The Scar¹ 

A little boy invited his mother to attend his elementary school's first teacher-parent conference. To the little boy's dismay², she said she would go. This would be the first time that his classmates and teacher met his mother and he was embarrassed by her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar that covered nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to talk about why or how she got the scar.

At the conference, the people were impressed by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother despite the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed and hid himself from everyone. He did, however, get within earshot of a conversation between his mother and his teacher, and heard them speaking.

"How did you get the scar on your face?" the teacher asked.

The mother replied, "When my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught on fire. Everyone was too afraid to go in because the fire was out of control, so I went in. As I was running toward³ his crib, I saw a beam⁴ coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked unconscious7 but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us." She touched the burned side of her face. "This scar will be permanent, but to this day, I have never regretted doing what I did."

At this point, the little boy came out running towards his mother with tears in his eyes. He hugged her and felt an overwhelming⁵ sense of the sacrifice that his mother had made for him. He held her hand tightly⁶ for the rest of the day. 

　　中文：

　　有个小男孩邀请他的母亲去参加学校举办的第一次家长会。令他沮丧的是，妈妈竟然答应去。同学们和老师将是第一次见到妈妈，但是，妈妈的相貌令他感到难堪。虽然母亲非常漂亮，但她整个右脸几乎被一块严重的伤疤覆盖了。小男孩从来不曾想问母亲伤疤的来历。

　　家长会上，小男孩妈妈的善良和蔼以及天生丽质给人们留下了深刻的印象，没有人在意她脸上的那块伤疤。但是，小男孩却感到局促不安，他藏起来不与人打照面。尽管如此，他还是能听到妈妈和老师的谈话，能听见他们谈话的内容。

　　“您脸上的伤疤是怎么来的？”老师问道。

　　小男孩的妈妈答道：“儿子很小的时候，他的房间突然着火了。大家都不敢进去，因为火势失控了。我进去了。就在我跑向他的婴儿床时，我看到一根房梁就要倒下来，我扑到他的床上，想护住他。房梁把我砸晕了。幸运的是，消防员冲了进来，救了我们。”她摸着脸上的伤疤，说：“这块伤疤会永远留在脸上，但是直到今天，我从没为我做的事后悔过。”

　　听到这里，小男孩走了出来，满含热泪奔向妈妈，拥抱着她。母亲为自己作出的牺牲让他内心激动无比。那天后来，小男孩紧抓妈妈的手不曾松过。