零距离美语会话[家庭]Lesson2:Herecomesthebride

Two     Here comes the bride.
新娘来了。
 1    Introduction
A     Some American men have this thinking - why buy the cow if you can get all your milk free? 
一些美国男人有这种思想——如果你可以免费得到牛奶的话，那又何必去买头奶牛呢？（这句话有很明显的引申意义：身边有女人愿意跟着，又何必一定要自寻麻烦娶个老婆呢？）
B     Marriage is not like having a room full of roses; you get out of it whatever you put into it.  Another way of expressing this is, you’ve made your bed now you’re going  to have to sleep in it.
婚姻不像是一个房子装满了玫瑰；你付出了什么就收获什么。另一种说法是，你已经铺好了床，现在你就得睡在里面。
C     She got the gold mine, he got the shaft.  That means when the judge decided how the property would be divided in the divorce.  The woman received the biggest part of the marital assets.  Most men say, “It’s not marriage that scares me; it’s the divorce court I am most afraid of.”
“她分了金矿，他得到的是茅杆。”那就是说离婚时当法官作出决定财产是如何划分的。大多数男人说，“让我害怕的不是婚姻；是离婚时的法院最让我恐惧。”
D     In most instances, a man who has never been married will prefer to marry a woman who has also never been married.
多数情况下，没结过婚的男人比较愿意娶也没有结过婚的女人。
E     Most men prefer having a wife who is younger than them.  But it’s usual for a man to marry a woman older than himself.  Older women who like younger men are frowned upon in American culture. 
多数男人比较愿意妻子比自己年轻。但是娶比自己大一点的女人也是常有的。老女人喜欢年轻男人，这在美国文化是会引起别人皱眉的。

 2    Sample Sentences
1.   Brad really means a lot to me.
布莱德对我来说真的很重要。
2.   As soon as I met her, I knew I would spend the rest of my life with her.
当我一见到她，我就知道我将会和她共度此生。
3.  If you love someone, set them free; if they come back to you, they’re yours; if they don't, they weren't yours in the first place.
如果你们爱某个人，就让他们自由；如果他们回到你们身边，他们就是你们的；如果他们没有，一开始他们就不是你们的。
4.   I think some people get married before the age of 20.
我认为一些人还没满二十岁就结婚了。
5.   In fact, we are planning a formal engagement for this Christmas, 2001, and an exchange of vows in spring of 2006.
     事实上，我们正计划2001年的圣诞节举行一个订婚仪式，在2006年的春天结婚。
6.   They are looking forward to the union     of our love.
他们盼着我们的爱走到一起。
7.   I simply knew I wanted to have certain qualities in a mate and that if the right person came along, marriage was great.
我只知道我想要我的配偶有一些特定的品质，如果要找的那个人出现了，婚姻就是幸福的。
8.   When we finally met in person, it was love at first sight!
当我们最终碰面时，那就是一见钟情。
9.   He is the person I will always love, without end, without bounds, and with all my heart.
     他是我将永远爱着的人，没有尽头，没有界限，用尽我全部的心。
10.  We sometimes struggle with being newlyweds and an instant family.  However, we wouldn't trade any of this for anything in the world.
结为新婚夫妇以及速成一个家庭，为此我们有时不免有些斗争。然而，我们不会拿这些与世上任何一样东西相替换。
11.  As a matter of fact, we are talking about marriage, although it is not official yet (he hasn't formally proposed).
    事实上，我们在谈论结婚，尽管还不是正式的（他还没正式求婚）。

 3     Conversations
1.  Here Comes the Bride.
At a wedding reception in St. Louis, Missouri.
Tim:  Thanks for inviting me to your friend’s wedding.  I was surprised to hear the bride and groom1 talking to each other that way during the marriage ceremony2.  Is that common?
Sam:  Well, some people use a standard set of words, but many couples today write their own wedding vows3.
Tim:  Your tradition of throwing rice as they got into their car was interesting, but it didn't look like real rice to me.
Sam:  It wasn't.  It was birdseed4.  We don't throw rice anymore because someone discovered that birds come along and eat the rice and have trouble digesting it.
Tim:  Oh, I didn't think of that.  Well, this reception reminds me of wedding parties back in China.  Plenty of food and drink, music and dancing, and interesting traditions.
Sam:  Wait until you see what happens next!  The bride is getting ready to throw her bouquet5.  Let's go over and watch.
Tim:  She’s got quite a crowd around her.  Oh, look!  That little girl caught it!
Sam:  She’s my friend’s ten-year-old niece.  I guess there won’t be another wedding in this family for a long time.

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