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It is Sunday afternoon, June 12, 1909, and my father is walking down the quiet streets of Brooklyn on his way to visit my mother. His clothes are newly pressed and his tie is too tight in his high collar. He jingles the coins in his pockets, thinking of the witty things he will say. He walks from street to street of trees, lawns and houses, once in a while coming to an avenue on which a streetcar skates and gnaws, slowly progressing. It is obviously Sunday, for everyone is wearing Sunday clothes, and the streetcar’s noises emphasize the quiet of the holiday.
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● 银幕上的人物出现了，第一个人是他的父亲。
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● Brooklyn：纽约市之一区，在Long Island上。
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● pressed：压平，烫平。tight：紧。collar：领子。
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● jingles：玩弄而使叮当发响。witty things：俏皮话；父亲去看母亲，路上先准备好一套巧妙的言语。
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● once in a while=occasionally：偶尔。avenue：大马路，通衢大道。本来是在小街上走，有时也会碰上一条大马路。streetcar：电车。skates：滑冰（电车在铁轨上像是滑冰似的滑着过去的）。gnaws：用劲地慢慢地咬（电车有时候走得不很滑溜，像是在咬什么东西）。skates和gnaws两字用以叙述电车的运动，恐怕是作者创用，并非现成字眼。
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● 那时纽约遵奉安息日的制度似尚未废弛，星期日店铺大多关门，街上静悄悄的，电车的闹声，似乎只是强调了周围的静寂。
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My father has chosen to take this long walk because he likes to walk and think. He thinks about himself in the future. He thinks of my mother, of how nice it will be to introduce her to his family. But he is not yet sure that he wants to marry her, and once in a while he becomes panicky about the bond already established. He reassures himself by thinking of the big men he admires who are married: William Randolph Hearst, and William Howard Taft, who has just become President of the United States.
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● panicky：大恐慌。the bond already established：两人间已经建立好的关系。那时其人的父亲还在追求期间,他想不想同他的女朋友结婚呢？他自己也不大清楚。可是偶尔想起他们俩已经相爱得难舍难分了（bond：束缚），其势非结婚不可，不由得慌张起来。
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● 可是再一想他所崇拜的大人物中也有两个结过婚的（报业大王Hearst和Taft总统）。这样一想，胆子也就壮了一点。
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My father arrives at my mother’s house. He has come too early and so is suddenly embarrassed. My aunt, my mother’s sister, answers the loud bell with her napkin in her hand, for the family is still at dinner. As my father enters, my grandfather rises from the table and shakes hands with him. My mother has run upstairs to tidy herself. My grandmother asks my father if he has had dinner, and tells him that Rose will be downstairs soon. My grandfather opens the conversation by remarking on the mild June weather. My father sits uncomfortably near the table, holding his hat in his hand. My grandmother tells my aunt to take my father’s hat. My uncle, twelve years old, runs into the house, his hair tousled. He shouts a greeting to my father, who has often given him a nickel, and then runs upstairs.
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● embarrassed：窘迫。answers the bell：听见铃响，出去开门。napkin：餐巾。女方家里还在进午餐，小姐的妹妹匆匆忙忙提了餐巾出来开门。情郎到得太早了，突然觉得很窘。
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● grandfather=father of one’s father or mother，此处乃外祖父。
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● tidy herself：打扮。注意此句时态用的是现在完成式has run：小姐一听见门外的人声，就躲到楼上去化妆了，故此人进屋时，小姐已经在楼上了。
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● Rose：小姐的名字。
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● mild June weather：六月天气正是不冷不热，外祖父无话可说，乃从天气讲起。
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● holding his hat in his hand：怪不舒服的靠着餐桌旁坐下，帽子还捧在手里，亏得外祖母会体贴，叫姨母把帽子拿走（给挂好）。
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● tousled：头发蓬松。十二岁的顽童舅舅从外面闯进来，大声地叫应了一声，奔上楼去了。nickel：五分镍币；这位小舅舅常常“受贿”的。
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Finally my mother comes downstairs, all dressed up, and my father being engaged in conversation with my grandfather becomes uneasy, not knowing whether to greet my mother or continue the conversation. He gets up from the chair clumsily and says “hello” gruffly. My grandfather watches, examining their congruence, such as it is, with a critical eye, and meanwhile rubbing his bearded cheek roughly, as he always does when he reflects. He is worried; he is afraid that my father will not make a good husband for his oldest daughter.
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● 其人之母打扮好下楼来了，其人之父正在同外祖父谈天，一时变得很尴尬，不知道该同小姐打招呼呢，还是继续聊下去。
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● clumsily：笨手笨脚地。gruffly：粗嗄地。他这样打了一个招呼，足见同外祖父聊天的话锋是打断了。
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● congruence：合适；相称，和谐。外祖父也不聊天了，索性冷眼（critical eye）旁观，看看这对情侣究竟能够琴瑟协调到什么程度，未来的事情他看不到，就拿目前他们俩在一起的情形来说吧：究竟是“一对璧人”呢？还是“彩凤随鸦”呢？such as it is=such congruence as now exists。
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● bearded cheek：长有胡子的脸庞。he always does when he reflects：他思索的时候，手就在自己毛茸茸的脸颊上使劲地摸。
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● worried：担忧。外祖父择婿甚苛，还怕这位情郎不能做个好丈夫呢。
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At this point something happens to the film, just as my father is saying something funny to my mother. The audience begins to clap impatiently. Then the trouble is cared for but the film has been returned to a portion just shown, and once more I see my grandfather rubbing his bearded cheek and pondering my father’s character.
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