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Bedroom Politics 手足同房妙事多

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本 

Sheena and Rudy are former neighbors catching up over coffee:  席娜跟以前的邻居鲁帝一起喝咖啡叙叙旧：

S: I offered my eldest, Lola, who’s now ten, the third bedroom the other night, but she said she prefers being in with her sister.

前几天晚上，我打算要把第三间房间给我十岁的老大罗拉，但她说她比较喜欢跟她妹妹睡一间。

R: Kids can be surprising sometimes, can’t they? They often turn our assumptions about them upside down.

小孩子有时候蛮让人惊讶的，对不对？他们常常彻底推翻我们对他们的假想。

S: I thought she’d jump at the chance to have a room to herself. I guess we easily forget that kids think on a smaller scale than us when it comes to privacy.

我还以为她会迫不及待地趁机会拥有自个儿的房间。我想我们很容易忘记，涉及隐私权时，小孩子考虑的范围会比我们来得小。

R: Maybe you can use the spare room as a playroom. Or convert it into a study, or even just a “quiet zone.”

或许你可以将多出来的房间当成游戏室。或者把它改装成书房，不然甚至就当成一个「安静区」。

S: Yes, we’re thinking in that direction.

是啊，我们是这么打算的。

R: Does Lola get along well with her youngest sister?

罗拉跟她妹妹处得好吗？

S: Yes, apart from the occasional tiff. But I think of Lola’s staying put not as an expression of affinity for her sister, but more as a demonstration of the fact that humans are, after all, social animals.

是啊，除了偶尔拌拌嘴之外。但是我想罗拉之所以不想搬，除了表示她跟妹妹很亲之外，更显示人类毕竟是群居动物的事实。

R: There’s not much in the argument that isolation’s natural, let along good for us — especially when we’re young.

认为孤独是天性、独处对我们有好处的论点并不可取──特别是当我们还年轻时。

S: Lola seemed surprised that I’d even asked her if she’d like a bedroom of her own.

当我问罗拉要不要自己睡一间房时，她似乎很惊讶。

R: Well, no man is an island, remember. And neither is a ten-year-old girl.

嗯，记着，无人不成岛。十岁的女孩也一样。

Vocabulary

单词发音

catch up 了解近况; 叙旧

the other night 前两天的夜里，不久前的某个夜里

in with 同...友好相处; 与...交往

turn upside down 完全颠倒

jump at the chance  抓住机会

spare [spɛr] adj. 多余的，剩下的；空闲的

get along with  与...和睦相处

apart from 除...外

tiff [tɪf] n.（无关紧要的）口角，争执；生气

stay put 【口】呆在原处; 留在原地; 固定不动 to remain in a fixed or established position

affinity [əˋfɪnətɪ] n. 密切关系

not much 未必

argument [ˋɑrgjəmənt] n. 理由，论据；论点

no man is an island 人非孤岛孑然立  no one is self-sufficient; everyone relies on others.

Sentence of the Day

Two’s company; three’s a crowd.

两人成伴；三人不欢。

Two’s company; three’s a crowd: A way of asking a third person to leave because you want to be alone with someone

课文朗读

课文讲解

Rudy and Sheena start to reminisce.  鲁帝跟席娜开始话当年：

R: I remember I missed my elder brother when he moved out of my bedroom.

我还记得，我哥搬出我们卧房的时候，我好想他。

S: Into his own room?

搬去他自己的房间？

R: Into a university dormitory.

搬进大学宿舍。

S: So you shared a room until he was eighteen?

所以在他十八岁之前你都一直跟他共享房间？

R: Yeah, It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but I think I gained more than I lost. You know, other cultures think it’s actually cruel to put kids in their own room.

是啊。那可不是一路走来都相安无事的，但我觉得我得到的比失去的多。你知道，别的文化认为，将小孩子单独放在自己的房间，是件何其残忍的事。

S: You’re reminding me of my experience at boarding school. When you share a room, you learn a lot about give and take—how to respect others’ space and needs.

你倒提醒我读住宿学校的经验。与人同房的时候，你会学到很多施与受──如何尊重别人的空间和需要。

R: My brother and I had our dustups, mainly about who was entitled to put what where and whose turn it was to use whatever. But agreement inevitably prevailed over territorial conflict.

我和我哥有过争执，主要是在吵谁有权把什么东西放在哪里，还有换谁用什么。但是双方协议必定能排解领土纠纷。

S: So you cut deals and made trade-offs to get time to yourself like I used to with my roomies.

所以你们彼此妥协、条件交换好有自个儿的时间，就像以前我跟我室友一样？

R: Of course. And the walls were never dull, because we were always trying to outdecorate each other. There were posters everywhere!

当然。墙壁永远不会单调，因为我们总想比对方装饰得更多。房里到处贴满海报！

S: Yeah, kids don’t necessarily need a room of their own to establish and assert their identity, do they?

是啊，孩子不见得需要一间属于自己的房间，来建立或声明他们的身分，是不是？

R: Nope. Unlike their adult contemporaries, they don’t automatically buy into the modern-day consumerist notion that it’s better to have more space.

没错。不像他们同时代的成年人，孩子们可不会自动采信当代的消费者观念，认为空间越大越好。

－by Colin Gread

Vocabulary

单词发音

dormitory [ˋdɔrmə͵torɪ] n.【美】（学院等的）学生宿舍

smooth sailing 一帆风顺 If something is smooth sailing, then you can progress without difficulty. 

boarding [ˋbordɪŋ] n. 寄膳（宿）

dustup [ˋdʌst͵ʌp] n.【口】骚动；争论；争吵

be entitled to  有权,有资格…

entitle [ɪnˋtaɪt!] v. 给……权力（或资格）[（+to）]

inevitably [ɪnˋɛvətəblɪ] adv. 不可避免地；必然地

prevail [prɪˋvel] v. 胜过，战胜，优胜[（+over/against）]

territorial [͵tɛrəˋtorɪəl] adj. 领土的

cut a deal （在司法方面）达成协议  to arrange a deal; to negotiate an agreement

trade-off [ˋtred͵ɔf] n.〔两种对立因素之间的〕平衡; 妥协; 协调 an exchange, esp as a compromise

roomie [ˈrumi] n.室友

dull [dʌl] adj. 乏味的，单调的，令人生厌的

assert [əˋsɝt] v. 坚称; 断言; 坚决表明

contemporary [kənˋtɛmpə͵rɛrɪ] n. 同时代的人

buy into【非正式】相信〔观点〕Informal to believe in, especially wholeheartedly or uncritically

consumerist [kənˋsjumərɪst] adj.（用作定语）消费主义的

Sentence of the Day

They should share and share alike.

他们应该公平分享、平均分担。

share and share alike: 【谚】事事均分  give equal shares to all