读者文摘:我和我的父亲(1)（在线收听）

Growing up, I understood one thing about my dad: He knew everything.

在成长过程中，我了解了父亲的一件事：他无所不知。

This was our relationship, in sum: I asked him questions and he told me the answers.

这就是我们的关系，总而言之：我问他问题，他告诉我答案。

Is there really a man in the moon? How do sailboats work? What is the highest score anyone’s ever gotten in Pac-Man?

月球上真的有人类吗？帆船是如何工作的？吃豆人游戏的最高分是多少？

In my teen years, he taught me things I’d need to know to survive in the real world. How to drive a stick shift.

在我十几岁的时候，他教会了我在现实世界中生存所需要知道的东西。如何驾驶手动挡。

How to check your car tire’s pressure (though the gauge he bought me 20 years ago still sits untouched in my glove box).

如何检查汽车轮胎的气压（尽管他20年前给我买的计量器现在还没动过，放在我的手套箱里）。

The correct knife to use to cut a cantaloupe.

切哈密瓜要用的刀。

When I moved out on my own, I called him at least once a week, usually when something broke in my apartment and I needed to know how to fix it:

当我自己搬出去住的时候，我每周至少给他打一次电话，通常是当我的公寓出了问题，我需要知道如何修理的时候：

the toilet; the air-conditioning; the wall, once, when I threw a shoe at a terrifying spider.

厕所；空调；有一次，我把一只鞋子扔向一只可怕的蜘蛛。

But then, eventually, I needed him less.

但后来，我不再那么需要他了。

I got married, and my husband had most of the knowledge I lacked about gutter cleaning and water heaters and nondestructive insect removal.

我结了婚，我丈夫掌握了我所缺乏的大部分知识，比如清洁排水沟、热水器和非破坏性昆虫清除。

For everything else, we had Google. I don’t know when it happened, but our conversations when I called devolved into six words.

其他的事情我们都可以用谷歌。我不知道这是什么时候发生的，但当我打电话时，我们的对话变成了六个字。

Me: “Hi, Dad.” Him: “Hi, sweets. Here’s Mom.” (Because her, I still needed—What’s your chicken parm recipe?

我：“嗨，爸爸。他：“嗨，甜心。”这是妈妈。（因为她，我仍然需要——你的烤鸡是怎么做的？

Do I need to call the doctor for my daughter’s fever? Can you read this draft of my novel?)

我女儿发烧了，我需要叫医生吗？你能看一下我小说的草稿吗？）

I loved my dad, of course, but I wondered at times if maybe he had already shared everything I needed to know.

当然，我爱我的父亲，但有时我怀疑他是否已经分享了我需要知道的一切。

Maybe I’d heard all his stories. Maybe, after knowing a man for 40 years, there’s nothing left to say.

也许我听过他所有的故事。也许，在认识一个男人40年后，已经没什么可说的了。

Then, this past summer, my husband, our four kids, and I moved in with my parents for three weeks while our house was being renovated.

然后，在刚刚过去的这个夏天，我们的房子正在翻新时，我和我的丈夫，我们的四个孩子，搬去和我的父母住了三个星期。

They own a lake house, and Dad asked me to help him rebuild the bulkhead at their dock.

他们在湖边有一栋房子，爸爸让我帮他重建他们码头的舱壁。

I didn’t balk—it was the least I could do for free rent—but I was dreading it. It was hard, manual labor.

我没有退缩——这是我为免房租所能做的最起码的事——但我很害怕。这是艰苦的体力劳动。

We got wet and sandy, and I’m fairly certain a deadly bacteria was unleashed from the innards of the rotted wood we hacked away from the old retaining wall.

我们身上又湿又沙，我敢肯定，一种致命的细菌从我们从旧挡土墙上砍下来的朽木内部释放出来。