Jill, Joe Biden Settle Arguments by ‘Fexting’

Jill, Joe Biden Settle Arguments by ‘Fexting’

Texting is a very popular way to communicate with people on wireless¹ phones. But, for first lady Jill Biden and her husband, the president, the activity is often known as "fexting."

Jill Biden told Harper's Bazaar² magazine recently that when Joe Biden was vice³ president, the couple would settle their arguments over text so their security guards would not have to hear them fight. As a result, fighting and texting became fexting.

But, now Joe Biden is president. And that made fexting a little different, Jill Biden learned. She told Harper's that when she recently fexted in a fit of anger, her husband answered with this:

"You realize that's going to go down in history. There will be a record of that."

The law requires that all presidential communications be saved for historical record. Jill Biden told Harper's, "I won't tell you what I called him that time."

The first lady appears on the cover of the publication's June-July issue. Harper's Bazaar said it is the first time in its 155-year history that a U.S. first lady is the cover story.

Jill Biden was 18 when she married her first husband. But by her mid-20s, the marriage was over and she was independent for the first time in her life. The failure of her marriage, she said, was difficult. She needed a place to live but did not want to move back home with her parents.

So, Biden finished college and became a teacher.

"I knew I would never, ever put myself in that position again, where I didn't feel like I had the finances to be on my own, that I had to get the money through a divorce settlement," she said.

"I drummed that into (my daughter), Ashley, ‘Be independent, be independent.' And my granddaughters," she said. "You have to be able to stand on your own two feet."

Jill Biden met Joe Biden in 1975, when he was serving in the U..S. Senate representing Delaware. They were married two years later. She kept teaching as Joe Biden was elected vice president and then president.

Jill Biden is a professor at Northern Virginia Community College. She teaches two times a week.

Her granddaughter Naomi is engaged to be married. And the Bidens will host the wedding at the White House this November. Another granddaughter recently told the first lady that she received an internship⁴ in Washington, D.C. and would like to stay in the house for the summer.

"I'm going to be raising a teenager?" Jill Biden said.

I'm Caty Weaver⁵.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on Associated Press news report and Harper's Bazaar.

1 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

2 bazaar   

n.集市，商店集中区

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• We bargained for a beautiful rug in the bazaar.我们在集市通过讨价还价买到了一条很漂亮的地毯。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习

5 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。