美国国家公共电台 NPR Preserving Memories: In Emails To A Toddler, A Window Into Her Parents' Love
时间：2019-01-17 作者：英语课 分类：2017年NPR美国国家公共电台4月
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
A few weeks back, we invited our listeners to tell us about IT-related emotional breakdowns 1. We asked NPR's Alina Selyukh to read all the messages, and one of them stuck with her. It came from a mother distraught by a loss of an email draft to her toddler. That got Alina interested in this process of preserving childhood, and she called the mom to learn more.
ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE 2: For me, the story started with a lost email, but what really got me was the reason behind it. Annie Hudson was documenting tiny elements of a memory, events so ordinary they would definitely be forgotten yet so treasured, she wanted to hold on, which takes us to the real start of the story.
AVA: Marshmallow's scary.
SELYUKH: The birth of Ava, Annie's daughter with husband David VonDerLinn.
AVA: You're not scary.
DAVID VONDERLINN: When you have kids and when life is just going by faster and faster, you just forget things so easily, and...
ANNIE HUDSON: And you think you're not going to forget, but you do.
SELYUKH: When Ava was born, Annie became obsessed 3 with preserving memories. She ordered baby books from Amazon - one, then another, sent them back. They didn't seem right.
HUDSON: I was driving my husband and my sister and my friends crazy. They were just like, just pick a book, and start writing in it.
SELYUKH: In the end, she did. Its pages started to fill up with handwriting, cramming 4 toward the bottom. She didn't want to document milestones 5. She wanted to record thoughts, stories. Anxious, Annie called her sister to ask how she handled all this with her son.
HUDSON: And she said, well, you know, I write him emails.
SELYUKH: And that's how little Ava got her very first email.
VONDERLINN: (Reading) Hi, Ava Bean. This is your dad, who is still getting a little used to that title, emailing you on February 11, 2015 at 8:49 in the morning from his office.
SELYUKH: From there, the emails poured in - a video of Eva learning to stand, later to walk, a quick photo from the zoo, a story of Ava requesting a pillow be placed at her feet for sleep, all digital markers of the passage of time and with it a phenomenal, relentless 6 transformation 7 of a tiny human.
HUDSON: (Reading) Sometimes the days just blur 8 together, and it's easy to forget that you will not always be this age and this size. I was reminded of this earlier today, and it stopped me in my tracks and made me cry. And you started singing "Ring Around The Rosies."
You love this tune 9 and have been singing it for a while now, but you usually start it out with your own special rendition - (singing) paco hosies (ph) and then (singing) ashes, ashes we all fall down. But because you have always started the song out this way until today - you started out correctly - (singing) ring around the rosies - it kind of broke my heart. Maybe you'll still sometimes say paco hosies, but I fear I've heard it for the last time.
VONDERLINN: (Reading) I saw you running back and forth 10 on the play equipment, and you looked so happy and free. I didn't want to interrupt you, so I decided 11 I would go ahead and leave without disturbing you. I went through the gate and turned around, and there you were, standing 12 at the other side of the playground, looking back at me. The sun was shining behind you and lining 13 up your rainbow dress and wild, blond hair. You looked like a colorful angel.
You stared at me for a moment, I think wondering if you should run to me for a goodbye hug. And I wondered that, too. Then you turned and ran back to play, and I suddenly realized that you've grown just a little bit. You're a little bit more independent, a little more brave, a little more powerful. My heart aches at the idea of you growing up, but I know that this is the way of the world.
AVA: I don't want to take a nap.
SELYUKH: Ava is now almost 3. Annie and David don't really know how or when they'll tell her about the emails. For now, Ava just knows she has a surprise, and it's in the ether, a word she learned from "Curious George."
VONDERLINN: You know what we're talking about?
HUDSON: Can you say hi to Alina?
AVA: Hi, Alina.
VONDERLINN: Say NPR is the best.
AVA: PPR (ph) is the best.
(LAUGHTER)
SELYUKH: From PPR News in Washington, I'm Alina Selyukh.
(SOUNDBITE OF MINOTAUR SHOCK SONG, "MY BURR")
- Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
- How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句
- His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
- We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。
- He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
- The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。
- Being hungry for the whole morning, I couldn't help cramming myself. 我饿了一上午，禁不住狼吞虎咽了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She's cramming for her history exam. 她考历史之前临时抱佛脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Several important milestones in foreign policy have been passed by this Congress and they can be chalked up as major accomplishments. 这次代表大会通过了对外政策中几起划时代的事件，并且它们可作为主要成就记录下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Dale: I really envy your milestones over the last few years, Don. 我真的很羡慕你在过去几年中所建立的丰功伟绩。 来自互联网
- The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
- Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。
- Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
- He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。
- The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
- If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。
- He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
- The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
- The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
- He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
- They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。