美語情景對話 第334期:Being a Grandmother 成爲祖母

Adrienne: So, Vivian, you have grandchildren!

埃德里安娜：薇薇安，你都有孫子了！

Vivian: I have two lovely granddaughters.

薇薇安：我有兩個可愛的孫女。

Adrienne: Granddaughters! What's it like being a grandma?

埃德里安娜：孫女！當奶奶是什麼感覺？

Vivian: It is a second chance on life because of when you are raising children as a young person you get caught up in the daily world, but with grandchildren it's all fun. I don't have to do this, or I don't have to do that, and when I get tired I can send them home to their parents.

薇薇安：是人生中的第二次機會，因爲你年輕的時候撫養孩子會牽扯到日常生活的瑣事，但是和孫女們在一起就全是開心的事情。我不用做這做那，我要是覺得累了，就可以把她們送回她們的父母家。

Adrienne: Right, that's the best part, right? So what else is different about being a mother versus being a grandmother?

埃德里安娜：好，這是最好的部分，對吧？那當母親和當祖母還有什麼不同的地方呢？

Vivian: Being a mother you are totally responsible for your child. You are trying to raise them the best you know how to raise them and you're young and everything that you do you know that will be picked up by your child but when you have grandchildren that duty is up to their parents so I don't feel that I have to really teach them anything. I have to continue the teaching of their parents.

薇薇安：當母親你要對你的孩子全權負責。你要努力按照你所知道的最好的方式把他們培養成最好的，而你很年輕，你所做的所有事都會被你的孩子們模仿，可是要是孫女的話，這個義務就是她們的父母要承擔的，而我覺得我幾乎沒教她們任何事。可是我卻必須要繼續教導她們的父母。

Adrienne: So you get to do all the fun stuff now that you're a grandma?

埃德里安娜：所以成爲奶奶以後，你做的都是有意思的事情？

Vivian: Yes, it really is fun. They take you by the hand, and take you to the store and point out everything in the world that mom and dad will not give them and it really costs you a lot of money sometimes, unless, you do put your foot down and say, "NO!"

薇薇安：對，非常有樂趣。她們會牽着你的手帶你去商店，指向所有她們的父母不給她們買的東西要你買，而有時那些東西會花費你一大筆錢，除非你堅決地拒絕她們，說“不行！”

Adrienne: So being a grandma is more expensive that being a parent?

埃德里安娜：那當奶奶要比父母花費的更多嗎？

Vivian: Absolutely, but it's a lot more fun because at this stage of life you have a little bit more money than you had when you were raising your child.

薇薇安：絕對是，不過還是有很多樂趣，因爲在人生的這個年紀，你擁有的錢財比你養育孩子時要多一些。

Adrienne: I see. That's great.

埃德里安娜：我明白了。那真好。

重點講解：
1. get caught up in
牽扯進；捲入；
eg. Many African women, for reasons of poverty, get caught up in the drug trade.
許多非洲婦女爲貧窮所迫墮入販毒行業。
eg. It's easy to get caught up in the social whirl.
很容易被紛繁的社交活動纏得脫不開身。
2. be responsible for
負有責任的；應承擔責任的；
eg. The holder of the office of chairman is responsible for arranging meetings.
擔任主席的人有責任安排會議。
eg. He made an assertion that he was not responsible for it.
他硬說他對此事沒有責任。
3. be up to sb.
由…負責；
eg. I'm sure I'd have spotted him if it had been up to me.
我相信要是換成我，我一定能找到他。
eg. It's up to him to resolve this problem.
這個問題應由他來解決。
4. point out
指出；
eg. Can you point out the man you suspect?
你能把你懷疑的人指出來嗎？
eg. They'd already driven along the wharf so that she could point out her father's boat.
他們已經開車沿碼頭走了一遍，好讓她指出哪艘是她父親的船。
5. put one's foot down
拿定主意阻止；執意反對；
eg. We have to put our foot down on that.
我們必須阻止那件事。
eg. My husband wanted to buy a puppy, but I would have to look after it so I put my foot down and said No.
我丈夫想買一條小狗，但我得照料它，因此我堅持不同意。