35年！有爱父亲为女儿完成精美玩偶小屋

Many little girls dream of owning their very own doll's house, complete with tiny rooms and quaint model furniture.
很多女孩都梦想有一座属于自己的玩偶小屋，里面有微型房间和古雅家具。

But when one little girl asked her father for a doll's house, she was in for a long wait as the elaborate home created by her father took him more than three decades to complete.
不过当一个小女孩向自己的父亲央求玩偶小屋后，她等了很久很久，因为他的父亲花费了三十余年才精心完成。

Geoffrey Walkley, 69, from Hornchurch in Essex, took 35 years to finish the project, which is a replica of the National Trust's 18th century Rainham Hall.
来自埃塞克斯霍恩彻奇的Geoffrey Walkley今年已经69岁，他花了35年完成了这项工程，这一玩偶小屋是英国国民托管组织中一座18世纪的雷纳姆大厅复制品。

Weighing a whopping 200 pounds and costing more than £13,000 , it has 13 rooms over three storeys including five bedrooms, library, kitchen, dining room, marble hall and a utility room.
这座小屋重达200磅（约90.7千克），花费超过1.3万英镑，里面是三层小楼，一共13个房间，其中包括5间卧室，藏书室，厨房，饭厅，大理石厅和杂物室。

A remote controls the individually wired light switches, six of the 14 chimneys are linked to a smoke generator, both front and back doors have a doorbell, while in a modern twist, the home includes an iPad Nano which powers the speaker in the music room.
一个远程开关控制着分别接有电线的电灯开关，14个烟囱中有6个连接到了发烟器，前门和后门各有一个门铃，不过有一个现代化的转变是房子里有一个iPad Nano，为音乐室里提供音乐。

Sarah Walkley, now aged 40, was five years old when she asked her father for the doll's house on Christmas Eve 1978.
1978年，5岁的Sarah Walkley在平安夜央求父亲给自己做一个玩偶小屋，如今她已经40岁了。

'My mum was tucking me in and I said I wanted a doll's house from Father Christmas,' explains Sarah.
Sarah
解释说：“当时母亲正帮我盖被子，我说我想向圣诞老人要个玩偶小屋。”

'She said he had packed his sleigh and left the Arctic but she went downstairs and mentioned it to my dad and he said he was going to build one.'
“她说圣诞老人已经准备好了雪橇，离开北极出发了。但是她下楼去和爸爸说了这件事，爸爸说会给我做一个。”

Devoted father Geoffrey agreed but came up with a blueprint so ambitious, Sarah says she began to lose hope of ever seeing it finished.
但热忱的爸爸同意后制作了一张非常精细的规划图，以至于Sarah对于何时见到小屋完工失去了希望。

'I thought it would take a few years,' says Sarah. 'Once he started it became very clear that was not going to be the case.
“我以为可能要花几年时间，”Sarah说道，“但制作开始后完全不是那么回事。”

'By the time I got to my teenage years, it had become a bit of a running joke - I used to say, "Will it ever get finished?"
“当我进入青少年时期后，这件事经常被拿来开玩笑，我常说‘这个小屋能完成吗’。”

'As an adult I could see there was progress. My dad always said I was incredibly patient.'
“长大以后，我能看到小屋在一天天成型。我父亲常说我无比耐心。”

But the years of slow progress were about to come to an end when Geoffrey retired from his job as a city lawyer in the city in 2004.
不过2004年，当Geoffrey从该市的律师职位退休后，缓慢的制作进展告一段落。

With a new role as a part-time consultant, the loving father was able to devote at least 35 hours a week to the project.
成为兼职顾问后，这位慈爱的父亲每周花在这个项目上的时间至少有35小时。

Sarah, who lives with her husband Mark, 38, an electric engineer, in their five-bedroom home in Bromley, Kent, joked: 'Once he retired he swapped one full time job for another full time job. He would spend every day from 10am to 4pm in his workshop'.
Sarah现在和38岁的电气工程师丈夫Mark住在肯特郡布罗姆利的一个五室之家。她开玩笑说：“父亲退休后几乎是从一份工作转到了另一份全职工作，他在工作室从每天早上10点忙活到下午四点。”