“虎媽”一年后的轉變

Has Tiger Mom gone soft? One year after the release of her controversial memoir,2 Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua is back in the spotlight, reflecting on how overnight infamy affected her life, her family—and her parenting.3

“Ive changed a lot,” she said. “In October, we had 30 kids at our house! [Weve hosted] co-ed4 parties with lots of food and music.”

Lest5 anyone forget, heres how it all started. Last January, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from Chuas book with the headline Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior. In the excerpt, Chua described how her daughters were never allowed to have sleepovers6, appear in school plays, earn any grade lower than an A or have play dates with friends. A firestorm of criticism—and more than a few jokes—ensued.7 Chua, an author and professor at Yale Law School, spent much of 2011 on the defensive8. In fact, many of her interviews seemed to lend fuel to her critics fire.

Now, with the book out in paperback, the note Chua keeps hitting is that Battle Hymn was always meant as a memoir, not a manual.9 She said, “I put passages in the book and used very harsh10 words that I regret. Everybody has those moments you wish you could take back.”

For those who still read Battle Hymn as an advice manual, Chua argues that socalled tiger parenting should be employed predominantly during a childs early years, ideally between the ages of 5 and 12.11 These“super-strict parenting tactics” are not meant for all ages.

Chua predicts shell only get more easygoing12 with age. When asked what type of grandparent shell be, she laughed. “If my parents are any evidence, [Ill] be the softest kitty cat. ... They come to our house and buy my kids presents and stuff them with ice cream and brownies.13 My prediction is that Ill be on the extreme soft end,” she said.

1. 背景：2011年1月8日，《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal）刊登了《虎媽戰歌》（Battle Hymn Of the Tiger Mother）的內容摘要，介紹了耶魯大學的法學女教授蔡美兒（Amy Chua）如何以中國式教育方法管教兩個女兒。其嚴苛的教育方法轟動美國教育界，她也因此飽受外界批評。但蔡美兒一再強調，她的書并不是父母教育兒女的指南，而是為人母十余年的回憶錄。

2. controversial: 引起爭議的；memoir: 回憶錄。

3. reflect on: 仔細思考；overnight: 突然的；infamy: 聲名狼藉；parent:教養。

4. co-ed: 對男女都開放的。

5. lest: 免得，以免。

6. sleepover: 在外過夜。

7. firestorm: 大爆發；ensue: 因而發生。

8. on the defensive: 處于防守狀態。

9. paperback: 平裝本；manual: 指南。

10. harsh: 嚴厲的。

11.employ: 使用，運用；predominantly: 主要地；ideally: 理想地。

12. easygoing: 脾氣隨和的，溫和的。

13. stuff: v. 讓……吃飽，吃足；brownie: 巧克力蛋糕。