读者文摘:父亲在工作和照顾女儿之间的斗争(1)（在线收听）

"MISSY," I CALLED to my wife, "did you smear 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 irony 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 salvaged from a friend's attic 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 assorted 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 flails 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 destined from all eternity 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。