不得不中止對(duì)生物學(xué)的學(xué)習(xí)。經(jīng)過(guò)四的工作與學(xué)習(xí)，完成了經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)學(xué)位后，面對(duì)自己夢(mèng)想與婚姻的壓力的她最終知道沒(méi)法協(xié)調(diào)二者的關(guān)系，最后選擇了去完成自己的夢(mèng)想，將自己遲來(lái)的夢(mèng)想變成現(xiàn)實(shí)。如果中期的折變起伏如果能夠再加得點(diǎn)筆墨，結(jié)構(gòu)將會(huì)顯得更有層次。

譯文：

遲來(lái)的夢(mèng)想

至今，這種紅橡木茶的特別想法依然使我感覺(jué)到惡心；我口里面依然保留著那種苦澀的口味。作為一個(gè)出生在落基山脈山腳下的鄉(xiāng)村的小孩，弱小的我就連像紅橡木茶之類(lèi)的家庭藥物都足夠把我嚇得作嘔。曾經(jīng)當(dāng)我媽媽將粉末狀的明礬放入我疼痛的喉嚨時(shí)，我甚至斷定我們家不想要我了。他們向我保證，不無(wú)論如何，明礬不會(huì)使我作嘔成那樣的。

在小的時(shí)候我從來(lái)沒(méi)有想過(guò)去當(dāng)一名醫(yī)生。我的家?guī)缀醪豢赡艹惺苷Ｋ幬镏委煹陌嘿F費(fèi)用。因而討厭的家庭治療就變成我的最早的家庭保健衛(wèi)生的體驗(yàn)。同時(shí)我不能說(shuō)這些治療方式十分有效。這不是我在當(dāng)?shù)嘏c眾不同的看法。而醫(yī)生是當(dāng)你家里所有的治療方法都無(wú)效和你無(wú)法再去工作的時(shí)候可以去找的人。這樣看來(lái)，比起能提高你的生活質(zhì)量，藥物治療更像是一種推遲醫(yī)治可能的昂貴方法。

我不能確定具體是哪天我決定奉獻(xiàn)我的一生到醫(yī)學(xué)領(lǐng)域。更確切地說(shuō)，我逐步形成對(duì)生物學(xué)喜愛(ài)的認(rèn)知和對(duì)我選擇的道路不是為自己的感悟。

對(duì)于沒(méi)有一個(gè)成員能從高中畢業(yè)的家庭來(lái)說(shuō)，能夠進(jìn)入高等學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)是我的一個(gè)巨大成就。最初，我打算在生物學(xué)方面掙得我的相關(guān)學(xué)位。不幸地，我家困難的財(cái)務(wù)狀況阻止了我對(duì)這方面的興趣，因?yàn)槲液芸炀鸵乙环萑毜墓ぷ鱽?lái)幫家里渡過(guò)難關(guān)。雖然我有上夜校，但不幸的是，那里不提供實(shí)驗(yàn)室課程。終于在四年之后，我完成了一個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)相關(guān)學(xué)位所要求的課程。這時(shí)我發(fā)覺(jué)正是我想更深入探討生物學(xué)的時(shí)候了。時(shí)常，我甚至想申請(qǐng)進(jìn)入醫(yī)學(xué)學(xué)校，不料消除這些幻想竟和贏彩票一樣不真實(shí)。

我很快就結(jié)婚了和進(jìn)入了我生命中的一個(gè)非常困難的時(shí)期。從我高中畢業(yè)取得相關(guān)學(xué)位后我辭退了我曾經(jīng)很喜歡的工作，以求嘗試討好丈夫和維持婚姻。大約在離開(kāi)丈夫前兩年我試著每六個(gè)月轉(zhuǎn)一次工。當(dāng)我知道我沒(méi)有辦法去協(xié)調(diào)我的家庭和事業(yè)，我決定跟著我的已有把握的夢(mèng)想走，同時(shí)我申請(qǐng)到我現(xiàn)在所就讀的生物學(xué)院。成為一名醫(yī)生不會(huì)再成為我終生的一個(gè)空想，而是我的職業(yè)頭銜。