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Everyday Use for your grandmamma
外婆的日用家當(dāng)
I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yester day afternoon.
我就在這院子里等候她的到來。我和麥姬昨天下午已將院子打掃得干干凈凈，地面上還留著清晰的掃帚掃出的波浪形痕跡。
A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know.
這樣的院子比一般人想象的要舒服。
It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room.
它不僅僅是一個(gè)院子，簡(jiǎn)直就像一間擴(kuò)大了的客廳。
When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house.
當(dāng)院子的泥土地面被打掃得像屋里的地板一樣干凈，四周邊緣的細(xì)沙面上布滿不規(guī)則的細(xì)紋時(shí)，任何人都可以進(jìn)來坐一下，一邊抬頭仰望院中的榆樹，一邊等著享受從來吹不進(jìn)屋內(nèi)的微風(fēng)。
Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.
麥姬在她姐姐離去之前將會(huì)一直心神不定：她將會(huì)神情沮喪地站在角落里，一面為自己的丑陋面孔和胳膊大腿上曬出的累累疤痕而自慚形穢，一面懷著既羨慕又敬畏的心情怯生生地看著她姐姐。
She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her.
她覺得她姐姐真正是生活的主人，想要什么便能得到什么，世界還沒有學(xué)會(huì)對(duì)她說半個(gè)"不"字。
You've no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has "made it" is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage.
你一定從電視片上看到過"闖出了江山"的兒女突然出乎意料地出現(xiàn)在那跌跌撞撞從后臺(tái)走出來的父母面前的場(chǎng)面。
(A Pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?)
（當(dāng)然，那場(chǎng)面必定是令人喜悅的：假如電視上的父母和兒女之間相互攻擊辱罵，他們?cè)撛趺礃幽兀浚?/div>
On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other's face.
在電視上，母親和兒女見面總是相互擁抱和微笑。
Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs.
有時(shí)父母會(huì)痛哭流涕，而那發(fā)跡了的孩子就會(huì)緊緊地?fù)肀麄儯⒏糁雷由爝^頭來告訴他們說若沒有他們的幫助，她自己就不會(huì)有今日的成就。我自己就看過這樣的電視節(jié)目。
