A Wedding Gift翻译
美国留学的优势-教育部海外留学中心
Unit 2
Text A
A Wedding
Gift
Elizabeth Economies
I had always
dreamed of being proposed to in a Parisian cafe,
under dazzling
stars, like the one in a Van
Gogh knockoff that hangs in my studio apartment.
Instead, my boyfriend asked me to marry him
while I was wandering the bathroom
mirror.
At 40 years old, it was my turn. 1 had
gracefully stepped aside and watched
both my
twin sister and our baby sister take the
matrimonial plunge before me? 1
had been a
bridesmaid seven times and a maid of honor three
times. 1 had more
pastel-colored, taffeta
dresses than a consignment shop.
My fiancé,
George, and I are Greek-American, but we wanted a
simple, elegant
affair. No entourage of
bridesmaids and groomsmen. No silly slideshow
revealing
details of our courtship. This would
be an intimate gathering, neither big nor fat,
with 100 or so guests. In our families that is
intimate.
My job as a publicist to a
monomaniacal orchestra conductor had just
vanished,
so 1 had lots of time to devote to
my new project. George, who worked 60 hours a
week as a pharmacist, now had a second job:
listening to me whine about the
wedding. After
all, this was my show, and 1 was the director.
But the more time and effort 1 put in, the
more the universe tried to thwart me.
The
Greek band from Los Angeles that 1 wanted wasn't
available. The stitching 1
had requested for
my cathedral veil was all wrong. My ivory silk
gown was being
quarantined somewhere in
Singapore. And with our wedding just a few weeks
away,
1 was annoyed that most of my guests
were responding after the deadline.
Then 1
received the call from my mother, petite and
brimming with energy at 68,
who a few days
before had been so thrilled about the wedding.
She’d been to the
doctor for her annual
checkup. Although she felt fine, the diagnosis was
stomach
cancer.
Over the next few days,
the question became not
mother would be no
day at all. Not having my dad, who passed away
three years
before, to walk me down the aisle
was painful, but the thought of not having Mom
there was unbearable.
Within a few days, 1
moved back home to Seattle from New York City and
postponed the ceremony. 1 switched from
navigating wedding plans to navigating
the
health-care system. I had picked out the song to
be played for our first dance as
a husband and
wife, but now 1 was hard-pressed to remember what
it was. My
wedding, like a dream, was
vanishing against the harsh reality of illness.
Meanwhile, my two sisters and I, who lived in
three different cities, were united
1
once again in a hospital waiting room.
My twin sister flew in from Chicago despite
being eight months pregnant. Our baby sister,
who'd been looking after Mom since
Dad's
death, was gripped by fear as the familiar sights
and smells were eerily
reminiscent of his
final days. After consulting with doctors, we
learned that stomach
surgery was Mom's only
option. We took the first opening.
On a drab
autumn morning, as sheets of rain relentlessly
poured over Seattle,
Mom was admitted to the
Swedish Cancer Institute. During a five-hour
operation,
surgeons removed two thirds of her
stomach. Pacing in the waiting room, terrified,
I wondered what the future held for all of us.
George flew out to be with me.
three
nights he slept on the dank floor in the hospital
waiting area wrapped in a
tattered sheet with
a soiled sofa cushion under his head. A week after
the operation,
the surgeon gave us his
prognosis:
were some of the loveliest words in
the English language. George squeezed my hand
as tears trickled down my face.
The weeks
that followed were exhausting. My mother had to
rethink her diet,
and I had to figure out what
to prepare. Decadent Greek meals were replaced by
tiny portions and lots of protein, which would
help mend the six-inch incision that
ran from
her breastbone past her navel. Protein would also
bolster her immune
system for the chemo and
radiation that might follow.
