美满家庭需谨防"长舌危机"

　　Over the years I have learned what harm can come from gossip or just talking about other people。

　　这些年来我已了解到犯长舌或只是谈论一下别人可造成的伤害有多大。

　　In my work place, gossip is a big problem, which is heightened by a couple of women who actually feel the need to stretch and twist certain bits of information, simply for the sake of turning staff against each other。

　　在我工作的地方，犯长舌是个大问题。几个女人凑到一起切实感觉到有必要将一些信息宣扬并将其扭曲，“为的”就是让员工们互相猜忌产生矛盾，这更让长舌问题变得严重。

　　Having been on the receiving end of their back stabbing, I have become very aware of what I say and to whom. I have prayed to God for help in being straightforward with people, and not say anything that might get back to someone who could be hurt by my words。

　　作为她们那些暗箭的靶子，我变得对自己说的话以及和谁说话都非常注意。我祈求过老天帮忙，让我为人直率，不说可能会传到别人耳朵里伤害他们的话。

　　One night, I was on the phone with my sister-inlaw, Dawn. I had called her to let her know our husbands would have to work very late that Saturday night due to some machinery problems.She was carrying on about not getting anything done that day since they were due to move out of their apartment by that next Friday. I mentioned that sixteen hours at time-and-a-half pay would certainly make up for it. She was OK with that, but said it would not make much difference when they had to pay the whole next month’s rent if they were not out by the end of the week. I acknowledged her point, but figured either way; they wouldn’t really be out any expected money。

　　一天夜里，我正和我的妯娌道恩通电话。我打电话告诉她，由于一些机械故障，我们俩的老公在那个周六晚上得加班到很晚。她则继续说着她现在什么都还没收拾，反正下周五之前搬出公寓就行。我说，他们加班的16 个小时都是1.5 倍工资，这也算是补偿了。她说，那倒是不错啊，不过又说，如果他们下周末之前没能搬走的话就要付满下个月的房租，可就算那样也无所谓。我领会了她的意思，我也完全可以理解——反正他们不差这点钱。

　　The next day, while my husband, Arlo, was helping his brother move, my dad called hoping to also enlist Arlo’s help。

　　第二天，我丈夫阿洛帮他弟弟搬家时，我父亲打电话来也想请阿洛帮忙。

　　I have 3-way calling on our phone, so I clicked over and called my brother-in-law’s house, leaving a message on the answering machine for Arlo to call my dad when he could。

　　我家的电话是三路电话，所以我将父亲的电话待机，然后拨通了小叔子家的电话，在答录机上给阿洛留言让他有空时给父亲回个电话。

　　I clicked back over to my Dad and began telling him about the long day Arlo and his brother had put in. We inadvertently1 got on the subject of Dawn, who was not so thrilled about the time they had lost for moving. Dad agreed that for the money they made, it was worth it. Then I mentioned that SHE should have “gotten off her butt and did something herself.。。”

　　我再次接通父亲的电话，开始跟他说阿洛和他弟弟这一整天是怎么辛苦干活的。我们无意间就将话题转到了道恩身上——他们搬家浪费了这么长时间但她现在仍然不紧不慢。父亲说，他们赚钱不少，应该换个地方住，他对此表示赞同。然后我说，道恩这个女人也应该“抬起懒屁股自己干点儿活儿……”

　　Monday evening came along and Arlo walked in the house, looked at me, and began laughing as he headed into the next room. He did a sort of double take and said, “Brenda, next time you are talking bad about someone, make sure the three-way calling is disconnected。”

　　周一晚上，阿洛走进屋子。他看看我，走向旁边的房间时开始大笑，然后他回头又看了我一眼说，布伦达啊，下次说别人坏话时要确保三通电话是断开的。

　　Almost immediately I knew what he was talking about, but I wasn’t exactly sure what all I had said。

　　几乎就在同时我意识到了他在说什么，但我记不得自己究竟在电话里说了什么。

　　Dawn’s answering machine had picked up the entire conversation between Dad and me!

　　道恩的答录机录下了我和父亲的全部对话！

　　Arlo and his brother thought the situation was hysterical. Of course, men tend not to let things like that get to them. However, I know Dawn well enough to know she would be pretty upset, especially after both of our husbands spent the afternoon laughing at her and making cracks about her lazy butt。

　　阿洛和他弟弟认为这事儿简直能让人乐疯了。当然了，男人是不会为这种事情烦心的。不过我非常了解道恩，我知道她的心情会非常烦乱，特别是在那兄弟俩整个下午都在笑话她、拿她的 “懒屁股”找乐儿之后。

　　Wondering how I was going to fix this one, I stopped by to apologize a couple of times, but Dawn wasn’t around. After a couple of weeks, I finally spoke to her. When she picked up the phone I tried to make a joke of it, but she did not see the humor in it。

　　我想找到化解这件事儿的办法，于是我顺便去她那儿好几次想要道歉，但道恩都不在家。几周以后，我终于和她通话了。她拿起电话时我尝试拿这件事儿开个玩笑，但是她没体会到其中的笑点。

　　After this incident, I got to think. Lately, I have become very comfortable with some people and have found myself slipping back into the gossip mode I had worked so hard to get myself out of. I sort of wonder if this was God’s way of washing my mouth out with soap. I certainly didn’t forget the taste when I was a kid。

　　这件事过去之后，我开始思索。近来，我觉得和某些人说话很舒适，发现我又“堕落”到我曾努力摆脱的长舌大队之中。我想知道这是否是老天爷借此用肥皂清洗我的舌头，我小时候当然没有忘记肥皂进口的味道。

　　I won’t forget it now。

　　我现在也忘不了了。