Unit 4

 

Text A College sweethearts

 

大学情侣

1 I smile at my twolovely daughters and they seem so much more mature than we, their parents, whenwe were college sweethearts. Linda, who's 21, had a boyfriend in her freshmanyear she thought she would marry, but they're not together anymore. Melissa,who's 19, hasn't had a steady boyfriend yet. My daughters wonder when they willmeet "The One", their great love. They think their father and Ihad a classic fairy-tale romance heading for marriage from the outset. Perhaps,they're right but it didn't seem so at the time. In a way, love just happenswhen you least expect it. Who would have thought that Butch and I would end upgetting married to each other? He became my boyfriend because of my shallowagenda: I wanted a cute boyfriend!

 

我微笑着看着我那两个可爱的女儿，她们似乎比她们的父母还是大学情侣那会儿更为成熟。琳达  21 岁，在大学一年级交过一个男友，她曾以为会跟那个男孩结婚，但他们已不再来往了。梅丽莎，19 岁，还没有一个固定的男友。我的女儿不知何时才能遇到她们的那个 “唯一 ”，她们伟大的爱。她们认为她们的父亲和我有着一段经典的、童话般的浪漫史，从一开始就直奔婚姻的殿堂。也许，她们是正确的，但在那时似乎并不是那么回事。在某种程度上，爱神恰恰在你最没准备时来临。谁曾想到，布奇和我最终会结婚呢？他之所以成为我男友，只是因为当时我那肤浅的打算：我要找一个可爱的男友！

 

2 We met through mycollege roommate at the university cafeteria. That fateful night, I was merelycurious, but for him I think it was love at first sight. "You havebeautiful eyes," he said as he gazed at my face. He kept staring at me allnight long. I really wasn't that interested for two reasons. First, he lookedlike he was a really wild boy, maybe even dangerous. Second, although he wasvery cute, he seemed a little weird.

 

我们通过我的大学室友介绍在大学食堂相识。在那个命中注定的夜晚，我只是好奇，但对他而言，我认为是一见钟情。他凝视着我的脸，说：  “你有一双美丽的眼睛。     ”他整个晚上一直盯着我。我真的对他没那么感兴趣，其原因有二。首先，他看起来就像是一个野小子，甚至还有些危险。其次，虽然他很可爱，却似乎有点怪异。

3 Riding on hisbicycle, he'd ride past my dorm as if "by accident" and pretend to besurprised to see me. I liked the attention but was cautious about his wild,dynamic personality. He had a charming way with words which would charm anygirl. Fear came over me when I started to fall in love. His exciting "badboy image" was just too tempting to resist. What was it that attracted me?I always had an excellent reputation. My concentration was solely on my studiesto get superior grades. But for what? College is supposed to be a time of greatlearning and also some fun. I had nearly achieved a great education, andgraduation was just one semester away. But I hadn't had any fun; my life wasstale with no component of fun! I needed a boyfriend. Not just any boyfriend.He had to be cute. My goal that semester became: Be ambitious and grab thecutest boyfriend I can find.

他骑着自行车经过我的宿舍，装作与我“偶遇 ”，看到我时还假装惊讶。我喜欢被重视的感觉，但对他的野性和充满活力的个性却小心谨慎。他很会说话，这会迷倒任何女孩。当我开始爱上他时，恐惧向我袭来。他那令人激动的样子形象 ”简直太诱人了。究竟是什么吸引了我？我，一直口碑极好。为了获得优异的成绩，我的注意力只专注在自己的学习上。但又怎么样呢？大学应该是学习的好时间，可也应该有一些乐趣。我已几乎达成了伟大的教育目标，离毕业只有一学期之遥了。但我却还没有享受过任何乐趣，我的生活乏味，没有一点新鲜感！我需要一个男朋友，当然不是任何男朋友。他必须很可爱。于是我那个学期的目标就成为：雄心勃勃，抓住一个我能找到的最可爱的男友。

4 I worried whathe'd think of me. True, we lived in a time when a dramatic shift in sexualattitudes was taking place, but I was a traditional girl who wasn't ready forthe new ways that seemed common on campus. Butch looked superb! I was notimmune to his personality, but I was scared. The night when he announced to theworld that I was his girlfriend, I went along with him. And then I suddenlythought: "Oh my gosh! Am I his girlfriend? How did that happen?" Thenhe whispered sweet words in my ear and said, "I'm going to marry you oneday and I will be a lawyer. You will see."

