美語情景對話 第1081期:Proud Papa 令人驕傲的父親

Abidemi: Jeremy, I heard you have a new baby. Congrats on that.

阿比德米：傑里米，我聽說當爸爸了。祝賀你。

Jeremy: Thanks.

傑里米：謝謝。

Abidemi: So how has fatherhood changed you in any way?

阿比德米：父親這個身份有沒有改變你？

Jeremy: You know, it's changed me probably in every way. You know, when you think of how your life is different, it's basically from when you wake up until – well, you eventually get to go to sleep. Everything is different. But, you know, everything about it is positive, even things that you'd think would annoy you actually aren't really that annoying. Like having a toddler come and wake you up at 6 o'clock in the morning when you've got a cold and you've taken a bunch of sleeping medication the night before, like which happened this morning. And even that, having a toddler wake you up and just looking at you and laughing, it's awesome. It really is awesome. So, you know, I always kind of worried before when I was thinking about having a kid about all these things – oh, I can't go out at night or I'm going to have to wake up so early in the morning and I'm going to be woken up in the middle of the night by a screaming child. All of that stuff really doesn't bother me. It just, you know, it's part of the experience and yeah, sometimes maybe I'd like to sleep a little bit longer. But yeah, waking up and then having a little guy sit on my lap while he plays with the remote control and changes channels over and over again, I mean, that's somehow a very, very enjoyable experience. But, you know, you get to see a little person change everyday and start figuring things out. And of course, every person, every parent thinks that their child is the smartest child in the world. He can turn off and on the light switch, you know, but it's those types of things that you just marvel at. So, you know, I can say like most people that it's everything about it is very positive. But it's often just the really, really small things that make you appreciate this little wonder.

傑里米：父親的身份可能使我各個方面都發生了改變。如果想一下生活發生了哪些改變，基本上從早上起牀到晚上睡覺這段時間，一切都發生了變化。所有事都變得更積極，就連那些以前會惹惱你的事情現在都不那麼令人討厭了。比如，一個蹣跚學步的孩子在早上六點把你弄醒，而這時你還處於感冒中，前一晚吃了很多助眠藥物，這就是今天早上發生的事情。不過，即使這樣，可是一個小孩把你弄醒，然後就那樣看着你笑，那種感覺真是太美好了。要孩子之前，我一直在擔心，比如晚上不能出去玩了，還有早上很早就要起牀，晚上睡覺時會被哭鬧的孩子吵醒。可是這些事情並沒有讓我感到困擾有孩子就是這樣，有時我想多睡一會兒。可是我不得不起牀，讓孩子坐在我的腿上，看着他把玩遙控器，不斷地換臺，這是極其有趣的經歷。看着孩子每天都在變化，一點一點開始自己解決問題，這真的很美好。當然，每個家長都認爲自己的孩子是世界上最聰明的。他會開關燈這種事情都會讓你感到驚奇。和大多數人一樣，當爸爸以後我覺得所有事都更積極了。而讓你感到驚歎的往往是那些小事。

Abidemi: And looking back on the experience now, what are some things that you would wish that you had known before your little boy came along?

阿比德米：回顧一下這段經歷，有哪些事是你希望在有孩子之前能瞭解清楚的？

Jeremy: Yeah, it's a good question. You know, I was so stressed out for the first couple of weeks after he was born. And from the moment he was born until he came back home, and then for the first number of weeks that we was home, we basically just hovered over him for weeks. And, you know, of course, you have to protective and careful of a new born baby. But not everything was as serious as we thought it was. And, you know, crying – we were worried about waking up our neighbors or we're worrying that, you know, something was seriously wrong. Babies cry. And if you really get stressed out about it then you're going to make your life miserable. So, you know, having done it once, just realizing that, you know, kids cry, kids get sick, kids throw up, kids need their nappies changed, I would just take a deep breath if I have to do it again and just realize, okay, this is just part of the experience. And you just got to roll with it.

傑里米：這是個好問題。孩子剛出生的那幾周，我壓力非常大。從他出生到我們從醫院回家，還有回家之後的那幾周，我一直小心地照顧他。當然，要小心保護一個剛出生的嬰兒。不過並不是所有事都像我們想的那樣嚴重。比如，孩子的哭聲，我們擔心孩子晚上哭鬧時會吵醒鄰居，我們也擔心孩子哭鬧是因爲他生了嚴重的病。不過，孩子都會哭。如果你非常緊張這點，那你的生活會非常痛苦。經歷過就會知道，孩子都會哭，都會生病，都會嘔吐，孩子要換尿布，如果要再經歷一次，我會深吸一口氣讓自己放鬆，我會明白，這只是經歷的一部分。不用擔心，順其自然就好。

Abidemi: Okay. That's great.

阿比德米：好。真不錯。

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重點講解：
1. marvel at 驚訝不已；不勝驚羨；大爲讚歎；
例句：I marvel at his tremendous achievements.
對他的巨大成就我感到驚歎。
2. look back 追憶；回顧；
例句：She can look back on her career with great satisfaction.
她回顧自己的經歷覺得心滿意足。
3. be stressed out 極度焦慮不安的；心力交瘁的；
例句：I'm all stressed out about this new job.
我因這個新工作而感到緊張不安。
4. throw up 嘔吐；嘔出；
例句：This smell is enough to make you throw up.
這種氣味令人嘔吐。