这是一个美国的单亲家庭。家里只有一位母亲和四个孩子。母亲玛莉非常关心自己的四个儿女，因为这是她唯一的希望。大儿子杰克已经14岁了，正在上初中，二妹安妮12岁，在读小学。也许是家庭的缘故，杰克和安妮非常厌恶对方，甚至产生了某种意义上的嫉妒。为了一个布娃娃，他们会争到撕破为止。
This is a single parent family in the United States. There is only one mother and four children in the family. Mother Mary is very concerned about her four children, because this is her only hope. Jack, the eldest son, is 14 years old. He is in junior high school. Annie, the second sister, is 12 years old. He is in primary school. Maybe because of the family, Jack and Annie hate each other very much, and even have some sense of jealousy. For a doll, they fight until they tear it.
再过一个星期就是圣诞节了。为了让一家人快快乐乐的迎接圣子耶酥的降临，母亲想了一个好办法。这天晚上，妈妈召来了四个孩子说：“圣子就要降临了，你们希望他降到我们家吗？”孩子们异口同声地说：“想。”“如果想，从现在开始，我们就开始做一个摇床，你们必须每天都给家里的其他人做好事，这样你们就会得到一根稻草，铺在摇床里，等到圣诞来临，摇床里的稻草如果够柔软的话，圣子耶酥一定会降临的。”
It's Christmas in another week. In order to make the family happy to welcome the coming of the Son Jesus, the mother thought of a good way. That night, the mother called four children and said, "the son is coming. Do you want him to come to our house?" The children said in unison, "yes." "If you want to, from now on, we will start to make a cradle. You must do good things to the rest of the family every day, so that you will get a straw and spread it in the cradle. When Christmas comes, if the straw in the cradle is soft enough, the son of Jesus will come."
第二天杰克做好了摇床，妈妈准备好了稻草。晚上，妈妈写了五张纸条，上面写的是家里五个人的名字，谁抓到纸上的名字，第二天就得为他做好事，妈妈先抓，看后切切地笑了，由于小弟罗伯太小，不认识字，妈妈看了他的字条偷偷地对他的耳朵说出了纸上的人名。杰克翻开纸条过后，没有任何表示，默默地走开了。
The next day Jack made the bed and his mother prepared the straw. In the evening, my mother wrote five pieces of paper with the names of five people at home. Whoever catches the names on the paper must do good deeds for him the next day. My mother grabbed them first, looked at them and then smiled. Because my little brother rob is too small to know the words, my mother read his notes and secretly said the names on the paper to his ears. When Jack opened the note, he walked away without any sign.
一切都变了！早上，妈妈准备起来做早饭，但早饭已经整整齐齐地放在桌子上了；杰克的书包坏了，准备去告诉妈妈，谁知已被人缝好；安妮晚上睡觉时准备找睡衣，已经有人替她放好了；三妹珍妮的一道数学题目不会做，回来后已经被人给写好了；小弟罗伯起床过后就去刷牙，转身床铺已经被人整理得干干净净了。所有的变化只是因为一根稻草。
Everything has changed! In the morning, mother is ready to make breakfast, but breakfast has been neatly placed on the table; Jack's schoolbag is broken, and he is ready to tell his mother who knows it has been sewn; Annie is ready to find her pajamas when she goes to bed at night, and someone has put them for her; three sister Jenny's math problem can't be done, and it has been written after coming back; little brother rob goes to brush his teeth after getting up , turn around the bed has been cleaned. All the changes are just a straw.
明天就是圣诞节了。摇床里的稻草已经堆得像小山了。妈妈鼓励孩子们说：“你们要坚持，等到圣子看到以后一定会到我们家的。”中午，杰克没有吃饭，他跑出去了，妈妈发现后，就去找他，他躲在草垛后哭泣，说：“妈妈，为什么每次纸上的名字都是安妮，每次在她睡前我都为她准备好睡衣，早上我都会为她叠好被子，布娃娃我都让给她玩，妈妈我已经受够了！”母亲默默地对杰克说：“杰克，如果你觉得委屈，妈妈不强求你，最后一天，你可以放弃！”然后就悄悄地走了。终于到了晚上，妈妈在静等一个人的到来，终于他来了，悄悄地放下了一根稻草走开拉。
Tomorrow is Christmas. The straw in the shaker has been piled up like a hill. The mother encouraged the children to say, "you must insist that you will come to our house when the son sees it." At noon, Jack didn't eat. He ran out. When his mother found out, he went to him. He hid behind the haystack and cried, "Mom, why is the name on the paper Annie every time? Every time before she goes to bed, I prepare her pajamas. In the morning, I fold the quilt for her. I let her play with the dolls. I'm fed up with mom!" My mother said to Jack in silence, "Jack, if you feel wronged, my mother doesn't ask you. On the last day, you can give up!" Then he left quietly. Finally, in the evening, my mother is waiting for a person's arrival. Finally, he comes and quietly puts down a straw and walks away.
最后一根稻草是杰克的！
The last straw is Jack's!
