向前一步:第2期 导言 内心的革命(2)

 　　That night, I recounted these troubles to my husband, Dave. 那天晚上，我向丈夫戴夫大倒苦水。

　　He pointed¹ out that Yahoo, where he worked at the time, had designated parking for expectant mothers at the front of each building. 当时还在雅虎公司工作的戴夫告诉我，雅虎在每座办公楼前都为公司的准妈妈们专门预留了停车位。

　　The next day, I marched in—or more like waddled² in—to see Google founders³ Larry Page and Sergey Brin in their office, 第二天，我摆起了示威的架势（其实就像是鸭子那样摇摇摆摆），走进了谷歌的两位创始人拉里·佩奇和谢尔盖·布林的办公室。

　　which was really just a large room with toys and gadgets⁴ strewn all over the floor. 只见地板上到处散落着玩具、小零碎和衣服。

　　I found Sergey in a yoga position in the corner and announced that we needed pregnancy⁵ parking, preferably sooner rather than later. 在房间的角落里，谢尔盖正努力地保持着一个瑜伽姿势。我大声地向他们声明：公司需要孕妇停车位，而且越快越好！

　　He looked up at me and agreed immediately, noting that he had never thought about it before. 他抬起头看看我，立刻就同意了，还说他以前从来没有考虑到这一点。

　　To this day, I'm embarrassed that I didn't realize that pregnant women needed reserved parking until I experienced my own aching feet. 直到今天，我仍然觉得难为情，因为只有在亲历了孕期双脚的肿痛后，我才意识到公司需要为孕妇预留停车位。

　　As one of Google's most senior women, didn't I have a special responsibility to think of this? 作为谷歌的女性高管之一，我难道不是更有责任去考虑这个问题吗？

　　But like Sergey, it had never occurred to me. 但是，和谢尔盖一样，我压根儿就没想到过这些。

　　The other pregnant women must have suffered in silence, not wanting to ask for special treatment. 公司里其他的准妈妈们对于这种情况，肯定都是在默默忍受，却从没想过要求特殊待遇；

　　Or maybe they lacked the confidence or seniority to demand that the problem be fixed⁶. 或者说，也许她们缺乏自信或自认为没有资历去要求解决这个问题。

　　Having one pregnant woman at the top—even one who looked like a whale—made the difference. 然而，如果高层管理人员中有一个孕妇（哪怕看起来像头巨鲸），情况就会有所不同。

　　Today in the United States and the developed world, women are better off than ever. 在今天的美国和发达国家，女性的境况是有史以来最好的。

　　We stand on the shoulders of the women who came before us, women who had to fight for the rights that we now take for granted. 我们站在从前女性的肩膀上，理所当然地享受着她们曾为之奋斗的一切。

1 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。

2 waddled   

v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A family of ducks waddled along the river bank. 一群鸭子沿河岸摇摇摆摆地走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stout old man waddled across the road. 那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

4 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。