母愛無忌，一言一語總關情

故事梗概：奧羅拉和艾瑪是一對深愛著對方的母女。奧羅拉對女兒雖視如珍寶，但亦十分專制，女兒的一切，如言談舉止、修飾打扮、學習、玩耍都必須聽從她的旨意，稍有違忤，即暴跳如雷。女兒艾瑪表面雖很溫柔，但性格倔強。因此母女之間經常發生爭執。長大成年后的艾瑪一心想擺脫母親的控制而獨立自主，尤其是在婚姻問題上，她根本不聽母親的勸阻而執意要嫁給一個沒有固定工作、沒有男子氣概的大學老師弗萊普·霍頓。艾瑪結婚前夜，母女倆為此事又起爭執……

Aurora: What have you been doing， Emma?

Emma: Nothing. What is it， Momma? I really would like to get some sleep， you know， so I could look halfway decent for tomorrow. Come on. What is it?

Aurora: You wouldn’t want me to be silent about something that’s for your own good， even if it might hurt a little， would you?

Emma: Yes， ma’am， I certainly would! OK， come on. Come on.

Aurora: I’ve been in here all night. I’ve been trying to decide what...what wedding gift to get you. I thought of that 1)Renoir that my mother gave me. But I couldn’t reach a conclusion. And then ①I came to grips with the reason why I couldn’t think of a wedding gift for you.

Emma: Oh， Momma， it’s all right. I need dishes of any kinds， corning ware， a 2)rotisserie...the car... the house...

Aurora: Emma， I’m totally convinced if you marry Flap Horton tomorrow， it will be a mistake of such gigantic proportions，②it will ruin your life and make 3)wretched

your destiny.

Emma: ③Why are you doing this to me?

Aurora: You are not special enough to overcome a bad marriage. Emma， use your brains. ④Flap is limited. He hasn’t got any imagination. Even at this age， all he wants is a secure teaching job.

Emma: Mother...I’m marrying Flap Horton tomorrow. I thank God for Flap for getting me out of here. And I think if this is your attitude， you shouldn’t bother showing up at

my wedding.

Aurora: En， that’s…that’s right. No， I think you’re right. The 4)hypocrisy was bothering me， too.

Emma: My own mother’s not coming to my wedding.

奧羅拉：你在干什么呢，艾瑪？

艾瑪：什么都沒做。怎么了，媽媽？我真的想好好睡一會兒。你知道，這樣我明天會看來挺不錯的。快點，什么事啊？

奧羅拉：你不想我對某件為你好的事情保持沉默吧，盡管那樣有點傷你的心，是不是？

艾瑪：是的，夫人，正是的！好吧，來，來。

奧羅拉：我在這里呆了一整晚了。我在考慮送給你什么結婚禮物。我想到我母親給我的雷諾瓦（的畫），但是我無法決定。然后我找到了無法靜下心來考慮給你的結婚禮物的原因。

艾瑪：哦，媽媽，沒關系，我需要各種各樣的盤子、康寧餐具，一個烤肉店、汽車、一棟房子……

奧羅拉：艾瑪，我確信如果你明天就跟弗萊普·霍頓結婚，這將會是一個巨大的錯誤。它將會毀掉你的生活，讓你的人生苦不堪言。

艾瑪：你為什么這樣對我？

奧羅拉：你還不能夠承受一場失敗的婚姻。艾瑪，動動腦子。弗萊普太沒用了，他沒有思想。即使到了這個歲數，他所想要的也只是一份穩定的教學工作而已。

艾瑪：媽媽，我明天就跟弗萊普結婚。我感謝上帝，讓弗萊普帶我離開這兒。如果這是你的態度，你不用強迫自己來參加我的婚禮了。

奧羅拉：嗯，那……那好吧。不， 我想你是正確的。我也比較討厭裝樣子。

艾瑪：我自己的母親不來參加我的婚禮。

Smart Sentences

① And then I came to grips with the reason why I couldn’t think of a gift. 然后我找到了無法靜下心來考慮給你結婚禮物的原因。

come to grips with sth.: consider sth. seriously and start to take action to deal with it（認真對待，著手處理）。例如：

Governments around the world have come to grips with the financial crisis.

世界各國政府已經著手處理金融危機了。

Similar Expression: get to grips

Suitable Occasion: oral， formal informal

② It will ruin your life and make wretched your destiny. 它將會毀掉你的生活，讓你的人生苦不堪言。

make wretched sth.: make sth. miserable（把某事弄得一團糟）。例如：

The heavy snow made wretched my wedding last weekend.

上周末，大雪毀了我的婚禮。

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal

③ Why are you doing this to me? 你為什么這樣對我？

Why are you doing this to me?: used to express anger at sb.’s action（對某人的行為表示不滿）。例如：

You told Greg that I have a crush on him? Why are you doing this to me?

你告訴格雷格我暗戀他？你為什么要這樣對我啊？

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal

④ Flap is limited. 弗萊普太沒用了。

limited: lame， stupid， dull; slang（不中用的，傻的；俚語）。例如：

You can’t put her on the team as she is limited.

你不能讓她加入，她不中用。

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal