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Sweet Friday 甜蜜的星期五
[MP=450,50]http://www.npr.org/templates/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=19-Feb-2007&segNum=9&mediaPref=WM&getUnderwriting=1&mswmext=.asx[/MP]
Lena Winkler lives in Worthington, Ohio, and attends medical school at Wright State University. She studied women's health issues in Georgia in 2005. Before medical school, Winkler taught Chinese and worked with adopted Chinese children in Columbus.
Lena Winkler居住在Worthington Ohio，是Wright State大学的医学院学生，在05年的时候在Georgia学习妇女保健。在医学院之前Winkler在Columbus教授中文并和为被领养的中国小孩子工作。
February 19, 2007 · I believe in the power of tradition
2007年2月19日，我相信传统的力量
I am a mother of five children, ages 4 to 10, and I'm in my third year of medical school. I am also going through a divorce. The details of the divorce — who is right, who is wrong — are not important because like all divorces, everyone gets hurt. I will be relying on traditions to pull us through this intact.
我是五个孩子的母亲，他们从四岁到十岁，现在是我在医学院学习的第三年。我曾经经历过婚姻的失败。离婚的细节，谁是对的，谁是错的，都不重要，因为象所有的婚姻一样，离婚对大家都是伤害。我会依靠传统来度过这个难关。
Last year, I earned medical school credit working with a nonprofit health-care organization for women and children in the Republic of Georgia. Georgia, formerly a Soviet country, reminds me of my family: collapsed and worried, but bright with personality, strength and hope. When I finished my work there, I brought home the traditional dolls, daggers and wine, but I also brought home Tkbili P'araskevi: Sweet Friday.
去年，我获得了一个机会，能够在一个非盈利的组织工作，这个组织是在乔治亚苏维埃社会主义共和国(位于前苏联高加索南部)是专门为妇女和小孩提供健康护理的组织，乔治亚苏维埃社会主义共和国是前苏联的一个国家，这让我想起了我之前的家庭:瓦解和担忧，但是个性、力量以及希望都很鲜明。当我完成那里的工作，我带回来了传统的洋娃娃、短剑和葡萄酒，另外我还带回来了Tkbili P'araskevi——甜蜜的星期五
It was a tradition of our Georgian office where every Friday at 3 p.m., work would stop for a blissful half hour while we convened in the basement kitchen to feast on cake: gorgeous, fluffy delights of cream and sugar. The cook, drivers, doctors, office staff and bosses would gather to connect and relax. Then, slightly light-headed and sometimes even a little nauseated from overdoing it, we would return to our offices to wrap up business before the weekend.
这是我们Georgian办公室的传统，每个周五的下午三点为了快乐的半个小时，工作会暂停，我们会在地下室的厨房里有蛋糕盛宴，令人喜悦的奶油和糖。厨师、司机医生办公室职员以及老板们会相聚一堂互相交流和放松自己。接着是轻度的头晕有时候会有一点点恶心，因为有时候会有点过火，然后大家回到办公室收拾东西准备过周末。
My five children and I have instituted this indulgence among our neighborhood friends ever since. Sometimes we bake the night before: huge lopsided layer cakes, odd-sized cookies or sloppy attempts at parfaits. Sometimes, if medical school obligations overwhelm me, I whirl through the grocery store as I race home, grabbing cookies, bright paper plates and napkins.
我的五个孩子和我从那是开始和我的邻居朋友们创办了这个活动。有时候我们会在前一天晚上烤一些东西：不规则的大蛋糕，古怪的饼干或者搞点小花样在冻糕上。有时，如果医学院有些职责要我处理，我会在回家的路上飞快的买一些饼干、纸盘子和餐巾纸。
It is not just the extravagant sweetness of the afternoon or the regularity of the occasion that qualifies this as a tradition. It is the attention to detail and the anticipation — always a tablecloth (if maybe not ironed) and always a centerpiece (pine boughs, a pumpkin or some flowers from the garden). My children and I fantasize about the event all week long. And then, walking home from school on Fridays we round up everyone we pass. "We are having cake today. Come by. There is coffee and milk, too." Mothers and children linger in the yard on nice warm days, abandoned backpacks and jackets strewn across the grass. In the winter, children squeeze two to a chair around our big kitchen table and the mothers cram into the living room.
这个活动不仅仅是在下午的一次甜蜜放纵或者是传统的例行活动。这是一个关注细节和期望的活动——总是会有桌布（也许没有熨过），总会在桌上有装饰品（松枝、一个南瓜或者从花园摘的花）。我的孩子们和我一样会在整个星期都梦想这个活动。到时候，周五从学校回家的路上我们会召集每个我们遇到的人，“我们今天准备一个蛋糕，加入我们，还要咖啡和牛奶。”在温暖的天气里，母亲和孩子们会聚集在院子里，把背包和夹克丢在草地上。在冬天里，孩子们聚集在厨房里大桌子旁边的两张椅子上，母亲们则填满了客厅。
Sweet Friday is now part of our uncertain and frightening divorce-dominated life. I feel a responsibility to keep up with small traditions like Sweet Friday and not slip into dread or self-pity.
甜蜜的星期五现在是我们生活的一部分，我感觉这是一个责任把甜蜜星期五这个小小的传统保持下去，不要让自己卷入恐惧和自我怜悯的生活中。
I believe that by stubbornly maintaining this weekly tradition, my kids and I are creating a ritual to carry us into the future. Already we reminisce about past Sweet Fridays, and daydream about the one coming up.
我相信通过执着的保持这个每周的传统，我的孩子们和我正在创造一个例行仪式把我们带进将来。我们经常回忆已经过去的甜蜜星期五，而且还梦想着下一个快乐星期五的到来。
[此贴子已经被作者于2007-2-26 14:06:22编辑过]
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楼主
发表于 2007-2-7 12:43:06
