We were gathered together, all ten of us, for our widowed mother's 80th birthday.

我们总共十个人，聚在一起祝贺已成为寡妇的妈妈的八十岁生日。

The conversation was of early struggles, walking to work and saving up in clothing clubs, when my elder sister said,

谈的话题是我们家早年的艰辛，走着去上班，在“新衣会”里存钱准备买衣裳。这时我姐姐说：

"Of course, we were bound to be poor because we were such a big family.

“当然，我们的生活没法子不艰难，因为我们家孩子太多了。

Mom, why did you have so many children?"

妈妈，您为什么要生这么多的孩子呢？”

Mother looked around at us all and said,

妈妈看了我们一圈说：

"Well, where did you want to me to stop?"

“那么，你想让我在哪儿停住呢？”