 

我担心他会怎么看我。不错，我们生活在一个性观念正在发生戏剧性转变的时代，但我是一个传统的女孩，对在校园里似乎常见的新方式还没有心理准备。布奇看上去很出色！我对他的个性毫无免疫力，但我对此很害怕。那天晚上当他向大家宣布我是他女友时，我是同意的。但我随后突然清醒： “噢，我的天哪！我是他女友吗？这是怎么回事？”紧接着，他在我耳边低声地甜言蜜语：“有一天我要娶你，我会成为一名律师。你会看到这一天的。 ”

5 I was laughinginside and said to myself, "I'd never marry this guy. He's a rebel withouta good future. He's my boyfriend because I hate my boring student life. I just wantto have fun."

 

我笑着对自己说： “我绝不会嫁给这个家伙。他是一个没有前途的叛逆者。他是我男朋友，只因为我恨枯燥的学生生活。我只想得到乐趣而已。 ”

6 Sure enough, thefollowing month, I found out he had failed all his courses. Consequently, hewas going to be expelled from the university. To my disgust, he seemed resignedto his fate. I knew there was hope, so I led him to the college secretary forreconsideration.

 

果然，一个月后，我发现他所有的课程都不及格。因而，他将被大学除名。令我厌恶的是，他似乎屈从了自己的命运。我知道还有希望，所以我让他去学院的秘书那儿进行复议。

 

7 "You aregoing to graduate with a BA in political science from UPenn and proceed to theCollege of Law," I told him, lodging an appeal on his behalf, which wasapproved. Butch was granted reconsideration. And, once we became steadies, hecoordinated his studies and social life, passing all of his classes. He eventuallystudied law.

 

我告诉他： “你要先从宾夕法尼亚大学拿到政治学学士学位，然后进入法律学院。 ”我以他的名义递交了呈请书，结果被批准了。校方同意复议布奇的情况。我们的男女朋友关系一经确定，他就协调了他的学习和社交生活，结果各门课都通过了。他最终学了法律。

 

8 Despite Butch'ssomewhat wild character, at his core, he is always a perfect gentleman anddeserves a lot of credit for that. True, he'd sometimes take the liberty ofdisplaying his love by planting a kiss on my lips right in front of myastonished friends who watched and disapproved. But the truth is we had a pureand responsible relationship for seven full years. Sitting by the palm trees,hand in hand, we would listen to romantic songs, watch the sunset, and weavedreams of being together with children of our own, forever.

 

尽管布奇的性格有点野，但他在骨子里却是一个完美的绅士，这值得高度赞扬。的确，他有时会在我朋友面前亲吻我的嘴，擅自表达他的爱。我的朋友看到了很惊讶，也很不以为然。但事实上，我们在整整七年的恋爱关系中一直是纯洁和负责的。我们坐在棕榈树下，手牵着手，听着浪漫的歌曲，观赏着日落，编织着和我们自己的孩子在一起的美梦，一直到永远。

 

9 Two years passedin a blur. One day, Butch took me by surprise as he knelt down and proposedmarriage holding a dozen red roses! Filled with deep emotion, I confessed mylove for him, "How roooomaaaantic!!" Then my brain woke up fromfantasy land. I cried out, "Good heavens. No! We're too young to tie theknot. We haven't even graduated from college yet!" I really loved him butwas pessimistic about our chances for success.

 

两年糊里糊涂地过去了。一天，布奇出其不意地手捧着一打红玫瑰跪下向我求婚。我心中充满了深情，也坦诚了对他的爱： “太太太太太浪漫了！ ！ ”可我随即从幻想中惊醒。我大喊出来： “天哪。不！我们现在结婚还太早了。我们甚至还没有大学毕业呢！ ”我真的很喜欢他，但我对我们感情修成正果的机率却持悲观态度。

 

10 We married five years later. 

五年后，我们结了婚。

 

11 Our faithful journey of love and learning took us down rocky roadsof hardship and on smooth easy-going highways. It is a long, romantic, sometimes crazy, love story that sums up a29-year long honeymoon together as a couple who are still madly in love witheach other. Our love commenced with a casual attraction but bloomed into amature love and rich life.

 

我们忠实的爱和学习之旅带我们走过艰难崎岖的岩石路，走上平坦易行的公路。它是一个永久、浪漫，有时又疯狂的爱情故事。它诠释了一对仍在疯狂地爱着对方的夫妇如何一起度过了29 年之久的蜜月。我们的爱从漫不经心的互相吸引开始，但最终却发展出成熟的爱情和富足的生活。