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As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas.
孩提时代，我总是在德州祖父母的农场中度过夏天。
I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores.
我帮忙修理风车，为牛接种疫苗，也做其他杂活。
We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.”
每天下午，我们也看肥皂剧，特别是《光辉岁月》。
My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada.
祖父母参加了一个房车俱乐部，一群人驾驶 Airstream 房车，结伴游历美国和加拿大。
And every few summers, we’d join the caravan.
每隔几个夏天，我们会加入一次旅程。
We’d hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather’s car, and off we’d go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.
把房车挂在祖父的小汽车后面，融入 300 余名 Airstream 探险者的浩荡队伍中，就这样出发。
I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.
我爱祖父母，心怀敬仰，很期盼这些旅程。
On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old.
在我大约 10 岁时，有一次很特殊的旅程。
I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat.
那次我胡乱坐在后座上，祖父开着车，祖母坐在他旁边。
She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.
整个旅程祖母都吸着烟，我讨厌烟味。
At that age, I’d take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.
当年，我总是想尽办法去做估测或小算术。
I’d calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.
我会计算油耗还有杂货花销等鸡毛蒜皮的小事。
I’d been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.
我听过一个与吸烟相关的广告。
I can’t remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff.
但记不清细节了，广告大意是，每吸一口香烟会减少几分钟寿命，好像是两分钟。
At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.
管它几分钟呢，我决定为祖母做个算术。
I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.
我估测了祖母每天吸几支香烟，每支香烟吸几口等等，然后心满意足地得出了一个合理的数字。
When I was satisfied that I’d come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you’ve taken nine years off your life!”
接着，我把头探入汽车前排，拍了拍祖母的肩膀，骄傲地宣称：“如果每吸一口烟少活两分钟的话，你的寿命已经少了九年！”
