The Cake
Cindy glanced nervously at the clock on the kitchen wall. Five minutes before midnight.
“They should be home any time now,” she thought as she put the finishing touches on the chocolate cake she was frosting. It was the first time in her 12 years she had tried to make a cake from scratch, and to be honest, it wasn’t exactly an aesthetic triumph. The cake was…well, lumpy. And the frosting was bitter, as if she had run out of sugar or something, which, of course, she had.
And then there was the way the kitchen looked. Imagine a huge blender filled with all the fixings for chocolate cake- including the requisite bowls, pans and utensils. Now imagine that the blender is turned on. High speed. With the lid off. Do you get the idea?chocolate怎么读
But Cindy wasn’t thinking about the mess. She had created something, a veritable phoenix of flour and sugar rising out of the kitchen clutter. She was anxious for her parents to return home from their date so she could present her anniversary gift to them. She turned off the k
itchen lights and waited excitedly in the darkness. When at last she saw the flash of the car headlights, she positioned herself in the kitchen doorway. By the time she heard the key sliding into the front door, she was THIS CLOSE to expolding.
Her parents tried to slip in quietly, but Cindy would have none of that. She flipped on the lights dramatically and trumpeted: ”Ta-daaa!” she gestured grandly toward the kitchen table, where a slightly off-balance two-layer chocolate cake awaited their inspection.
But her mother’s eyes never made it all the way to the table. “Just look at this mess !” she moaned. “How many times have I talked to you about cleaning up after yourself?”
“But Mom, I was only…”
“I should make you clean this up right now, but I’m too tired to stay up with you to make sure you get it done right,” her mother said. “So you’ll do it first thing in the morning.”
“Honey,” Cindy’s father interjected gently, “take a look at the table.”
“I know- it’s a mess ,” his wife said coldly, “The whole kitchen is a disaster, I can’t stand to look at it.” She stormed up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
For a few moments Cindy and her father stood silently, neither one knowing what to say. At last she looked up at him, her eyes moist and red, “She never saw the cake,” she said.
Unfortunately, Cindy’s mother isn’t the only parent who suffers from Situational Timbercular Glaucoma – the occasional inability to see the forest for the trees. From time to time we all allow ourselves to be blinded to issues of long-term significance by stuff that seems awfully important right now, but isn’t. Muddy shoes, lost lunch money and messy kitchens ars troublesome, and they deserve their place among life’s frustrations. But what’s little mud– even on new carpet- compared to child’s self-esteem? Is a lost dollar more valuable than a youngster’s emerging dignity? And while kitchen santation is important, is it worth the sacrifice of tender feelings and relationships?
I’m not saying that our children don’t need to learn responsibility, or to occasionally suffer the painful consequences of their own bad choices. Those lesson are vital, and need to be
carefully taught. But as parents, we must never forget that we’re not just teaching lessons- we’re teaching children. That means there are times when we really need to see the mess in the kitchen, and times when we only need to see the cake.
译文：
蛋糕
辛迪紧张地瞥了一眼厨房墙上的钟表。还差5分钟就是午夜了。
“他们现在应该快回家了”，她心里一边想着，一边把做好的装点物放在她覆上糖霜的巧克力蛋糕上。这是她12年来第一次尝试自己从零开始动手做蛋糕，而且坦诚的说，从美学观点看，蛋糕做得并不十分成功。这蛋糕…有点，粗笨的，而且覆的糖霜味有点苦，好像她的糖都用光了，确实，她已经用光了。
当时厨房看起来是这样的。想像一下一个填满了各种巧克力蛋糕配料的巨大的食物搅拌器—包括必备的碗，盘子，和其他器皿。现在再想像一下，这个食物搅拌器启动了，高速运转着，还没有盖盖子。你弄明白了吗？
但是辛迪并没有考虑这种杂乱的状况。她创造出了什么东西，一只由面粉和糖制成的名副其实凤凰从厨房里一堆杂乱的东西中高耸出来。她焦虑不安地等待她父母约会回来，然后她就可以把这个周年纪念日的礼物送给父母。她关掉了厨房的灯，然后在黑暗中激动地等待着。终于，她看到汽车头灯在闪，她站到了厨房门口。当听到钥匙插进门锁的声音时，她的心几乎要蹦出来了！
她的父母试图悄悄地进来，但是辛迪可不想这样。她按下灯开关，吹响小喇叭：“哒—哒哒！”她朝厨房桌子骄傲地做了一个手势，桌子上摆着一个稍微不太平衡的二层巧克力蛋糕，它在待候着父母的检查。
但是她妈妈的眼睛根本没往桌子上看。“看你弄得这一团糟！”妈妈抱怨说。“我跟你说过多少次了要自己打扫干净！”
“但是，妈妈，我只是…”
“我本应该要你现在就把这里清理干净，但是我很累了，不能和你熬夜来确保你把它弄好，”妈妈说，“所以你明天一早第一件事就是打扫这里。”
“亲爱的，”辛迪的爸爸温和地插了句话，“看一下桌子上。”
“我知道—一团乱，”他妻子冷冷地说道。“整个厨房就像是一场灾难。我不能忍受看到这样。”她气呼呼地走上楼，然后进了她的房间，砰的一声关上了门。
辛迪和她爸爸静静地站了几分钟，他俩谁也不知道该说什么。最终，她抬头看了看爸爸，她双眼微湿还有点红。“她一眼也没看看这蛋糕，”辛迪说。
不幸的是，并不是只有辛迪的妈妈患有情境结核性青光眼—即偶然会只见树木不见森林。由于那些眼下貌似极其重要但并非重要的事情，我们有时会对具有长远意义的事情视而不见。弄脏的鞋子，丢了的午饭钱，凌乱的厨房，这些都是令人烦恼的，它们也确实在人生中令人沮丧的事情中占有一席之地。但是一个小泥点—即使是沾到了新地毯上—那和孩子的自尊心相比又算得了什么呢？难道丢失了的一美元比不个年轻人初显的尊严还宝贵吗？尽管厨房的环境卫生是重要的，但是它值得牺牲掉脆弱的感情和关系吗？
我并不是说我们的孩子不需要学会责任感，或是偶尔承受他们所作的糟糕的选择所带来的痛苦后果。这些经验教训是极重要的，而且需要被很仔细的教导。但是，作为父线，我们不能
忘记我们不仅仅在教导这些经验—我们在教育孩子。这意味着我们有时候确实需要看到厨房的一团糟，但是有时候也确实只需要看到蛋糕。

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