55岁女儿写给84岁父亲的一封信
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☉主播：Flora Fang ☉背景音乐：The Parting
☉结尾歌曲：Too Hard To Say Goodbye
父亲节前，女儿写给自己84岁老父亲的一封信：
爸爸，有的时候，生活也会有差错，所以我总不能跟你一起过父亲节。
我们曾有代沟，矛盾，但是父女关系像一瓶好酒，越陈越香。世界上最大的小偷就是时间，因为他偷走了您的青春。
A letter to you, Dad
写给父亲的一封信
Dear Dad，
亲爱的爸爸：
Today I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Father’s Day cards. They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you.
今天在商场的时候, 我读了好长时间的有关“父亲节”的贺卡。那些卡片上面的文字很特别，也或多或少地表达出了我对您的感受。
Yet as I selected and read, and selected and read again, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.
我挑选了一遍又一遍，但却没有一张贺卡能完整的表达我想对您说的话。
You’ll soon be 84 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Father’s Days together. I haven’t always been with you on Father’s Day nor have I been with you for all of your birthdays. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be with you. I’ve always been with you in my heart but sometimes life gets in the way.
爸爸，很快您就要84岁了，您和我也将一起度过您第55个“父亲节”。“父亲节”的那天，我总是不能和您在一起，连您过生日的时候也是这样，但这并不是因为我不想陪在您身边。我的心总是和您在一起的。不过，有的时候，生活也会有差错。
You know, Dad, there was a time when we were not only separated by the generation gap but completely polarized by it. You stood on one side of the Great Divide and I on the other, father and daughter split apart by age and experience, opinions, hairstyles, cosmetics, clothing, curfews, music, and boys.
爸爸，您也知道，我们父女俩曾有一段时间有很深的代沟。我们因为年龄、个人阅历、观点、发型、妆面、穿着、音乐、作息时间以及男朋友这些问题，存在非常对立的观点，仿佛您站在“大陆分水岭”的一端，我站在另一端。
The Father-Daughter Duel of ’54 shifted into high gear when you taught me to drive the old Dodge and I decided I would drive the ‘54 Chevy whether you liked it or not.
当时，我们父女俩关于雪拂兰汽车的争执也调到了最高挡。那时，您教我学开那部道奇旧车，可我却不管您喜欢不喜欢执意要开雪拂兰’54那辆车。
The police officer who escorted me home after you reported the Chevy stolen late one evening was too young to understand father-daughter politics and too old to have much tolerance for a snotty 16 year old. You were so decent about it, Dad, and I think that was probably what made it the worst night of my life.
那天晚上，您报警说雪拂兰车被我盗走了。之后，一个年轻的警官把我护送到家，可他太小了以至于不明白这是我们父女俩之间的政治斗争，他也太大了，以至于对一个16岁的流鼻涕的小孩没有太多耐心。爸爸，您倒对这件事处理得很体面，而我想那可能是我一生中最糟糕的一个夜晚吧。
Our relationship improved immensely when I married a man you liked, and things really turned around when we begin making babies right and left.
在我嫁了一个您喜欢的女婿后，我们俩之间的关系才缓和了好多。后来，我们为了好好地生个孩子，就离开了您，我们之间的那些矛盾也就结束了。
We didn’t have a television set, you know, and we had to entertain ourselves somehow. I didn’t know what to expect of you and Mom as grandparents but I didn’t have to wait long to find out. Those babies adored you then just as they adore you now.
您也知道，当时我们没有电视机，就只能自娱自乐。我不知道对作为外公外婆的您和妈妈抱什么期望，但是，没等多久我就找到了答案。我的孩子们爱您，直到现在还是那样爱您。
When I see you with all your grandchildren, I know you’ve given them the finest gift a grandparent can give. You’ve given them yourself.
当我看见您和外孙在一起的时候，我知道您将您最好的礼物送给了他们——您把心都掏给他们了。
Somewhere along the line, the generation gap evaporated. Age separates us now and little else. We agree on most everything, perhaps because we’ve learned there isn’t much worth disagreeing about.
