美文听力：我的一方小天地

Maybe even worse than my new room's lack of personality is the lack of privacy it offers. Occasionally, and especially during home-coming, my roommate comes in after I've gone to sleep. She doesn't mean to wake me up, but when she starts her nightly contact-removal ritual, I can't help but hear what seems like thousands of different cleaning solution bottles bumping around the sink. I've been known to bother her too. During the day when I'm trying to study, my typing interferes with her enjoyment of "The Loveboat," "Days of Our Lives," and "Another World."
我的新居没有个性，这已经够糟糕了，但更糟糕的是我老是要受到干扰。有时候，尤其在晚上室友回宿舍的时候她总要把我从梦中吵醒。她也不是故意要吵醒我，可是她每晚睡前例行的“脱隐形眼镜仪式”总让我心烦意乱，我觉得仿佛有上千瓶的隐形眼镜清洗液在洗手盆里摇来晃去。当然了，我也有干扰她的时候。当我集中精神学习的时候，我打字的声音也让她很扫兴，这样她就不能专注地追那些肥皂剧，像《爱之舟》、《我们的生活》和《异度空间》。

My roommate is not the only one who deprives me of privacy and makes 404 a room that is not really my own. The girls next door to me see me as a back-up grammar check when their computers don't catch every mistake. I can't lock them out because it's not my room to lock. I can't say, "Go away," because they've gotten to be really good friends and I can't be rude to people I care about.
我的室友剥夺了我的私人空间，使404室不能真正成为我自己的房间，而她也不是唯一这样做的人。隔壁的女孩们把我当作后备的“语法检测器”，当她们的电脑不能找出文章的每处语法错误时，她们就跑来求救。我不能要她们吃闭门羹，因为这不只是我的房间，我不能把它紧锁。我也不能对她们说：“走开”，因为她们都是我要好的朋友，我不能粗鲁地对待那些我所关心的人。

The lack of privacy thing really bothers me. Not only do I live in a room that acts as a bedroom, study, kitchen, living room, and bathroom, I don't even get to be miserable in it by myself. Sometimes misery does not love company. Rather, it is created by company. If I can't decorate my room to my liking, I should at least be able to suffer in it alone. But dormitories are not for being alone - I've been told - they're about learning to get along with others. (Maybe I'll see the positive results of this nightmare when I'm giving advice to my own children when they begin college, but for the moment, I'm completely oblivious to them.)
没有私人空间真的让我很苦恼。我住的房间既是卧室，也是书房、厨房、起居室和卫生间，而且我还不能一个人在里面痛苦受罪。有时候，一个痛苦的人是不喜欢别人陪伴的。其实痛苦往往就是源于陪伴。如果我不能按照自己的喜好装饰房间，至少也得让我独自呆在里面受苦啊。但已经有人告诉过我了，宿舍不是你独处的地方，而是让你学会和别人相处的地方。（也许到了将来某一天，在我给开始上大学的儿女提建议的时候，我可以意识到住宿舍的好处。可现在在我看来，住宿舍就是一场噩梦，我没有发现其中的任何好处。）

There is some good news, however. Though she annoys me to no end, sometimes my roommate is just the person I want to see. I didn't get to know her habits so well without her taking in a few of mine. She oftentimes knows what I'm going to say even before I do, and most of the time she knows exactly when not to say anything to me at all. She's friend as well as foe, and I'd probably miss her if she left. The same sentiments apply to my neighbors. It's really quite flattering that they, even if somewhat mistakenly, consider me some sort of grammar goddess.
然而，好处还是有的。对于我的室友，虽然我总是不胜其烦，但有时她正是我想见到的人。如果她没有接纳我的一些习惯，我也不会对她的习惯了如指掌。通常，我还没开口她就知道我要说什么了；而且，在我不想和人答腔的时候，她都能感受到，并做到缄口不言。她集朋友和敌人于一身，如果她离开了，我就会挂念她。对于我的隔壁宿舍的邻居们，我也有同样的感觉。她们把我当作－－即使是“误”当作－－语法女神，我还是觉得非常荣幸。

And perhaps most important is the next thought. While I don't live in a room that's completely mine anymore, and probably won't ever again, I do find comfort in the knowledge that somewhere there's a pink, green, and white bedroom with a brick on the bookshelf, a diary in the underwear drawer, and an air of privacy that belongs strictly to me. It may not be my room as often as I'd like, but it will wait for me, just like I sit and wait for it.
也许接下来的想法才是重要的：虽然现在我不住在完全属于我的房间里，也许以后也不会，可是我相信在某个地方有个完全属于我的私人空间－－卧房是粉红色、绿色和白色相间的，书架上放了一块砖头，内衣抽屉里面还放着一本日记本，想到这些我就觉得油然欣慰。这个房间不总是如我所愿，可它会等着我这个主人，正如我现在在宿舍里坐着等它。