人物：我妻子的出柜故事(2)

"I didn't care," says Chris, who was 20 when he met Deanna at a party in North Carolina.

“我不在乎，”克里斯说。当时他20岁，在北卡罗来纳的一个聚会上见到了蒂娜。

"I didn't feel threatened. I wanted her to be happy with who she was and not hide that or be ashamed."

“我没有感到威胁。我想让她对自己感到快乐，而不是隐藏或感到羞耻。”

At the time, Chris was a vacuum-cleaner sales-man by day and an aspiring¹ rock singer by night, living in his parents' mobile home in Virginia.

当时，克里斯白天是一名吸尘器销售员，晚上则是一名有抱负的摇滚歌手，住在他父母位于弗吉尼亚州的活动房屋里。

Just out of a five-year relationship himself, he was ready for single life—until he and Deanna, a massage² therapist, made an instant connection.

刚结束五年的恋爱，他就准备过单身生活，直到他和迪安娜，一位按摩大师治疗师，建立了即时的联系。

Chris soon moved into her North Carolina home, the couple wed³, and they began coparenting Deanna's two children. Chris credits his wife for pushing him to audition⁴ for Idol⁵.

克里斯很快搬进了她在北卡罗来纳州的家，这对夫妇结婚了，他们开始共同抚养蒂娜的两个孩子。克里斯把参加《美国偶像》试镜的机会归功于他的妻子。

Finishing fourth, he built a passionate⁶ fan base with his power-rock vocals⁷, and his self-titled band took off. The meteoric⁸ rise, though, took a devastating⁹ toll¹⁰ on his marriage.

以第四名的成绩结束后，他凭借自己强有力的摇滚嗓音建立了一个充满激情的粉丝群，他的同名乐队也开始走红。然而，他的事业突飞猛进，给他的婚姻带来了毁灭性的打击。

Chris says he got swept up in a rock-star ego¹¹, and he admits "there's been infidelity." Says Deanna: "He was a different human being then. Like, I don't even know that guy."

克里斯说他沉浸在摇滚明星的自我中，他承认“有不忠行为”。迪安娜说：“那时他是一个不同的人。我甚至不认识那个人。”

Though Chris expressed deep remorse—"he wanted to fix it," Deanna says—she withdrew emotionally.

尽管克里斯表达了深深的懊悔——“他想要修复它，”迪安娜说——但她在感情上退缩了。

The turning point came, she says, when she finally tried to see things from her husband's perspective and sensed his own identity struggle.

她说，转折点来了，她终于试着从丈夫的角度看问题，感觉到他自己的身份斗争。

"I knew it didn't really have anything to do with me," she says. "It never does." Still, Deanna struggled with her self-esteem, complicated by her sexual identity.

她说：“我知道这真的与我无关。”“一直都与我无关。”尽管如此，迪安娜还是在为自己的自尊而挣扎，因为她的性别身份，事情更加复杂。

"He was drowning in the stuff he was dealing¹² with," she says, "and I was drowning in the stuff I was dealing with. We both had to learn to save ourselves."

她说：“他沉浸在他正在处理的事情中，而我也沉浸在我正在处理的事情中。我们都必须学会自救。”

What each of them learned, she says, began the journey that led her to share the "As You Are" lyrics¹³.

她说，他们每个人学到的东西，开启了她分享“做你自己”歌词的旅程。

By then Chris was committed to becoming a better partner, and in the past three years, Deanna says, their marriage has become one of "an open heart and growth."

那时，克里斯决心成为一个更好的伴侣，迪安娜说，在过去的三年里，他们的婚姻已经有了“一颗开放的心和成长”。

The spacious¹⁴ home they share with their younger children radiates health and caring, from the vegan-centric pantry to the meditation¹⁵ room off the foyer.

他们和年幼的孩子们住的宽敞的房子散发着健康和关爱的气息，从以素食主义者为中心的食品储藏室到门厅外的冥想室。

A master-bedroom painting declares "I Love Us." Deanna knows people may wonder why she's revealing her bisexuality when she and Chris have a monogamous commitment.

一幅主卧室的油画上写着“我爱我们”。迪安娜知道，人们可能会好奇，当她和克里斯承诺一夫一妻制时，她为什么要暴露自己的双性恋身份。

Her response: Openness is the only antidote¹⁶ to fear and shame. "There is nothing wrong with the fact that I have the capacity to love somebody regardless of their gender¹⁷."

她的回答是：坦诚是消除恐惧和羞耻的唯一良药。“我有能力去不论性别地爱一个人，这并没有错。”

For his part, Chris is grateful that this song gives him a role in Deanna's coming-out story.

对于克里斯来说，他很感激这首歌让他在蒂娜的出柜故事中扮演了一个角色。

"I'm super-proud," he says, "that she feels strong enough to be so open and honest about it. We're both after the same goal, and that's being true to ourselves with each other."

“我非常自豪，”他说，“她觉得自己足够强大，可以对这件事如此坦诚。我们都在追求同样的目标，这就是对彼此忠实。”

1 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

2 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

3 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

4 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

5 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

6 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

7 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。

8 meteoric   

adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的

参考例句：

• In my mind,losing weight is just something meteoric.在我眼中，减肥不过是昙花一现的事情。
• His early career had been meteoric.他的早期生涯平步青云。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

14 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

15 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

16 antidote   

n.解毒药，解毒剂

参考例句：

• There is no known antidote for this poison.这种毒药没有解药。
• Chinese physicians used it as an antidote for snake poison.中医师用它来解蛇毒。

17 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。