What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and fours, and threee, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your leeventh birthdays yu expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. You open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel eleven at all. You feel like you’re still ten. And you are --- underneath the year that makes you eleven.
人们不明白也不会告诉你,你的十一岁,同你的十岁、九岁、八岁、七岁、六岁、五岁、四岁、三岁、两岁、一岁一样没有差别。而当你在十一岁生日当天醒来并期望能感受十一岁的自己的时候,却发现根本不行。你睁开眼睛,而所有的一切都跟昨天差不多,只是日子走到了今天而已。你根本不知道十一岁是什么感觉。你觉得自己还是十岁。你——藏在了第十一个年头的后面。
Like some days you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama’s lap because you’re scared, and that’s the part of you that’s five. And maybe one day when you’re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay. That’s what I tell Mama when she’s say and needs to cry. Maybe she’s feeling three.
你也许还会说一些傻话,那是还停留在十岁的你干的。或者你也许还会因为害怕而要坐在妈妈的腿上,那是五岁的你干的。也许当你有一天长大了,还可能会像你三岁时那样哭鼻子,那也没关系。妈妈需要大哭一场的时候我就这样告诉她。也许她感觉自己只有三岁。