I wish Giovanni would kiss me. Oh, but there are so many reasons why this would be a terrible idea. To begin with, Giovanni is ten years younger than I am, and - like most Italian guys in their twenties - he still lives with his mother. These facts alone make him an unlikely romantic partner for me, given that I am a professional woman in my mid-thirties, who has just come through a failed marriage and a devastating, interminable divorce.
我希望Giovanni会吻我。可是,有太多理由说明这会是个糟糕的想法。首先,Giovanni比我小十岁,而且和大多数二十来岁的意大利人一样,他还跟他母亲住在一起。仅这些事实就促使他不太可能成为我的浪漫伴侣,何况我是一个三十五岁,刚从一段失败的婚姻和痛苦难熬的离婚中走出来的的职业女性
I wish Giovanni would kiss me. Oh, but there are so many reasons why this would be a terrible idea. To begin with, Giovanni is ten years younger than I am, and - like most Italian guys in their twenties - he still lives with his mother. These facts alone make him an unlikely romantic partner for me, given that I am a professional woman in my mid-thirties, who has just come through a failed marriage and a devastating, interminable divorce.
我希望乔凡尼能吻我。哦,但这实在是个太糟糕的想法了。且不说他比我小了整整十岁,而且如同其他所有二十多岁的意大利小伙儿一样,他还和他母亲住一块儿。仅是这些他就不太可能成为我浪漫的伴侣了,更不用说我还是个三十多岁的职业妇女,刚刚经历了一场失败的婚姻,和一起马拉松式的绝望的离婚。
1
I wish Giovanni would kiss me. Oh, but there are so many reasons why this would be a terrible idea. To begin with, Giovanni is ten years younger than I am, and - like most Italian guys in their twenties - he still lives with his mother. These facts alone make him an unlikely romantic partner for me, given that I am a professional woman in my mid-thirties, who has just come through a failed marriage and a devastating, interminable divorce.
我希望得到乔瓦尼的吻,但转念一想就知道那该有多糟糕,首先,乔瓦尼比我小十岁,而且,像所有二十岁出头的意大利男孩一样,他和母亲同住。仅凭这些就能断定,他不适合作我的情人,更何况我是一个三十多岁的职业女性,刚经历过一段失败婚姻和痛苦的拉锯式离婚。
2
The sixty-foot steel-hulled trawler was what all commercial fishing boats ought to look like but seldom did. Her nets were stowed neatly on their rollers, the deck was free of clutter. The boat's hull and topside were absent of rust and grime, while a fresh coat of paint covered the most weathered areas.
拖网渔船,六十英尺高,铁壳。所有商业性捕渔船都该这样,但像这样的少之有少。渔网被整齐地收在转盘上,甲板上井井有条,船体既没生锈也很清洁,饱受腐蚀的部分涂着一层新漆。
3
Day Zero. Monday, 25 August 14.25. The worst day of my life. When the first wave of shock released me from its fiendish grip, I couldn't help but notice that Paddy hadn't called me. Ominous. I was his girlfriend, the media was going wild that he was getting married to another woman, and he hadn't called me. Bad sign.
报到日,8月25,星期一,14点25分,这是我最倒霉的一天。当我刚从震惊中缓过点神来,突然意识到培迪没打电话来。遭了。我是他女朋友,媒体疯狂炒作他要和另外一个女人结婚的消息,而他没来过电话。大事不妙。
4
The possible economic crises were all too evident. The worst, which I thought highly unlikely, would be a collapse of the financial system. The Federal Reserve is in charge of the electronic payment systems that transfer more than $4 trillion a day in money and securities between banks all over the country and much of the rest of the world.
经济危机的预兆显而易见,最不幸的是,即使我不希望目睹这一切,经济危机将有可能击垮整个金融体制。美联储正在主管电子支付系统,通过该系统,每天都有4万亿美元等值的货币和证券在全美和全世界的银行间自由流动。
5
Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories.
在我母亲过世两年后,父亲爱上了一个金发美女,乌克兰人,离过婚。他48岁,她36岁。从此,她闯进了我们的生活,就像一枚装饰着粉红色绒毛的手榴弹。她的到来搅动了一切,也勾起了原本早已模糊的往事。