精美英文欣赏:世界上最大的家庭(上)

The World's Biggest Family

世界上最大的家庭

Mr. and Mrs. Albina don't know where all their grown-up children are living now.

阿宾娜夫妇不知道他们已成年的孩子们现在在哪里生活。

They aren't sure how old all their children are either. Ask them, for example,

他们也不确定他们孩子们多大了。

"How old is your daughter Susanna?" and they say, "We're not sure."

比如，如果问他们：“你女儿苏珊娜多大了？”他们会说他们不确定。

They might even ask, "Which Susanna?"

他们甚至可能会问：“哪个苏珊娜？”

But it is understandable that the Albinas can't keep track of their children's addresses and ages.

但是阿宾娜夫妇无法知道他们孩子的住址和年龄是可以理解的。

After all, they have 53 kids. Mr. and Mrs. Albina, with 53 kids,

毕竟，他们有53个孩子。

have the world's largest family. Not one of their children are adopted.

阿宾娜夫妇和53个孩子组成了世界上最大的家庭。要知道所有的孩子都是亲生的。

"How is it possible? How can one woman give birth to 53 kids in her lifetime?"

“这怎么可能？一个女人一生怎么能生53个孩子呢？”

The answer is simple: Every time Mrs. Albina gave birth,

答案很简单：每次阿宾娜太太生孩子，

she had twins or triplets. She was a triplet herself.

不是双胞胎就是三胞胎。她自己就是三胞胎之一。

The Albinas married when Mrs. Albina was 12 years old and Mr. Albina was 30,

他们结婚的时候，阿宾娜夫人12岁和阿宾娜先生30岁。

and they spent the early years of their marriage in Argentina.

他们刚结婚那会儿有几年在阿根廷度过。

Then they decided¹ to move to Chile. To travel from Argentina to Chile,

然后他们决定搬到智利。从阿根廷到智利，

they had to cross the Andes Mountains.

他们不得不翻过安第斯山脉。

They and their 20 sons made the difficult two-week journey on mules².

他们及其20个儿子花了两周的时间骑着骡子艰难行进。

One night there was a terrible snowstorm³ in the mountains.

一天晚上山里来了一场可怕的暴风雪。

During the storm, Mrs. Albina gave birth to triplets, a boy and two girls.

在暴风雨中，阿宾娜太太生了三胞胎，一个男孩和两个女孩。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 mules   

骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者

参考例句：

• The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
• She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。

3 snowstorm   

n.雪暴，暴风雪

参考例句：

• After several weeks of travel,snowstorm hit us first.我们旅行了几个星期，初次碰上了暴风雪。
• A severe snowstorm blocked up railroads.一场暴风雪使铁路中断。