英语小达人 237 Some Notes on Marriage

 　　Some Notes on Marriage

　　关于婚姻的一些随笔

　　For everyone that's still single, some notes on marriage...

　　仍是单身的朋友们，请看看下面这些关于婚姻的随笔……

　　Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering.

　　婚姻是一场三个RING的盛会：订婚戒指（engagement RING）、结婚戒指（wedding RING）和无尽的苦头（suffeRING）。

　　Marriage is a sacred institution--but who wants to live in an institution?!

　　婚姻制度是神圣的，可问题是谁愿意生活在制度里？！

　　Marriage is bliss¹. Ignorance is bliss.

　　婚姻是福，无知是福。

　　Marriage is not a word: it is a sentence--a life sentence.

　　婚姻不是一个单词，而是一个句子（判决）——无期徒刑。

　　Marriage is the only sport in which the trapped animal has to buy the license².

　　婚姻是惟一的一项要身陷其中的人购买证书的活动。

　　Marriage still confers one very special privilege--only a married person can get divorced!

　　婚姻仍然赋予了人们某种特权——只有结了婚的人才能离婚！

　　Married life is exciting and frustrating³. The first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

　　婚姻生活既让人兴奋又令人沮丧。结婚的第一年，丈夫说话，妻子听着；第二年，妻子说话，丈夫听着；到了第三年，他们俩一块说，邻居们听着。

　　The secret of a happy marriage remains⁴ a secret.

　　幸福婚姻的秘密到现在还是一个秘密。

　　Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his bachelor's degree and the woman gets her master's.

　　婚姻是一所学校，在这里男人失去他们的学士学位，而女人得到硕士学位。（婚姻是一种制度，在这种制度下，男人丧失单身身份，而女人掌握了控制权。）

　　The happy marriage would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.

　　幸福的婚姻该是由耳聋的男人和眼瞎的女人组成的。

　　The days just before marriage are like a snappy introduction to a tedious book.

　　结婚前的日子就像是一本冗长乏味的书的短小精悍的序言。

　　Love is one long sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock.

　　恋爱是一场美梦，结婚是一个闹钟。

　　Marriage is like a mousetrap. Those on the outside are trying to get in. Those on the inside are trying to get out.

　　婚姻就像是个捕鼠器，在外面的想钻进去，钻进去的想逃出来。

　　Marriage is the sole cause of divorce.

　　结婚是离婚的惟一起因。

　　Marriage is like a hot bath. Once you get used to it, it's not so hot.

　　婚姻就像是洗热水澡，习惯了之后，就不觉得有那么热了。

　　Long engagements give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which is never advisable.

　　长久的恋爱能使两人在结婚前了解对方的性格，这绝对是不可取的。

　　There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking⁵. It's called marriage.

　　有一种比电子银行还要快的划转资金的方式：结婚。

　　Marriage is very much like a violin; after the music is over, the strings⁶ are attached.

　　婚姻就像是拉小提琴，优美的演奏结束后，琴弦还绷着。

　　Marriage is love. Love is blind. Therefore, marriage is an institution for the blind.

　　婚姻是爱情的结晶，爱情是盲目的。所以婚姻是给盲人设立的制度。

　　Marriage certificate is just another word for a work permit.

　　结婚证只是又一张工作许可证。

　　It is true that love is blind but marriage is definitely an eye-opener.

　　恋爱是盲目的，可婚姻绝对能让你大开眼界。

　　重点讲解：

　　1. introduction to

　　引言；序言；导论；

　　eg. Ellen Malos, in her introduction to 'The Politics of Housework', provides a summary of the debates.

　　埃伦·马洛斯在她为《家务政治学》一书所作的序言中对这些争论进行了总结。

　　eg. I have almost finished my introduction to the book.

　　我几乎完成了书的引言。

　　2. find out

　　（尤指特意通过努力）发现，找出，查明；查出…的不轨行为；揭发出；

　　eg. Yesterday, the men's families held a news conference in their campaign to find out the truth...

　　昨天，这些男子的家人举行了记者招待会，以发起查明真相的运动。

　　eg. We'd better find out how the land lies before taking any action.

　　我们最好把情况弄清楚再采取行动。

　　eg. Her face was so grave, I wondered for a moment if she'd found me out.

　　她的表情如此严肃，我一时怀疑她是不是已经知道了我干的事。

　　3. eye opener

　　令人大开眼界的事物；

　　eg. This summer's tour was an eye-opener for her. For the first time ever, the halls were not fully⁷ booked.

　　今夏的旅游让她大开眼界。有史以来，礼堂第一次没有预订满。

　　eg. Writing these scripts has been quite an eye-opener to me. It proves that one can do anything if the need is urgent.

　　编写这些剧本让我眼界大开，它证明了情急之下人可以做到任何事情。

1 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

2 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

3 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

6 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。