Until then, my
idea of cooking had been microwaving the doggie
bag from the
chi-chi restaurant I'd eaten at
the night before. But after two months, I mastered
poached eggs and T-bone steaks. What's more,
caring for my Mom made me realize
how
consummately she had cared for all of us. I'll
never forget when I went to see
her in the
intensive-care unit, just a few hours after her
surgery. She was strung out
with a myriad of
plastic tubes protruding from her arms, nose, and
mouth.
make sure you eat something,
Forget
Paris. Mom's full recovery was my dream now.
Recently, she went for a follow-up C-T scan.
As she removed her gold wedding
band for the
exam, her fragile 98-pound frame trembled. There
would be this scan,
and many more. But the
doctor said,
be walking me down the aisle. I've
forgotten what kind of stitching is in my veil.
But
when I remove it from my face , I’ll be
staring at the two people I love beyond all
reason: my soon-to-be husband and the woman
who showed me what' s really
important.
结婚礼物
伊利莎白•埃科诺莫
我一直有这样的梦想：星光灿烂的网上，
在一家巴黎咖啡馆能有人向我求婚。那个咖啡
馆就像梵高所画的“夜晚的咖啡馆”，我的工作室墙上就挂
着一幅此画的翻印本。然而，我
男朋友却在我用“稳得新”擦洗卫生间镜子的时候叫我嫁给他。
2
我已经上40岁，是该轮到我了，我已经体面地让开，眼看着孪
生妹妹还有小妹在我之
前出嫁，我做过女傧相7次，伴娘3次，我的淡颜色塔夫绸衣服比寄物店都多。
我的未婚夫乔治和我都是希腊裔美国人，但是我们想办一个简朴、大方的婚礼。不需要
很多伴娘
伴郎。也不放映幻灯片，展示求婚的细节，那太傻了，这会是一次很温馨的聚会，
请的人不多也不铺张，
100个左右的宾客吧。在我们的家族，那算是小圈子内的聚会。
我为一位偏执狂的管弦乐队指挥做公
关刚刚结束，因而我有很多时间投入到我这个新的
项目上。乔治是药剂师，每周工作60小时，现在又有
一份工作：听我抱怨婚礼一事。这毕
竟是我表现的时候，得有我说着算。
但是，我投入的时间
和精力越多，万事就越和我过不去。没有请到我想要的洛杉矶希腊
乐队。我到教堂时所戴面纱的针线活也
很糟，不是我原来所要求的。我订的象牙色的丝绸礼
服被隔离在新加坡的某个地方。眼看着婚礼也就没有
几个礼拜了，我邀请的客人大部分在最
后期限之后才回信，让我很是烦恼。
之后，我接到妈妈
的电话。她个头娇小，68岁却依然精力饱满。几天前还为我即将举
行的婚礼而感到兴奋不已。她刚去医
院做例年的身体检查。虽然感觉不错，但被诊断是胃癌。
接下来的几天，问题不再是“举行什么样的婚
礼”，而是“还办婚礼吗？”我把这看作
是我的大喜日子。我认识到没有妈妈的大喜日子不可思议。爸爸
已经在三年前过世，不可能
牵着我的手到教堂圣坛完婚，
这已经让我觉得凄苦。但是一想到妈妈那天也不能在教堂就让我觉得无法忍受。
几天后，我从
纽约搬回西雅图，延迟了婚礼。我从操办婚礼转向指导保健。我已经挑选好歌
曲，准备作为我们夫妻的首
个舞曲，但现在压力那么大，我已经记不起来是哪首了。我的婚
礼在母亲患病这个残酷的事实面前就像梦
一样消失了。
与此同时，我和两个妹妹原本都生活在三个不同的城市，这时却在医院的等候室里再次<
br>相聚了。我的孪生妹妹虽然已怀孕八个月，但还是从芝加哥飞了过来。小妹自父亲去世以来
一直照
顾着妈妈，这时恐惧占据了她的心，此情此景让她不由得想起父亲临终的日子。咨询
医生后，我们得知手
术是妈妈唯一的选择。医院一有床位我们就住进去了。
一个沉闷的秋天早晨，大雨无情地倾泻在西雅图
市，妈妈被收进瑞典肿瘤研究所。在五
个小时的手术过程中，医生把她的胃切掉了三分之二。我在等候室
里来回走动，恐惧不安，
不知道等待我们的会是什么。
乔治飞过来陪我。他说：“我也不想待
在其他地方”。三个夜晚，他睡在医院等候区域潮
湿的地板上，裹着破旧床单，头枕脏兮兮的沙发垫。手
术一周后，医生向我们告知了预后。
“癌细胞没有扩散，”他说。这几个词可是英语中最可爱的词了。乔
治紧握着我的手，这时
眼泪流下我的面颊。
接下来的几个礼拜令人劳累。妈妈只得重新考虑她
的饮食，我得琢磨该准备哪些饭菜。
颓废的希腊饭菜被蛋白质替代，少食多餐，这有助于修补她那从胸骨
到肚脐下长达六英寸的
刀口。蛋白质还增强她的免疫系统，因为接下来她要化疗和放疗。
在此
之前，做饭对我来说也就是把头天晚上从花哨饭店里吃剩下打包回来的饭菜在微波
炉热一下。但两个月之
后，我掌握了水煮荷包蛋，学会烧带骨牛排。此外，照顾母亲也让我
认识到她当年照料我们是多么地尽心
。我永远也不会忘记，她刚动完手术几个小时后，我到
特护病房去看她。她躺在那里，手臂、鼻孔和嘴巴
里插了那么多的塑料导管，她却吃力、沙
哑地说道：“莉兹，你一定要吃点东西。”
忘记巴黎。妈妈的彻底康复才是我现在的梦想。
