读者文摘:父亲在工作和照顾女儿之间的斗争(1)

"MISSY," I CALLED to my wife, "did you smear¹ Vaseline on my desk?"

“米西，”我对妻子喊道，“你把凡士林放在我桌子上了吗?”

"No, honey. Meghan probably did."

“没有，亲爱的，可能是梅根放的。”

Just like that. Calm.

就像这样。冷静。

As I'd feared, she had missed the carefully honed, double-edged irony² of the question.

正如我担心的那样，她没有仔细推敲这句话的含义。

I knew she hadn't put it there.

我知道不是她放的。

The question was rhetorical;

这是反问；

its only function was to make clear to her that she hadn't done her job:

这句话唯一的作用就是让她明白，她没有完成自己的工作：

defend my desk against the aggressor I abandoned the conversation.

保护办公桌，抵抗“侵略者”，我放弃了谈话。

I would deal with Meghan, our 22-month-old daughter, later.

之后我会和22个月大的女儿梅根谈一谈。

All of that was yesterday.

昨天刚发生这样的事。

Today I sit here at that same rolltop desk,

今天，我还是坐在那张带滑轮的桌子前

which I salvaged³ from a friend's attic⁴ two years ago, and stare at the blank sheet inserted in the typewriter.

（两年前从一个朋友的阁楼上找来的），盯着打字机上的空白页，

I wait patiently for ideas to come to me, exam questions on Herman Melville for a test I will give my English students.

耐心地等待灵感的到来，想着我的英语课学生赫尔曼·梅尔维尔考试题目。

My wife is off to a reunion somewhere, but I am not alone.

妻子要去某个地方参加聚会，但我并不孤单。

Our two children keep me company.

两个孩子陪着我。

Ten-month-old Edward cooperates to some degree;

在某种程度上，10个月大的爱德华还算配合;

he spends most of his day poring over a seemingly endless array of cards, tags,

他一天的大部分时间都在盯着一堆似乎没完没了的卡片、标签，

and other assorted⁵ pieces of paper, plus a Sears, Roebuck catalog that he tears apart page by page.

还有其他各种各样的报纸，加上撕碎的一页页西尔斯百货、罗巴克公司的目录。

Occasionally he leans out and flails⁶ madly at the piano, which he can just reach.

偶尔，他会探出身子，疯狂地敲着钢琴，他刚好够着钢琴。

But it is Meghan whose plans have been destined⁷ from all eternity⁸ to clash with mine today.

但今日注定梅根的计划要与我的计划发生冲突。

1 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

2 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

3 salvaged   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• The investigators studied flight recorders salvaged from the wreckage. 调查者研究了从飞机残骸中找到的黑匣子。
• The team's first task was to decide what equipment could be salvaged. 该队的首要任务是决定可以抢救哪些设备。

4 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

5 assorted   

adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的

参考例句：

• There's a bag of assorted sweets on the table.桌子上有一袋什锦糖果。
• He has always assorted with men of his age.他总是与和他年令相仿的人交往。

6 flails   

v.鞭打( flail的第三人称单数 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克

参考例句：

• The son silently took a flail and they began threshing with four flails. 儿子也开始悄悄乘枷脱粒四枷。 来自互联网

7 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

8 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。