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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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● 读者读到这里也许忘了这是在说梦话：上面种种原来都是讲故事的人在梦中看电影看来的。这时候他父亲正对他母亲说笑话，电影出毛病了，观众开始不耐烦地鼓掌（clap）。毛病修好了，可是电影又回复到刚刚演过的一段（portion）上去了，只见他的外祖父还是抓耳扒腮地在考虑（pondering）他父亲的性格。
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My father and mother depart from the house. They walk down the same quiet streets once more. My mother is holding my father’s arm and telling him of the novel which she has been reading, and my father utters judgments of the characters as the plot is made clear to him. My mother feels very satisfied by the interest which she has awakened; she is showing my father how intelligent she is and how interesting.
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● the same quiet streets：就是他父亲的来路。
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● the novel which she has been reading：这几天她正在看的那本小说（注意动词的时态）。（telling a person of something：跟他讲这件事。）
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● characters：小说中的人物。plot：布局。他母亲把故事情节说明（made clear）后，他父亲就开口评论书中的人物。
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● satisfied：满意。他母亲的谈话，果然引起他父亲的兴趣，心里很是得意。她同他讨论那本小说，正是要让他看看：她是多么的聪明，为人又是多么的有趣。how interesting=how interesting she is。
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They reach the avenue, and the streetcar leisurely arrives. They are going to Coney Island this afternoon, although my mother considers that such pleasures are inferior. My father tells my mother how much money he has made in the past week, exaggerating an amount which need not have been exaggerated. But my father has always felt that actualities somehow fall short.
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● leisurely：懒洋洋地。
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● Coney Island：Brooklyn之南的一个海滨游乐中心，但品格不高，故他的母亲认为那边的玩意儿都是低级趣味（inferior）的。可是他们还是坐电车上那边去了，这大约是屈从男方的旨意了。
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● an amount which need not have been exaggerated：这笔数目本来就相当大，用不着再夸大的了。need在这里是助动词，故虽然主语是第三人称单数，也不加s。
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● actualities：现实情形。fall short=are insufficient。父亲总觉得实际数目不大够似的，非得要夸张一下不可。
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Suddenly I begin to weep. The old lady who sits next to me in the theatre is annoyed and looks at me with an angry face, and being intimidated, I stop. I drag out my handkerchief and dry my face, licking the drop which has fallen near my lips. Meanwhile I have missed something, for here are my mother and father alighting at the last stop, Coney Island.
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● 看电影的人忽然哭起来了。父母双双挽臂出游，人生大事快要定局，这应该是好事，并不是恶梦，有什么值得哭哭啼啼的呢？但是好梦方酣，人生之责任亦于焉开始，小说中主人翁欣赏其父母谈情说爱之余，潸然涕下，也许是喜极而哭，但是更可能的，也许是面对人生现实，心中为之怵然，戒慎恐惧之念一动，不觉悲从中来罢了。
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● 前面几段描写其父去岳家求爱情形，轻松有趣，好像是在调侃上一代的求偶风俗，这篇文字似乎该属于comedy of manners一类。又如把那一对情侣送到花前月下去走走，把爱情多描写一番，那么本文应该是一篇带牧歌情调（idyllic）的抒情文学了。若就其痴人说梦一点来说，本文又是一篇幻想曲（fantasy）。可是本文平稳中隐伏紧张，主流底下还有逆流，实应该属于正路戏剧（drama）一类。读者看完全文后自会明白，这里不必多说。其人看电影忽然流泪，似乎来得突兀，但是就整篇主题看来，这一笔亦不可省。
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● 最煞风景的是电影院里坐在他隔壁的一个老太婆，她看他哭得讨厌，对他怒目相向，其人被她一吓（intimidated），赶快忍气吞声把眼泪擦干，一颗已经掉到他嘴边的泪珠，也用舌头舔去，可是电车上的爱情镜头他大多没有看见，等到他眼泪擦干，电车已经到了最后一站（stop），他的父母二人也在Coney Island下车（alighting）了。
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They walk toward the boardwalk, and my father tells my mother to inhale the pungent air from the sea. They both breathe in deeply, both of them laughing as they do so. On the boardwalk’s flagpole, the American flag is pulsing in an intermittent wind from the sea.
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● boardwalk：海滨沙滩上铺有木板（boards），供人散步的道路。inhale：吸入。pungent：浓烈、刺激性的。凡是“钻鼻子，冲脑门”的怪味俱可适用此字，通常指“辛辣”，此处指“咸腥”之味。海风大约有醒脑健身之功，所以男的劝女的多吸些进去。
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● flagpole：旗杆。pulsing（pulse）原指脉搏的跳动，转作一切有规律的动作，此处乃“飘动”。intermittent：时发时歇的；吹吹停停的。
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