'卜蘭子'公眾號
心靈的港灣
Ken的手突然像觸電了一樣，從胡愛萍的肩膀上挪開。他側過頭，看著胡愛萍說，
“This morning I prayed to God to send the right woman to me. When I met you at the garden store, I believed that God had answered my prayer. You can't be married. I have known you for three years and you never bring a husband to the company party. And I never saw you wear a wedding ring! Are you really married?”
(今天早上我和神禱告希望他賜給我合適的女人。當我在花園商店遇到你時，我相信神回複了我的禱告。你不可能結了婚。我都認識你三年了，你從來沒有帶丈夫來公司的聚會。我也從來沒有見過你戴婚戒。你真的已經結婚了？）
胡愛萍點點頭說，“Our culture does not wear a wedding ring. I do housework and dishes all the time and it is troublesome for me to wear it."
（我們中國沒有結婚一定戴婚戒的風俗，我每天做家務洗碗，戴著麻煩。）
Ken接著說，“But where is your husband? Are you guys separated? You just said that you live here with your son.”（可是你丈夫在哪兒呢？你們分居了嗎？你剛剛還說隻有你和你兒子住這裏）
“Yes, we are separated. But we are separated not because we are on the way toward divorce as most Americans are. We are separated temperarily because my husband wants to fulfill his dream.”（我們是在分居。但是我們分居不是因為我們要離婚，像多數美國人那樣。我們暫時分開是因為我丈夫想要實現他的夢想）
“What kind of dream is this? Does he have to fulfill this dream by not living together with you?”
（這是什麽樣的夢想？他實現這個夢想一定要沒有你在身邊嗎？）
“Yes, he is in China starting a new business.”
（是，他在中國開始自己的事業）
“You are from China too, why are you not going with him? ”
（你也是中國來的，為什麽你不跟他回去呢？）
“I am staying here as his backup. Chinese high school education is terrible and kids suffer from the pressure of the competition to go to college. I want my son to enjoy the nice education here. I might go back to China after my son goes to college.”
（我呆在這裏做他的後盾。中國中學教育很糟糕。孩子們麵臨高考壓力。我想我兒子能夠利用這裏的良好教育環境。等我兒子上大學以後我也許會回去。）
“I know this is your family business, but is your husband's business dream more important than life itself? ”
（我知道這是你家裏的私事，難道你丈夫對事業的夢想比生活本身都重要嗎？）
“You don't understand, Ken, because you grew up here. You never have to suffer to survive. We are different. We could struggle for years just to get the green card or citizenship that you guys were born with. So with this in mind, we have the stronger desire to be successful so that we don't have to suffer in the future.”
（你不能理解，Ken，因為你在這裏長大。你從來不會為了生存掙紮。我們不一樣。我們可能會為了辦綠卡或公民多年受苦，而這個你們生下來就有。基於這些考慮，我們要成功的欲望更強，為的是將來少吃苦。）
"Are other Chinese couple separated too? "
（其他中國夫婦也分居嗎？）
"Some are and some are not. I know many couples chose to be separated because they could not find jobs in the same place or the husband went back to China to start his own business. This is kind of like Chinese style marriage, I guess. Now what about you? What happened to you and your wife?
（有些分著，有些不分開，很多夫妻因為工作在兩地或丈夫海歸創業選擇分居，這個像是中國式婚姻。現在說你吧，你和你太太之間出了什麽問題？）
"My wife, I mean my ex, cheated on me, I forgave her once, but she was not willing to stop seeing him. So we had to give up our marriage of 20 years."
（我太太，我的意思是我前妻，我原諒過她一回，可是她不願意和那個男的分開，所以我們不得不選擇放棄我們20年的婚姻。）
"20 years of marriage! That is hard to give up, isn't it?"
（二十年的婚姻，很難放棄是不是?）
"Of course it is! The first time when I went back to my previous house (she lives there now) to pick up my son, I ran into tears on the drive way. Aiping, if you are single, I would love to have serious relationship with you, but now I can't mess up with a married woman, I just can't. I am sorry."
（那當然，我第一次重回我原來的房子（現在我前妻住著）接我兒子，我把車停在房子前麵時居然哭了。愛萍，如果你是單身，我願意和你認真交往，但是現在，我不能和已婚女人攪在一起，我真的不能。對不起。”
"No need to say sorry. Nothing has happened between us and nothing will happen in the future too. "
（沒不要說對不起。我們之間什麽都還沒發生，將來也不會發生什麽。）
胡愛萍看看手機，繼續說，
“I need to pick up my son now. Thank you very much for your help."