就是这样，您和我之间的代沟慢慢消失了。除了年龄和其它一些小问题，我们在很多事情的上的看法都是一样的，这可能是因为我们明白了其实没有那么多事情值得我们争辩吧。
However, I would like to mention that fly fishing isn’t all you’ve cracked it up to be, Dad. You can say what you want about wrist action and stance and blah, blah, blah
然而，我想提一下的是，爸爸，您的飞蝇钓鱼技术并没有您自己吹嘘的那么牛啦，您可以说些您想做的手腕动作、站姿和一些其它有的没的啊。
I’ve been happily drifting for a lot of years, Dad, and I didn’t see you getting older.
爸爸，虽然我已经漂泊很多年了，但是我很快乐。而且，我并没有注意到您已经变老的事实。
I suppose I saw us and our relationship as aging together, rather like a fine wine.
随着年龄的增长，我认为我们之间的关系慢慢地融洽了好多，就像是一瓶好酒，越陈越香。
Numbers never seemed important. But the oddest thing happened last week. I was at a stop sign and I watched as you turned the corner in your car.
年龄看起来就像没有意义的数字似的，但是，上周发生了一件事让我改观了，当时我站在停车标志旁，看见您开着车要拐弯。
It didn’t immediately occur to me that it was you because the man driving looked so elderly and fragile behind the wheel of that huge car. It was rather like a slap in the face delivered from out of nowhere. Perhaps I saw your age for the first time that day. Or maybe I saw my own.
我并没有立刻反映到那是爸爸您。因为那个在那部大车的车轮后面的人显得岁数很大，身体也很虚弱的样子，当我留意到是您之后，我感到不知道从哪里飞来的一记耳光似的重重地打在我的脸上，也许，那是我第一次意识到您的年龄已长，也许，也是第一次意识到自己已经年长的事实。
Fifty years ago this spring we planted kohlrabi together in a garden in Charles City, Iowa. I didn’t know then that I would remember that day for the rest of my life.
五十年前的一个春天，我们在依阿华州查理斯市的一个花园一起栽下苤蓝菜。当时我也不知道我以后会怀念那一天。
This week, we’ll plant kohlrabi together again, perhaps for the last time but I hope not. I don’t understand why planting kohlrabi with you is so important to me but it is.
这周，我们还要在一起栽苤蓝菜，这是第二次。也许，这是最后一次，可我并不希望那样。我不明白为什么我和您一起栽苤蓝菜对我来说这么有意义，可事实就是如此。
And the funny thing about it is, well, I don’t know quite how to tell you this, Dad I don’t even like kohlrabi but I like planting it with you.
而且，关于这个，有个有意思的事情，我不知道该怎么和您说，爸爸…… 我不喜欢吃苤蓝菜……但是，我却喜欢和您一起栽苤蓝菜。
I guess what I’m trying to say, Dad, is what every son and daughter wants to say to their Dad today.
爸爸，也许我想要说的话是每个作儿女的今天想和他们爸爸要说的话。
Honoring a Father on Father’s Day is about more than a Dad who brings home a paycheck, shares a dinner table, and attends school functions, graduations, and weddings. It isn’t even so much about kohlrabi, ’54 Chevrolets, and fly-fishing.
过“父亲节”，给父亲这么一个大的荣誉，不是因为爸爸给家里挣多少钱、和家人一起共进晚餐、参加学校活动、参加毕业典礼和婚礼的原因，也不止是一起栽苤蓝菜、开雪拂兰’54车和飞蝇钓鱼的事。
It’s more about unconditionally loving children who are snotty and stubborn, who know everything and won’t listen to anyone. It’s about respect and sharing and acceptance and tolerance and giving and taking. It’s about loving someone more than words can say, and it’s wishing that it never had to end.
而是因为父亲们会毫无保留地去爱我们这些流着鼻涕、淘气、什么都懂却就是不听话的小孩。是因为父亲的教育里包含尊重，分享，接受、忍耐、奉献和回报。它是关于一份不能用言语来表达的爱，还包含一份希望，希望这份爱永不终止。
I love you, Dad.
我爱您，爸爸。
• END •
☉背景音乐：The Parting
☉结尾歌曲：Too Hard To Say Goodbye
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