为你读书：《卢卡库：我有些话要说（连载1）》

导读

罗梅卢·卢卡库（Romelu Lukaku）这位比利时前锋是世界足坛最受关注的球星之一，却有着很多不为人知的过去。在2018世界杯开赛前，他在The Players’Tribune（《球星看台》）上撰文I've Got Some Things to Say，回忆自己过去的时光与成长的历程。

 

 

文章连载

 

I remember the exact moment I knew we were broke. I can still picture my mum at the refrigerator and the look on her face.

我至今还记得我们家穷得一无所有时的窘境——妈妈站在冰箱旁和她脸上的表情。

 

I was six years old, and I came home for lunch during our breakat school. My mum had the same thing on the menu every single day: Bread and milk. When you’re a kid, you don’t even think about it. But I guess that’s what we could afford.

我当时6岁。每天上学要休息时候，中午回家吃饭母亲都会准备菜单上相同的食物：面包和牛奶。那时我还小，啥都不懂，但我猜那大概是我们当时唯一吃得起的东西。

 

Then this one day I came home, and I walked into the kitchen, and I saw my mum at the refrigerator with the box of milk, like normal. But this time she was mixing something in with it. She was shaking it all up, you know? I didn’t understand what was going on. Then she brought my lunch over to me, and she was smiling like everything was cool. But I realized right away what was going on.

有一天回家，我走进厨房，看到母亲一如既往拿出一盒牛奶。但这一次她把什么东西混了进去，用力摇了摇。然后把午饭交给我，微笑地看着我，装作一切都很好的样子。但我知道定有什么事情发生了。

 

She was mixing water in with the milk. We didn’t have enough money to make it last the whole week. We were broke. Not just poor, but broke.

她把水混到了牛奶里。我们没有足够的钱来支撑剩下的这个星期，我们完了，不止是穷，是完了。

 

My father had been a pro footballer, but he was at the endof his career and the money was all gone. The first thing to go was the cable TV. No more football. No more Match of the Day. No signal.

我父亲曾经是一名职业足球运动员，但他到了职业生涯的末尾，并且钱也花完了。我们第一件失去的东西就是有线电视，从此再也看不到足球，连“比赛日（英超联赛比赛开始前的一档节目）”啊、电视信号都没有。

 

Then I’d come home at night and the lights would be shut off. No electricity for two, three weeks at a time.

有时候我晚上回家，灯也是黑的，有时家里两三个星期没有电。

 

Then I’d want to take a bath, and there would be no hot water. My mum would heat up a kettle on the stove, and I’d stand in the shower splashing the warm water on top of my head with a cup.

我要洗澡，但没有热水。我母亲会在炉子上用水壶烧热水，我就站着用杯子来淋浴洗暖水。

 

There were even times when my mum had to “borrow” bread from the bakery down the street. The bakers knew me and my little brother, so they’d let her take a loaf of bread on Monday and pay them back on Friday.

甚至有好几次，我母亲需要在街上的面包店中借面包。面包师认得我和弟弟，所以他们会让我母亲周一先借一大块面包，然后周五再给钱。

 

 

I knew we were struggling. But when she was mixing in water with the milk, I realized it was over, you know what I mean? This was our life.

我知道我们很艰苦。但当我看到她将水混到牛奶中，我知道一切都结束了。那就是我们当时的生活。

 

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want her to stress. I just ate my lunch. But I swear to God, I made a promise to myself that day. It was like somebody snapped their fingers and woke me up. I knew exactly what I had to do, and what I was going to do.

我一句话也没说，我不想给她压力。但是那一天，我向上帝发誓，也向自己承诺，就好像有人打了响指把我唤醒，我知道我需要做什么，我知道我接下来应该做什么。

 

I couldn’t see my mother living like that. Nah, nah, nah. I couldn’t have that.

我不想看到母亲这样子去生活，我不想过这样的生活，再也不会。