纽约时报：19.5.17大学申请书选登：我家餐桌的故事

注意：原文取自纽约时报，译文取自纽约时报官方译文，我们没有修订，大家批判地看。文章适合CATTI、MTI和考研英语学习。

At these family dinners, I would argue with my Pap for fun, watch him get yelled at by my Gram for interrupting me eating my dinner and listen to my sisters either fight or joke; it was always a gamble. Originally, my kitchen table had five sturdy wooden seats. A couple years later when my oldest sister was 16 years old and I was 8, the chair count lowered to four, as my oldest sister moved out. She fought too much with my Gram and wouldn’t follow the rules, so she left.Three years later my grandmother was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer. That triggered a few more changes to our dinner table routine. First, my other older sister started to skip dinners. Not because of the inevitable food quality decline (cancer messes with your taste buds and overall cooking abilities), but because she was never home. I don’t think that she wanted to be around post-cancer-diagnosis Gram.

在那些家庭晚餐上，我会和我爸争吵取乐，看着他因为打扰我吃饭被奶奶吼骂，并听着我的姐姐们或是争斗或是开玩笑；那永远是一场冒险。最初，我的厨房桌有五把结实的木椅。几年后，我的大姐16岁、我8岁时，椅子的数量随着她的搬走减到四把。她与奶奶的争吵太多，也不守规矩，所以她离开了。三年后，奶奶被诊出患了小细胞肺癌。这给我们的晚餐桌日常又带来了一些改变。起初是我的另一个姐姐开始不来吃晚餐。倒不是因为饭菜难免不那么可口了（癌症会破坏味蕾和整体烹饪能力），而是因为她总是不在家。我觉得她不想待在被诊断出癌症的奶奶身边。

1. interrupt   英 [ˌɪntəˈrʌpt]   美 [ˌɪntəˈrʌpt]  

v.插嘴;打扰;打岔;使暂停;使中断;阻断，遮挡(连续线条、平面、景色等)

第三人称单数： interrupts 现在分词： interrupting 过去式： interrupted 过去分词： interrupted

2. gamble   英 [ˈɡæmbl]   美 [ˈɡæmbl]  

v.(牌戏、赛马等中)赌博，打赌;冒风险;碰运气;以……为赌注

n.赌博;打赌;冒险

第三人称单数： gambles 复数： gambles 现在分词： gambling 过去式： gambled 过去分词： gambled

派生词： gambler n.

3. originally   英[əˈrɪdʒənəli]   美[əˈrɪdʒənəli]  

adv.原来;起初

4. lower   英[ˈləʊə(r) , ˈlaʊə(r)]  美[ˈloʊər , ˈlaʊər]  

adj.(尤指位于同类物品或成对物品中另一个的)下面的，下方的;在底部的;近底部的;朝海岸的;低洼的;向南的

v.把……放低;使……降下;减少;缩小;降低

v.变昏暗;变恶劣;变阴沉

adv.低;向下;不高;在靠近……底部的位置;向…底部;低于通常(或期望)的水平

low的比较级

第三人称单数： lowers 现在分词： lowering 过去式： lowered 过去分词： lowered

5. sturdy   英[ˈstɜːdi]   美[ˈstɜːrdi]  

adj.结实的;坚固的;强壮的;健壮的;坚决的;坚定的;顽强的

比较级： sturdier 最高级： sturdiest

派生词： sturdily adv.  sturdiness n.