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现代大学英语精读(第2版)第六册:U8 Housewifely Arts(1)

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Unit 8 Housewifely Arts

第八单元 家庭主妇的艺术
Megan Mayhew Bergman
梅根·梅休·伯格曼
I am my own housewife, my own breadwinner. I make lunches and change light bulbs. I kiss bruises and kill copperheads from the backyard creek with a steel hoe. I change sheets and the oil in my car. I can make a pie crust and exterminate humpback crickets with a homemade glue board, though not at the same time. I'd like to compliment myself on these things because there's no one else around to do it.
我一个人又当爹、又当妈。我自己做饭、换灯泡,自己清理伤口,自己用锄头杀死从后院爬进来的铜头蝮,自已换车坐垫、换车油。我能自己做饼皮用自家做的粘板消灭蟋蟀。我之所以这么贤惠是因为周围真的没有任何人能帮我分担。
Turn left, Ike says.
左转,艾克说。
There is no left-only a Carolina road that appears infinitely flat, surrounded by pines and the occasional car dealership billboard. I lost my mother last spring and am driving nine hours south with 7-year-old so that I might hear her voice again.
左边根本就没有路。面前只有一条直得不能再直的卡罗琳娜路。路两边种着松树,偶尔有一些汽车经销商的广告牌。去年春天我妈妈去世了,在为了再听一次她的声音,我带着7岁的儿子要往南开9个小时的车。
Do you need to pee? I ask. We could stop for lunch.
你想尿尿吗?我问。我们正好找个地方停下吃午餐。
Chicken nuggets? He asks.
鸡块吗?他问。
If I were a better mother, I would say no, there would be bread, carrot, and seedless grapes. If I were a better daughter, Ike would have known his grandmother, spent more time in her arms.
如果我是个好妈妈,我会说坚决说不行,他得吃面包、胡萝卜、无籽葡萄。如果我是个好女儿,艾克就应该知道他的姥姥,多在姥姥怀里待一会。
How much longer? Ike asks.
还有多久?艾克问。
Four hours.
四个小时。
Four hours till what?
四个小时到哪?
You'll see, I say.
到了你就知道了。
What I'm having trouble explaining to Ike is this. We're driving to a small roadside zoo outside of Myrtle Beach so that I can hear my mother's voice ring through the beak of thirty-six-year-African gray parrot, a bird that I hated, a bird that could beep like a microwave, ring like a phone, and sneeze just like me.
我总是不愿意跟儿子解释这些问题。我们要去在美尔特沙滩外的一个小型路边动物园。在那我能从一只36岁的灰色非洲鹦鹉嘴里听见妈妈的声音。我曾经那么恨这只鹦鹉,他能学微波炉的声音、电话的声音,还能生动地学我打喷嚏的声音。
In moments of profound starvation, the exterminator told me, humpback crickets may devour their own legs, though they cannot regenerate limbs.
清除害虫的工人告诉我,蟋蟀在快饿死的时候会吃自己的腿,虽然吃了就再也长不回来了。
Our house has been for sale for a year and contract has finally come in, contingent on a home inspection. The firm I work for has offered to transfer me to Connecticut-in a state where Ike has a better chance of escaping childhood obesity, God, and conservative political leanings. I can't afford to leave until the house sells. My realtor has tried scented candles and apple pies in the oven, but no smokescreen will detract from the cricket infestation.
我们的房子已经挂牌出售一年了。终于有人打算买但是还得取决于最后的房屋验收。我所在的那个公司提出来要将我调到康涅狄格州去工作,那个州里,艾克会有更好的机会避免得儿童肥胖症,也能避免受宗教的控制,以及保守的政治倾向的影响。但是除非我把这个房子卖了,否则我们都搬不起家。房产经纪人已经尝试在我家放香味的蜡烛,在烤箱里放苹果派,但是这些根本不能摆脱那些横行的蟋蟀。
They jump, the realtor said before I left town with Ike. Whenever I open the door to the basement, they hurl themselves at me. You'll never pass a home inspection, he said. Do something.
在我们走之前经纪人还说:“蟋蟀跳得到处都是。每次我打开地下室的门,这些该死的蟋蟀都向我扑过来。你要是再不做点什么就永远都不可能通过房屋验收。”

重点单词   查看全部解释    
hoe [həu]

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n. 锄头
v. 锄地,铲除

联想记忆
starvation [stɑ:'veiʃən]

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n. 饿死,饥饿

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obesity [əu'bi:siti]

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n. 肥胖,肥大

 
creek [kri:k]

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n. 小湾,小溪 Creek n. 克里克族,克里克人,

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glue [glu:]

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n. 胶,胶水,胶粘物
vt. 粘贴,紧附于

 
compliment ['kɔmplimənt]

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n. 称赞,恭维,(复数)致意
vt. 称赞,

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contract ['kɔntrækt,kən'trækt]

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n. 合同,契约,婚约,合约
v. 订合同,缩

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hurl [hə:l]

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n. 用力的投掷
v. 用力投掷,愤慨地说出,

 
conservative [kən'sə:vətiv]

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adj. 保守的,守旧的
n. 保守派(党),

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contingent [kən'tindʒənt]

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adj. 可能性,经验主义的,不可预知的,附带的

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