（我得去接兒子了。非常感謝你的幫助。）
"It is my pleasure and thank you for the delicious dinner too."
（我很樂意。也謝謝你可口的晚餐）
胡愛萍把Ken送到門口時，Ken給了她一個深情的擁抱。
“I hope you work out with your husband nicely, but in case something happens between you guys in the future, can you give me a chance to ask you out?"
（我希望你和你丈夫能走到一起，但是如果將來有一天情況變了，你能給我一次約你的機會嗎？）
胡愛萍以前從來沒想過和老外約會的可能性，她突然想起Ken隻有一個當地Community College(社科學院）的學位。這在中國相當於中專頂多大專學曆。而自己周圍的中國男人，90%以上都有博士學位。受教育程度反差實在太大了。她猶豫了一下說，
“I am afraid there is no such a chance for you because I would never give up my husband unless I find another man who is willing to marry me. I am just like a little child holding a lollipop in my hand. I would not let the lollipop go unless somebody offers me a piece of chocolate.”
（恐怕你沒機會了。因為除非我找到下一個願意和我結婚的人我不會放棄我的丈夫。我就像一個小孩，手裏抓著棒棒糖。除非別人遞給我一塊巧克力，我不會把棒棒糖鬆開。）
Ken聳了聳肩膀，說，“But I would never date a woman if she is not divorced yet."
（可是我不會和一個女人約會，如果她還沒離婚。）
“I don't want to take the risk of being single for ever if I get divorced. A man is better than nothing.
(可是如果我離了婚，再找不到能和我結婚的人怎麽辦 ？我可不想一輩子單身。有個男人總比沒有強。)”
“So we are just like two kids playing a game. The little girl says, give me your chocolate and I will throw away the lollipop. The little boys says you throw away the lollipop first and I will give you the chocolate. Oh yes! This is just like the deadlock problem in computer operating system, isn't it?”
所以我們就像兩個小孩在做遊戲，小女孩說，給我巧克力，我就扔棒棒糖。小男孩說，你先扔了棒棒糖，我就給你巧克力。哦，對了，這是一個計算機操作係統裏提到的死結問題，不是嗎？
胡愛萍驚訝地看了Ken一眼，看來他的智商並不像自己想像的那麽低。連deadlock都能活學活用。
“ken, you are very smart and have good sense of humor. "胡愛萍讚歎道。
(你很聰明，也很幽默)。
"When deadlock happens in operating system, one process needs to be killed to release the resource that the other process is waiting for. This means your marriage needs to end in order for us to continue."
(操作係統發生死結時，一個行程需要被迫終結，釋放出另一個行程需要的資源。這意味著隻有你的婚姻結束後，我們才能繼續。
"I don't think I want to continue with you. We'd better prevent the deadlock from happening, which means I would never divorce my husband and you continue your life with another woman. We don't have to wait for each other as resources."
（我不覺得我能和你繼續。我們最好防止死結發生。我的意思是我永遠都不會離婚你去找別人好了。我們不必要把對方當成資源互相等待。）
短暫的春天在不知不覺中悄悄地流逝著。一個星期六的早上，任馨坐在星巴克咖啡館裏，她要了一杯Cappuccino. 幾盞紅色的小吊燈從屋頂垂下來，柔和的燈光灑在咖啡色的牆壁上。任馨坐在靠窗的座位上，望著窗外。在這樣溫馨浪漫的環境中和他約會，對她來說還是人生第一次。錯過的實在太多了，現在想補救已經太晚了。任馨歎了一口氣後，吹了一下浮在咖啡表麵的白色泡沫。不經意抬頭間，她看到窗外他的身影。她好像很久沒有仔細看過他。她注意到他似乎有幾分滄桑。他匆匆地走進咖啡館，遠遠地和任馨揮揮手，便來到了她的身旁。
“我提前5分鍾到，怕你等著著急，沒想到你還是先到了。你的脾氣還是那麽急。你最近過得好嗎？”甄帥還沒坐穩就問。
“挺好的呀！你呢？什麽事非得約在咖啡館裏說？”
小說純屬虛構，請勿對號入座
這一集，俺是當作感覺北美文化來學習的，而且還可以學習英文，真的太好了。
估計也許是標題有點兒嚇人？
不過俺是把才女所有的文章都追了一遍的，現在慢慢能跟上點兒思路了。
上一集看完以後以為Ken和胡愛萍會有點兒啥，結果啥也沒有，也算得是一個意外，不過對Ken的處世態度蠻欣賞的。不知道以後Ken和胡愛萍還會有緣分沒有，好奇。