最近，她去做了一次随访CT检查。当她脱下
结婚金戒指检查的时候，98磅的柔弱身躯
颤抖了。这个检查得做，接下来还有很多次。但医生说，“一
切都很好。”不久，妈妈就可以
把我领到圣坛举行婚礼。我已经忘记面纱上的刺绣。但在我掀开面纱的时
候，我肯定会脉脉
3
地注视着我所最爱的两个人：我的未婚夫和让我懂得人生要义的那个女人——我的母亲。
Text B
Wedded Dis
Amy Wathen
In
February，I got engaged to a guy who I believe to
be the most amazing man
alive．I feel so
lucky，and I am very much in love．I cannot wait to
be married·
Since I have been engaged，while
I have gotten a lot of congratulatory wishes
from friends，some older，more cynical people
just won’t let me be. I have heard the
following comments, knocking me from my I’m
-getting -married -to -the -love -of
-my –life
pedestal:
accompanied by an eye roll and a
horribly sarcastic tone,
lectures on the
struggles that lie ahead, looks of sympathy, and
speeches on how
terrible my life will be in
about l0 years when I will apparently hate my
husband.
Can't anyone just let me be happy?
People love my fiancé and no one has ever said
that I am not ready. So why is this such a
mistake? Why do some adults who have
had bad
experiences decide to kill my happiness with nasty
remarks instead of just
saying
congratulations?
Don’t get me wrong，I have not
allowed my happiness to overpower my common
sense. I know all about the struggles of
marriage．I know all about the heartache：
that
children can strain a marriage，that money issues
can blow up，that a couple
can lose their
connection，that job stress can take a toll and
that changing and
growing older can aid in the
dissolution of what once was real love．I know it’s
not
always easy or fun，and that it's not
perfect forever.
I saw this firsthand when my
parents were divorced last year. I watched their
once -perfect union fall apart amid
unhappiness, pain, desperation, frustration,
sadness and anger. Marriage can be a beautiful
journey，but it isn’t for everyone．My
mom and
dad are much happier apart．I thought I wouldn’t
want to be married after
living through that
until I met the man of my dreams and he changed my
mind．
My fiancé has incredible parents. They
have been together since they were in
high
school, more than 30 years, and they have five
children, crazy work schedules,
and the same
issues as everyone else. But they are an exception
because they are
still madly in love. It's a
breath of fresh air to be with them. I see in them
a love that
is different and I think that I
have that as well. You never know where life will
take
you, but I think it is a dangerous
assumption that a marriage can never work out, or
that it isn't worth a try. It can last. My
future in-laws are proof that a marriage can
withstand the many potential catastrophes and
last a lifetime.
