Marriage By Stagg Chilton 记得曾听人说过一句话：“与其收拾未了情，不如惜取眼前人。”漫长的婚姻就如同感情的试金石，它会磨平当初的激情，从而转为面对柴米油盐的平淡日子，但如果你珍惜与自己伴侣度过的点滴亲密时光，并怀有一颗感恩之心，这样的婚姻或许才能真正经得起岁月的考验。When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, “I’ve got something to tell you.” She sat down and ate quietly. I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking.I want a divorce. I raised the topic[1] calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed[2] by my words, instead she asked me softly, “why?” I avoided her question. This made her angry. That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping[3]. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane.I didn’t love her anymore. With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.[4] She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me. To me her cry was actually a kind of release.1. raise the topic: 提起话题。2. annoy: 使恼怒，使生气。3. weep: 哭泣。4. 怀着深深的愧疚感，我起草了一份离婚协议书，声明她可以拥有我们的房产、汽车以及我自己公司30%的股份。The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice[5] before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible.Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt[6] him with our broken marriage. This was agreeable[7] to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carriedher into out bridal room on our wedding day.[8] She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door every morning. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.[9]5. notice:（尤指告知对方过一段时间终止协议等的）预先通知。6. disrupt: 扰乱。7. agreeable: 〈口〉（欣然）同意的。8. recall: 回想起，回忆起；bridal room:新婚房。9. bearable: 可忍受的，可容忍的；odd:奇特的，古怪的。When I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy[10]. Our son clapped[11]behind us, “Daddy is holding Mommy in his arms.” His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly, “Don’t tell our son about the divorce.” I nodded, feeling somewhat upset[12]. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work.I drove alone to the office. On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine[13] wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her.[14] For a minute I wondered what I had done to her. On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy[15] returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again...10. clumsy: 笨拙的，手脚不灵活的。11. clap: 拍手，鼓掌。12. upset: 心烦的。13. fine: 细小的，纤细的。14. 我们的婚姻给她带来了伤害。Take its toll: 造成损失（或危害等）。15. intimacy: 熟悉，亲密。以上内容节选自《英语学习》杂志，版权所有，谢绝转载。
