2006年NPR美国国家公共电台七月-Special Bond: Identical and Simpatico

As StoryCorps travels the country, it's helping¹ Americans interview some of the most important people in their lives. Today, two women who can't imagine life without each other.

"Hi, I'm Janice Morris" " and I’m Caroline Morris Satchell" "and we're identical twins."

"Eh, people used to ask me, what is it like to be a twin?'"

"The strangest thing is that I don't have a separate memory from her. Our childhoods were identical. We used to just desperately² want a best friend, because when you were young you just had to have a best friend. And I remember Janice and I used to get so frustrated³ because all of our friends said 'Well, I like you both the same. I can't pick one over the other", and that just drove us nuts 'cause we just didn't feel special. You know we were twins all the time. We used to even have a Sunday school teacher who didn't even bother to learn our names. She just called us both twin. “Twin, come here. Twin, come there."

"And the twin questions. I hated the twin questions: always who is older? Like being born 15 minutes ahead of the other person made some difference in life. I used to say," Caroline, who was the one who was born the first?"

"Look so much older as a result. Then, of course, it’s inevitably⁴ followed by the question: Do you feel each other's pain? Do you have ESP?"

"No, we didn't feel each other's pain. No, we didn't have ESP."

"Did you have your own secret language?" "No."

"And the most common of all, of course, was: Did you ever switch dates on each other? Which was ridiculous. I mean, I guess there are twins who do that, but not any self-respecting twins."

"Although her husband, to this day, cannot tell us apart on the phone because we do have very identical voices. So..."And we did use to play a trick where we'd call up and both be on the phone and have a conversation with him and he'd never realized both of us was on the phone at the same time."

"Eh, but I think, you know, the plus side of being a twin, eh, people used to ask me, what is it like to be a twin? And my answer always was what’s it like not to be a twin? I mean it 's been my own identity for my whole life. And I don't really know what it's like not to be. Eh, I do know the benefits though, I think, er, no two people could be closer. We're the kind of twins that just were simpatico all of our lives-used each other as sounding boards and I knew if anything ever went wrong in my life I could count on her. You know, whenever we have a problem, we don't have to explain it to one another. "

"It was really wonderful to, to feel like I know somebody so completely" "It's just an insight⁵ that no two other people can really have."

"So I guess the one thing I wanna say to you is I think you're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"We really feel lucky." "We really do."

"Being a twin was the best thing that ever happened to us." "We recommend it to everybody." "Yeah."

Caroline Satchell and Janice Morris had a mobile StoryCorps booth in Washington D.C.

Their conversation and all other StoryCorps interviews are archived at the library of Congress. Mobile booths are currently⁶ in Ames, Iowa and Watertown, New York. Make a reservation for an interview of your own at NPR.org. Major funding for StoryCorps comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

【WORLD BANK】
ESP
extra-sensory perception⁷ the ability to know what will happen in the future, or to know what another person is thinking
plus
[only before noun]used to talk about an advantage or good feature of a thing or situation
opposite minus
Another of the Beach Club's plus points is that it's right in the middle of town.This is not an exciting car to drive, but on the plus side it is extremely reliable.
simpatico
American English informal
1
someone who is simpatico is pleasant and easy to like
2
in agreement
We're simpatico about most things.
sounding board
[countable usually singular] someone you discuss your ideas with in order to see if they think your ideas are good
sounding board for
John always used her as a sounding board for new ideas.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

5 insight   

n.洞察力，洞悉，深刻的见解

参考例句：

• Good teachers have insight into the problems of students.好的教师能洞察学生的问题。
• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

7 perception   

n.感知，感觉，觉察(力)；认识，观念，看法

参考例句：

• What's your perception of the matter?你对此事有什么看法？
• He was a man of keen perception.他是一个感觉敏锐的人。