实在看不下去这机器翻译，又无其它答案，只好再上一次喽。好在文章本身还挺有意思。
All her life, my mother wanted busy children。 It was very important that her house should remain at all things clean and tidy。
   
我妈妈一辈子不让孩子们闲着。保持她房子中所有东西的干净整洁非常重要。
You could turn your back for a moment in my mother's house, leave a half written letter on the dining room table, a magazine open on the chair, and turn around to find that my mother had "put it back where it belonged。
  " as she explained。 
在我妈妈家，你若将写了一半的信留在饭桌上，或把正看着的杂志搁到椅子上，一转身的功夫，就会发现我妈像常念叨的那样把它们“各就各位”了。
My wife, on one of her first visits to my mother's house, placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and went to the kitchen to fetch a drink。
   When she returned, she found the packet had been removed。 Confused, she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits, only to return to find that her drink had disappeared。
   Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so as not to make water rings on the end tables。
   Now she knows better。 
我妻子第一次登我妈家的门，把一包饼干放在茶几上，然后去厨房拿饮料，回来后发现饼干不见了。疑惑中，她放下饮料到厨房再拿一包饼干，结果饮料又失踪了。她这才明白我家每个人都把饮料捧在手里，以免在茶几上留下水印。
  现在她可学乖了。
These disappearances had a confusing effect on our family。 We were all inclined to forgetfulness, and it was common for one of us, upon returning from the bathroom, to find the every sign of his work in progress had disappeared suddenly。
   "Do you remember what I was doing?" was a question frequently asked, but rarely answered。 
这种经常的不翼而飞带给我家的是迷惑。所有人几乎都害了健忘症，常常是一个人上趟厕所回来，他手里正做的事的痕迹突然全部消失。
  经常问的问题是“你记得我刚才在做什么吗？”但很少得到回答。
Now my sister has developed a second-hand love of clean windows, and my brother does the cleaning in his house, perhaps to avoid having to be the one to lift his feet。
   I try not to think about it too much, but I have at this later time started to dust the furniture once a week。 
现在我姐姐已经继承了洁窗癖，我哥哥专门负责他自己家的清扫，可能想避免充当抬着脚走路的那位吧。
  我努力使自己不想那么多，但已经开始每周为家俱掸一次灰了。
。