在我还是一个孩子的时候，我的夏天总是在德州祖父母的农场中度过。

I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores.

我帮忙修理风车，为牛接种疫苗，也做其它家务。

We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives."

每天下午，我们都会看肥皂剧，尤其是《我们的岁月》。

My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada.

我的祖父母参加了一个房车俱乐部，那是一群驾驶Airstream拖挂型房车的人们，他们结伴遍游美国和加拿大。

And every few summers, we'd join the caravan.

每隔几个夏天，我也会加入他们。

We'd hitch up the Airstream to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.

我们把房车挂在祖父的小汽车后面，然后加入300余名Airstream探险者们组成的浩荡队伍。

I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.

我爱我的祖父母，我崇敬他们，也真心期盼这些旅程。

On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old.

那是一次我大概十岁时的旅行。

I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.

我照例坐在后座的长椅上。

My grandfather was driving.

祖父开着车。

And my grandmother had the passenger seat.

祖母坐在他旁边。

She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.

她一直在吸着烟，我讨厌烟味。

At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.

在那样的年纪，我会找任何借口做些估测或者小算术。

I'd calculate our gas mileage - figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.

我会计算油耗还有杂货花销等鸡毛蒜皮的小事。

I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.

我听过一个有关吸烟的广告。

I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life:

我记不得细节了，但是广告大意是说，每吸一口香烟会减少几分钟的寿命，

I think it might have been two minutes per puff.

大概是两分钟。

At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.

无论如何，我决定为祖母做个算术。

I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.

我估测了祖母每天要吸几支香烟，每支香烟要吸几口等等。

When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder,

然后心满意足地得出了一个合理的数字。接着，我把头探到车子前面，又拍了拍祖母的肩膀，

and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"

然后骄傲地宣称，“每天吸两分钟的烟，你就少活九年！”