拜登自传速读PromisesToKeep(16)

让他坚持下去的是看到他的孩子们缠着绷带躺在病床上。他们很小很脆弱。他怎么可能离开他们？专注于这个想法，他一天一天的活下来了。
But Biden completely lost interest in the political world that had dominated his life just weeks before. He decided he couldn"t join the Senate. After all, senators can be replaced, but fathers can"t, and now his boys needed him more than ever. He told the Senate majority leader, Mike Mansfield, that they’d need to find someone to fill his place.
几个星期前政治仍主宰他的生活，但现在他完全失去了兴趣。他决定不加参议院。毕竟，参议员可以更换，但父亲不能，现在他的儿子们比以往任何时候都更需要他。他告诉参议院多数党领袖迈克·曼斯菲尔德需要找人来填补他的位置。
Biden"s political career might have ended right there were it not for the persistence of his colleagues. Senator Hubert Humphrey called the hospital every day to let Biden know they were thinking of him. And Mike Mansfield told him he’d already been appointed to the distinguished Steering Committee, and warned him not to throw away what he and Neilia had worked so hard for. Biden decided he owed it to Neilia to at least give the Senate a chance, and on January 5, 1973, hewas sworn into office.