My relationship with my
fiancé is not perfect. But it is fantastic．Being
with him
4
brings out a better
and happier version of me．He makes me laugh harder
than
anyone else．We have a healthy and
wonderful way of communicating．But most
importantly，I love him without condition．And
he loves me for who I am without
judgment,
without complaining about how messy I am or
getting annoyed at how
crazy and neurotic I
can be．We always put each other first and always
make time
for each other no matter how busy
our world gets．He is as excited as I am to get
married，and together we are confident in our
compatibility and our ability to last
forever．We have the example of his parents and
mine，examples to learn from，
what mistakes not
to make，and how to create a stable foundation that
will last
beyond the present time．
One
day，I may look back with stale，wrinkled eyes and
see a silly little girl who
didn’t know what
she was talking about．One day my relationship may
not be as
wonderful as it is now．But I am not
going to go into marriage waiting for everything
to fall apart．I’m not planning ahead for my
divorce or imagining myself as a walking
statistic。When I say “I do，”I am saying I
promise to love forever；not “until this isn’t
perfect and l want out．”I mean forever．
When l was younger, I dreamed about getting
married．I dressed up in my
mom’s wedding dress
and veil，put on ridiculous amounts of poorly-
placed pink
blush，carried a bouquet of fake
flowers from the vase on the kitchen table and
thought about how wonderful it would be to do
that for real．I know now that the
dream I had
of married life was a little too optimistic and
hopeful to say the least.
Now I have a
gorgeous wedding dress of my own．I’ll wear it
proudly and say“I
do!” and dance and eat cake
that costs way too much money．I will enjoy that
one
amazing day with all of my being．But I
know that day will end, and once it’s over，
I
have to make plans for the future，and my husband
and l will have to work hard to
reach our
mutual goals．And I’ll try with everything I am to
prove to everyone that
we can make it work，to
make the 6-year-old version of me proud．
So,
for all of you divorced folk out there，or those of
