過(guò)節(jié)餐桌不談?wù)?/h1>

所屬教程:英語(yǔ)漫讀

瀏覽:

2016年12月15日

手機(jī)版

掃描二維碼方便學(xué)習(xí)和分享

Our sister who’s hosting Thanksgiving dinner just texted all the guests a *directive: “No talking politics when we get together for the holiday.”

我們主持感恩節(jié)晚宴的姐姐剛剛給所有客人發(fā)了一條手機(jī)短信：“感恩節(jié)聚會(huì)，請(qǐng)勿談?wù)巍?rdquo;

She’s trying to head off heated discussions because, two weeks post-election, people still haven’t cooled off. You think you know people, but you don’t know whom they voted for. And when you find out, you’re mad at them.

她在試圖阻止激烈討論的發(fā)生，因?yàn)榇筮x結(jié)束兩周后，人們還是無(wú)法平靜。你以為你了解對(duì)方，但卻不知道他們把票投給了誰(shuí)。而當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)真相后，你會(huì)對(duì)他們非常生氣。

We’ll be able to *abide by the no-politics request because we’ve been avoiding sensitive subjects at family gatherings for years. We don’t ask Cousin Louise if she finally got her promotion. We don’t ask our sister’s friends if their son is still living in their basement.

我們會(huì)遵守“不談?wù)?rdquo;的要求，因?yàn)槎嗄陙?lái)我們家庭聚會(huì)時(shí)一直是避免敏感話題的。我們不會(huì)問(wèn)露易絲表妹最終是否獲得了晉升，也不會(huì)問(wèn)姐姐的朋友他們的兒子是否還住在家里的地下室里。

Apparently, we’re not alone in avoiding the big, touchy questions. It’s a big enough problem that it warranted a solution because you can buy a T-shirt that reads, “No, I don’t have a boyfriend. I haven’t declared a major yet. I’ll let you know when I get a job.”

顯而易見(jiàn)，在避免談及這種重大、敏感的問(wèn)題上我們并不是孤身一人。這是一個(gè)相當(dāng)重大的問(wèn)題，嚴(yán)重到需要一個(gè)解決辦法。因?yàn)槟愣伎梢再I到那種T恤衫，上面寫著"不，我沒(méi)有男朋友""我還沒(méi)選定專業(yè)""當(dāng)我找到工作時(shí)我會(huì)告訴你的"。

We’ve ordered five of these shirts for our college-age children and their friends who are tired of answering the same old questions from relatives who mean well but can’t help asking.

我們已經(jīng)預(yù)定了5件這樣的T恤衫給我們到了上大學(xué)年紀(jì)的孩子們和他們的朋友們。因?yàn)樗麄儏捑肓艘槐橛忠槐榛卮鹩H戚們的這些老套問(wèn)題，這些親戚是出于好心，只是管不住嘴。

We’ve read the T-shirt so we know enough not to ask our niece if she has a new boyfriend, but we might dance around the subject and ask her if she knows about the Coffee Meets Bagel dating app.

我們見(jiàn)過(guò)T恤衫上的文字，所以我們會(huì)明智地不問(wèn)我們的侄女是否有男友，但我們也許會(huì)旁敲側(cè)擊，問(wèn)她是否知道一款叫作“咖啡遇上百吉餅”的相親應(yīng)用。

We wouldn’t ask the young people if they’ve heard anything back from their on-campus job interviews. That’s too much pressure. However, we could tell them that we read an interesting article about Information Security Analysts. It pays well, you only need a bachelor’s degree and the field is expected to grow by 30 percent in the next five years.

我們不會(huì)問(wèn)年輕人，校園工作招聘面試是否有回音，那樣會(huì)給他們太大壓力。但我們可以告訴他們，我們讀過(guò)一篇關(guān)于信息安全分析師的有趣文章。這種工作報(bào)酬不錯(cuò)，只需學(xué)士學(xué)位，并且未來(lái)五年這一行業(yè)將會(huì)有30%的增長(zhǎng)。

When our dinner host said “no politics,” we tried to think of other safe topics to talk about, but we realized that any topic could be a minefield. A simple “Did you watch the game last Sunday?” will likely bring out armchair quarterbacks and people who will tell you that they know how to manage the clock better than the coach.

當(dāng)我們的晚宴主人說(shuō)“勿談?wù)?rdquo;時(shí)，我們?cè)囍ハ胍恍┢渌梢哉務(wù)摰陌踩掝}，但我們意識(shí)到任何話題都可能成為“雷區(qū)”。一句簡(jiǎn)單的“你看了上周日的比賽了嗎?”都可能招來(lái)?yè)u椅里的四分衛(wèi)的夸夸其談，還有人會(huì)告訴你，他們比教練更懂怎么掐表。

If we comment that, “We’ve been so lucky with this warm November weather,” it could be an invitation to those around the table who want to remind us that this warm weather is due to the deadly effects of global warming.

如果我們說(shuō)“我們真是太幸運(yùn)了，能碰上這樣一個(gè)溫暖的11月”，那么這句話可能成為餐桌上的“導(dǎo)火索”，有人會(huì)提醒我們，這樣溫暖的天氣是由全球變暖的致命影響造成的。

You know what’s safe? Keeping our mouths filled with delicious food so we can’t talk. “Pass the bowl of stuffing please, we want just a little bit more.”

你知道什么最保險(xiǎn)嗎?用美味的食物堵住我們的嘴，這樣我們就說(shuō)不了話了。“請(qǐng)把那個(gè)肉餡碗遞過(guò)來(lái)，我們想再要點(diǎn)兒。”

We want to make sure that we’ll still fit into our pantsuits.

我們要確保褲子不會(huì)被撐開(kāi)。