她要干什么？
What was she up to? held my breath.
原来⋯⋯原来她用颤颤抖抖的手开始拆卸我为她特意缝制的新衣 服。
So she was going to unstitch with her trembling hands the new clothes I had specially made for her.
Heart sank.
妈妈，这是您60 岁的儿子亲手给您缝制的衣 服呀！
O mother, that was the suit your 60-year-old son had made you!
为什么不穿，反而拆成片呢？
Why were you going to unstitch it rather than wear it?
过了几天，我实在憋不住了，才问妈妈。
Several days later, I couldn't hold back the question in my mind any more.
妈妈盯着我的眼睛，过 了半晌，开口说："你缝的不合格啊！
She stared into my eyes for quite a while and then said, "Your needlework isn't up to standard.
线一一扎得不直、不匀，有些 粗糙⋯⋯干活儿可不能这样！
The stitches are untidy and uneven.
Whole thing is crude...
"她说，她把衣裤都拆了，想背着我重 缝起来，可是手不听使唤，缝不成了，妈妈看着自己那双哆哆嗦嗦 的枯手，叹了一口气。
That's not the way to gO about your work." She had the whole suit unstitched and wanted to re-sew it behind my back, she just couldn't make it, her fingers being all thumbs with age.
我望着妈妈的双手，心想：妈妈教给我的，岂只是不应该缝制不 合格的衣服？
The sight of mother's hands always plunges me into deep thought: Her teaching goes far beyond the making of good clothes.