杯釋人生

By Kerrie R.Barney

The day my kitchen cabinet tried to kill me began like any other day. I had just padded downstairs in my robe to start a pot of coffee when I heard an ominous creak.2 Then an angry roar. Then， as some previously untapped instinct kicked in and I backed across the kitchen—I was still semi-asleep—the cabinet door right above my coffeemaker opened， and my entire collection of mugs spilled out.3 Some dropped into the sink； the rest poured forth in an impressive flood onto my tiled floor4. They landed with a crash of glass and pottery， inches from my slipper-clad feet.5

It is always disturbing when ones cabinetry turns violent. Fortunately， the explanation was simple： The plastic pegs6 holding up the adjustable shelves had suddenly failed， causing the shelves to fall. When I went to buy replacements， the hardware store guy said hed heard my story before.7 Apparently， some plastic pegs weaken over time and need to be replaced every decade or so， lest they suddenly decide theyre fed up and retire in a spectacular fashion.8 I purchased heavy-duty9 metal replacements for every plastic shelf peg in the house.

That evening， as I installed the new pegs， I reflected that Id learned a valuable lesson fairly cheaply.10 No one had been hurt， and I hadnt really lost much—all my plates and cooking equipment had been in other cabinets.

But every coffee mug I owned， except for one small teacup that had been in my dishwasher， was lost. What was I to do？

I neednt have worried. Coffee mugs， it turns out， are something of which everyone has extras. They are the opposite of socks. Instead of mysteriously disappearing， they tend to mysteriously appear， collecting in kitchens like so many ceramic dust bunnies.11 Regretted impulse purchases， sole survivors of long-broken dish sets， old gag gifts that had gagged far more than theyd gifted： My friends had them all.12 So did their friends， and their friendsfriends. And every one of them was more than willing to share their extra mugs with me.

In no time， my newly repaired cupboard ranneth over， filled with mugs of every size and shape. I was certainly grateful for the donated mugs， but some of them were radically13 different from what I would have chosen for myself. So here was the strange and unexpected thing： I fell in love with them. All of them.

The mug is such an attractive canvas14 for expression. If you can think it， it can probably be put on a mug—and most likely already has been. Our noblest dreams （“Visualize World Peace”） and our snarkiest sentiments （“Id love to stay and chat， but Im lying”）—theyre all right there， with full-color art or in block-print letters.15 My once boring cupboard was transformed into a rainbow of human experience. I quickly came to enjoy dipping into that spectrum every morning.16

I also discovered that there is something uniquely satisfying about drinking from a secondhand mug. The dishwasher-faded graphics and spoon-scratched interiors are comforting，17 like a well-worn T-shirt： something one can relax into and simply be with， an old friend. And since much of my collection came from people I dont know， the cups contain kernels of mystery： Who had visited Colfax， Wash.， home of “The Worlds Largest Chainsaw Sculpture”？18 Whose donation had earned them a thankyou mug from the State Historical Society of Missouri19？ And who had needed the comfort of a mug featuring two bedraggled20 kittens in the rain with the words， “I promise， someday well both look back on this and laugh”？ Could he or she have known that one day， that very mug would comfort me？

I dont know. But I do know this： If you ever come by my house for coffee， you wont find it served in a neat new cup with a matching saucer21. Instead， youll get a unique example of human creativity that has been very much loved in the past—and will be for years to come.

1. My cupboard runneth over：“My cup

runneth over”引述自《希伯來圣經》（Hebrew Bible），意為“擁有的比需要的多”。這里作者仿擬這一表達，起到了一語雙關的效果。runneth： 早期現代英語中run的第三人稱單數形式。

2. pad：（放輕腳步）走，步行；robe： 睡袍，浴衣；ominous：（使人感到）不祥的，不妙的；creak： 嘎吱嘎吱聲。

3. untapped： 茅塞未開的，未使用的；kick in：開始起作用；coffeemaker： 咖啡機；spill out：（突然）涌出。

4. tiled floor： 瓷磚地板。

5. 伴著一陣玻璃和陶器的嘩啦聲，它們墜落到地上，離我穿著拖鞋的腳只有幾英寸遠。slipper-clad： 穿著拖鞋的。

6. peg： 螺釘，接栓。

7. replacement： 替代（物）；hardware store：五金店。

8. 顯然，有的塑料釘日久失修，每隔十來年就需更換，以免它們突然心生厭煩，隨即用一種壯觀的方式退休（指釘子脫落）。lest： 以免；be fed up （with）：（對……）感到厭煩。

9. heavy-duty：（材料）耐用的，耐久的。

10. 那一晚，我在安裝新螺栓時反思出：我通過很低的代價，吸取了寶貴的教訓。

11. 它們不會無故消失，而是會神秘地出現，堆積在廚房里，宛如許多陶瓷變成的積塵。ceramic： 陶瓷的；dust bunny： [美]（家具等底下不常打掃處積起來的）小塵團。

12. 這些杯子我的朋友都有：有令人后悔的沖動購物，有餐具套裝里經長期損毀后仍幸存的孤品，還有比起禮物更像是惡作劇的搞怪禮品。impulse purchase： 一時沖動而買下的東西；gag： 笑話，笑料。

13. radically： 根本上，徹底地。

14. canvas： 畫布。

15. snarky： 暴躁的，易怒的；sentiment：情緒，態度；block-print： 用印刷字體寫的。

16. dip into： 把？？伸入（某處）取出（某物）；spectrum： 譜，光譜。

17. dishwasher-faded graphic： 被洗碗機洗褪色的圖案；spoonscratched interior： 有勺子刮痕的內壁。

18. kernel：（陳述、觀點的）核心，要點；Colfax： 科爾法克斯，美國華盛頓州惠特曼縣的縣治；chainsaw sculpture： 電鋸雕刻藝術。

19. State Historical Society of Missouri：密蘇里州國家歷史學會，位于美國密蘇里州哥倫比亞市，專門研究和保護密蘇里州的文化遺產。

20. bedraggled： 全身泥污的，渾身濕透的。