"I would almost rather see you dead,” Robert S. Cassatt, a leading banker of Philadelphia, shouted when his twenty-year-old eldest daughter announced that she wanted to become an artist. In the 19th century, playing at drawing or painting on dishes was all right for a young lady, but serious work in art was not. And when the young lady's family ranked among the best of Philadelphia's social families, such an idea could not even be considered.
当20岁的大女儿宣布要成为一名画家时，费城著名银行家罗伯特·S·卡萨特（Robert S.Cassett）喊道：“我宁愿你去死。”19世纪，对一位年轻女士来说，在碟子上画画是可以的，但严肃的艺术工作却不行。当这位年轻女士的家庭在费城的社交家庭中名列前茅时，这样的想法甚至无法被考虑。
That was how Mary Cassatt, born in 1844, began her struggle as an artist. She did not tremble before her father's anger. Instead, she opposed him with courage and at last made him change his mind. Mary Cassatt gave up her social position and all thought of a husband and a family, which in those times was unthinkable for a young lady. In the end, after long years of hard work and perseverance, she became America's most important woman artist and the internationally recognized leading woman painter of the time.
1844年出生的玛丽·卡萨特就这样开始了作为一名画家的奋斗之路。她在父亲的愤怒面前并没有发抖，相反，她鼓起勇气反对，终于使他改变了主意。玛丽·卡萨特放弃了自己的社会地位和嫁人成家的所有想法，这在当时对于一位年轻女士来说是不可想象的。最终，经过多年的努力和坚持不懈，她成为了美国最重要的女画家，也是当时国际公认的知名女画家。
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