向前一步:第191期 全能女人是个神话(24)

 She spent twenty minutes reciting from memory the name of every child, 结果她用20分钟告诉我班上每个孩子的名字，

detailing their parents, siblings¹, which class they had been in the year before, and their interests. 并描述他们的父母、兄弟姐妹，以及他们各自的兴趣爱好。

How could she possibly know all this? 她怎么可能把这些全记住？

Was I a bad mother for not knowing any of this? 我对此一无所知，这是不是说明我是个糟糕的母亲？

And why should it even bother me? 而且，我为什么会为此烦恼？

I knew the answer to that last question. 对于最后一个问题，我知道答案。

It bothered me because like most people who have choices, I am not completely comfortable with mine. 烦恼的原因在于我对自己的选择也并不完全满意。

Later that same year, I dropped my son off at school on St. Patrick's Day. 还是那一年，我有一次送孩子上学。

As he got out of the car wearing his favorite blue T-shirt, the same mother pointed² out, "He's supposed to be wearing green today." 他穿着最喜欢的蓝色T恤，刚一下车，那位无所不知的母亲就说：“今天是圣帕特里克节，他应该穿绿色的衣服。”

I simultaneously³ thought, Oh, who the hell can remember that it's St. Patrick's Day? 噢，谁记得今天是圣帕特里克节？然后我心里想，

and I'm a bad mom Guilt⁴ management can be just as important as time management for mothers. 我真是个糟糕的妈妈。对母亲来说，控制负罪感和时间管理一样重要。

When I went back to my job after giving birth, other working mothers told me to prepare for the day that my son would cry for his nanny. 当我休完产假回去工作时，其他上班族妈妈都告诉我要有心理准备，因为有一天我儿子可能会哭着要保姆而不是妈妈。

Sure enough, when he was about eleven months old, he was crawling on the floor of his room and put his knee down on a toy. 果不其然，当他11个多月大，能在自己房间的地板上爬来爬去，有一次被玩具绊倒了，

He looked up for help, crying, and reached for her instead of me. 他大哭着向保姆而不是我伸出小手。

It pierced my heart, but Dave thought it was a good sign. 我十分难过，但戴夫认为这是个好兆头，

He reasoned that we were the central figures in our son's life, but forming an attachment⁵ to a caregiver was good for his development. 他的理由是，在儿子的生活中我们是核心人物，但对照顾他的人形成一种依恋感则有利于他的成长。

I understood his logic⁶, especially in retrospect⁷, but at the time, it hurt like hell. 我理解他的逻辑，尤其是现在，但当时我真是难过得要死。

 

1 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

4 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

5 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

6 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

7 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。