读者文摘:父亲在工作和照顾女儿之间的斗争(1)

（单词翻译）

"MISSY," I CALLED to my wife, "did you smear¹ Vaseline on my desk?"

“米西，”我对妻子喊道，“你把凡士林放在我桌子上了吗?”

"No, honey. Meghan probably did."

“没有，亲爱的，可能是梅根放的。”

Just like that. Calm.

就像这样。冷静。

As I'd feared, she had missed the carefully honed, double-edged irony² of the question.

正如我担心的那样，她没有仔细推敲这句话的含义。

I knew she hadn't put it there.

我知道不是她放的。

The question was rhetorical;

这是反问；

its only function was to make clear to her that she hadn't done her job:

这句话唯一的作用就是让她明白，她没有完成自己的工作：

defend my desk against the aggressor I abandoned the conversation.

保护办公桌，抵抗“侵略者”，我放弃了谈话。

I would deal with Meghan, our 22-month-old daughter, later.

之后我会和22个月大的女儿梅根谈一谈。

All of that was yesterday.

昨天刚发生这样的事。

Today I sit here at that same rolltop desk,

今天，我还是坐在那张带滑轮的桌子前

which I salvaged³ from a friend's attic⁴ two years ago, and stare at the blank sheet inserted in the typewriter.

（两年前从一个朋友的阁楼上找来的），盯着打字机上的空白页，

I wait patiently for ideas to come to me, exam questions on Herman Melville for a test I will give my English students.

耐心地等待灵感的到来，想着我的英语课学生赫尔曼·梅尔维尔考试题目。

My wife is off to a reunion somewhere, but I am not alone.

妻子要去某个地方参加聚会，但我并不孤单。

Our two children keep me company.

两个孩子陪着我。

Ten-month-old Edward cooperates to some degree;

在某种程度上，10个月大的爱德华还算配合;

he spends most of his day poring over a seemingly endless array of cards, tags,

他一天的大部分时间都在盯着一堆似乎没完没了的卡片、标签，

and other assorted⁵ pieces of paper, plus a Sears, Roebuck catalog that he tears apart page by page.

还有其他各种各样的报纸，加上撕碎的一页页西尔斯百货、罗巴克公司的目录。

Occasionally he leans out and flails⁶ madly at the piano, which he can just reach.

偶尔，他会探出身子，疯狂地敲着钢琴，他刚好够着钢琴。

But it is Meghan whose plans have been destined⁷ from all eternity⁸ to clash with mine today.

但今日注定梅根的计划要与我的计划发生冲突。