中英文本

"MISSY," I CALLED to my wife, "did you smear Vaseline on my desk?"
“米西，”我对妻子喊道，“你把凡士林放在我桌子上了吗?”
"No, honey. Meghan probably did."
“没有，亲爱的，可能是梅根放的TwQDL2X5)P17pab9VBz。”
Just like that. Calm.
就像这样OG-2yRn^c1X&xup.v。冷静5kS5r,fC7[。
As I'd feared, she had missed the carefully honed, double-edged irony of the question.
正如我担心的那样，她没有仔细推敲这句话的含义GII3CKBa*mn(10luykZB。
I knew she hadn't put it there.
我知道不是她放的1atr0I#fzXV;m。
The question was rhetorical;
这是反问；
its only function was to make clear to her that she hadn't done her job:
这句话唯一的作用就是让她明白，她没有完成自己的工作：
defend my desk against the aggressor I abandoned the conversation.
保护办公桌，抵抗“侵略者”，我放弃了谈话A&gKUC*JC|%*v6M*uM。
I would deal with Meghan, our 22-month-old daughter, later.
之后我会和22个月大的女儿梅根谈一谈Y+8mXmWB,TYXaK+UlwI%。
All of that was yesterday.
昨天刚发生这样的事FPW[UoY5]W@^%6I8!17。
Today I sit here at that same rolltop desk,
今天，我还是坐在那张带滑轮的桌子前
which I salvaged from a friend's attic two years ago, and stare at the blank sheet inserted in the typewriter.

（两年前从一个朋友的阁楼上找来的），盯着打字机上的空白页，

I wait patiently for ideas to come to me, exam questions on Herman Melville for a test I will give my English students.
耐心地等待灵感的到来，想着我的英语课学生赫尔曼·梅尔维尔考试题目Y#LpXmK0%v,p1Ug。
My wife is off to a reunion somewhere, but I am not alone.
妻子要去某个地方参加聚会，但我并不孤单.-~[RIVCOkJwkP(.y。
Our two children keep me company.
两个孩子陪着我obV)lGkj^l-3|+。
Ten-month-old Edward cooperates to some degree;
在某种程度上，10个月大的爱德华还算配合;
he spends most of his day poring over a seemingly endless array of cards, tags,
他一天的大部分时间都在盯着一堆似乎没完没了的卡片、标签，
and other assorted pieces of paper, plus a Sears, Roebuck catalog that he tears apart page by page.
还有其他各种各样的报纸，加上撕碎的一页页西尔斯百货、罗巴克公司的目录W%PlG8[~Qm2la1UKo&md。
Occasionally he leans out and flails madly at the piano, which he can just reach.
偶尔，他会探出身子，疯狂地敲着钢琴，他刚好够着钢琴@ysOTmRQgOs。
But it is Meghan whose plans have been destined from all eternity to clash with mine today.
但今日注定梅根的计划要与我的计划发生冲突jOHqEn;~oj。

重点讲解

1.to some degree 在某种程度上；有点，稍微
We all do it to some degree or another; put off for tomorrow what we know should be done today.
我们都会在某种程度上犯这种错误；将今天应该做完的事情推到明天o-BN!Y!)Gfhb)E@FVx(。
2.defend against 防卫，保卫；抵抗
For a full online defense, it is also vital to install a firewall application that can detect and defend against any type of manipulation to the code and content sitting on and behind the Web servers.
对于全面的在线防卫，同样至关重要的是安装可以检测并抵御任何对保存在 Web 服务器上，或其背后的代码和内容实施控制的防火墙应用程序QCj;|G=X^eOa07X[^。
3.double-edged 双刃的；对双方皆不利的；
These double-edged rascals do exist.
这种双刃歹徒是有的~rU,DJCm5dT+)qv。
4.deal with 处理；涉及；做生意
I'll deal with the children later.
孩子们的事由我以后去处理nrPj5AxTKH~。
5.keep company 陪伴
He became violently angry, since he had often warned his son not to keep company with that group of boys.
他非常生气，因为他经常警告他的儿子让他不要和那群家伙混在一起xL@e+Ccx3OT8@。

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