you unhappily married, or
those who are just
plain cynical, I am sorry that you aren’t crazy in
love anymore.
I’m sorry if you never found
someone who makes you catch your breath. But for
now, let me have my fun，let me back in the
glory of ridiculous，consuming，
delicious,
beautiful, wonderful，once-in-a-lifetime love．You
don't have to tell me
what I already know. For
now, just let me be happy.
藐视婚姻
艾米•沃森
二月份，我和一个我认为是活着的人当中最出色的家伙订了婚。我感觉甚为幸运，
沉浸
在爱河中。我急不可待要结婚。
自我订婚以后，虽然听到朋友们很多祝福的话语，可一
些上了年纪、玩世不恭的人却不
愿让我高兴。我听到了下列的评论，在抱有马上嫁给心上人这个理想的我
的头上浇了一盆冷
水。“不会长久的”，“你们连婚都结不了”，“婚姻太难了”，“要让事如所愿太难
了”，还有我
5
喜欢听的话、但说的时候是眼珠溜转并且怪声怪调
，“祝你好运了”。有些人还就婚后生活的
困境给我上了课，给我同情的神情，还有人高谈阔论说我l0
年后的生活会多么糟糕，说那
时我肯定恨我丈夫。难道大家就不能让我开心吗?人们喜欢我的未婚夫，也
没有说我还没有
准备好。那为什么这样就是错误呢?为什么几个有过不幸经历的成年人非要说那些难听的
话
来扼杀我的幸福．而不是就送上几句祝福呢？
别误解我。我还没有让幸福之感搅乱了常识。
我对婚姻的艰难都一清二楚，我也知晓头
痛的事：小孩子能拖垮婚姻，经济的问题也会爆发，夫妻间不再
情感交流，工作压力能造成
伤害，人是不断变化的而且越来越老，这都会为解除当年的真爱起到推波助澜
的作用。我知
道这不容易，也不总充满乐趣，我也知道婚姻永远都不完美。
我在去年父母离婚
的时候亲身体会到这一切。我看到在不幸、痛苦、绝望、懊恼、哀伤
和恼怒中他们曾一度美满的婚姻轰然
倒地。婚姻可以是美丽的旅途，但并不是每个人都能体
会到。我妈妈和爸爸分开后幸福多了。经历此事我
曾想永远不结婚，直到我遇到了我的梦中
情人，是他改变了我的想法。
我未婚夫的父母具令人
难以置信。他们自从上高中的时候就在一起，超过30年了，他
们有5个子女，疯狂的工作安排，别人有
的事他们都有。但是他们却是例外，因为他们仍然
疯狂地相爱。和他们在一起犹如呼吸到一口新鲜空气。
从他们身上我看到的爱是不一样的。
我就想，这样的爱我也有。你永远都无法知道生活会给你什么，但是
认为婚姻永远不能白头
偕老、不值得一试可就是很危险的看法了。婚姻可以长久。婚姻可以经得起很多潜
在的灾难，
能持续一生，我未来的公公婆婆就是明证。
我和未婚夫的关系不完美，但很美妙。
和他在一起让我变得更好、更开心。他能让我开
怀大笑，而别人做不到。我们之间的交流很健康、很棒。
但最为重要的是，我对他的爱是无
条件的。他对我的爱就是因为我这个人，不带有任何判断，不抱怨我不
讲究整洁，也不会对
我有时候的神经过敏而烦恼。我们总是能先为对方着想，不管我们多忙也总能为彼此
找出时
间。对结婚他和我一样兴奋，我们共同坚信彼此合得来，能够携手到永远。我们有他的父母
和我的双亲为例，有借鉴的事例，知道哪些错误不能犯，知道如何创造稳定的基础，让其超
越现在。
有一天，我或许会用千瘪、皱纹环绕的眼睛回顾现在，看到一个傻丫头，她不知道自己
在说什么
。我们的关系有一天或许不像现在这样好。但我不会在走进婚姻殿堂时就想着一切
都有瓦解的时候。我不
会为自己的离婚先作准备，或把自己想象成活的数据。当我说“我愿
意”的时候，我是在说我保证永远地
爱他，而不是“到了感觉不完美的时候我就想退出”。
我的意思是永远。
我小的时候就梦想过
结婚。我穿上妈妈的婚纱和面纱，脸上乱涂上很多粉红色的胭脂，
从厨房花瓶里拿出一束假花，还想那要
是真的该多好。我现在知道我梦中的婚姻生活有点太
乐观，至少抱的希望太大。
现在我自己有
一件绝好的婚礼服。我会自豪地穿上，而且说“我愿意”，跳舞，吃那价
钱不菲的蛋糕，会全身心地享受
这美好的日子。但我知道这一天是会结束的，一旦结束，我
就得筹划未来。丈夫和我得辛勤地工作，
去实现我们共同的目标。我会尽自己的一切向他人
证明我们的婚姻运转很好，让6岁就想做新娘的我自豪
。
因此，我很抱歉，你们这些离婚的人，婚姻不幸的人，还有那些只是玩世不恭的人，因
为你们不再热恋。如果你们从来没有找到让你兴奋得屏气的人，我只能再次说声抱歉了。是
但现在，就让
我享有自己的快乐，让我沐浴在这有点荒谬、强烈、有趣怡人、美丽、精彩、
而且一生只有一次的爱河中
。你大可不必告诉我那些我已经知道的东西。你们暂且就让我高
兴一回吧。
6