2005年NPR美国国家公共电台八月-Breaking Up on a Friday in Washington

Fridays are divorce days in Bellingham, Washington. If you want to dissolve your marriage in Bellingham, you have to show up in court on a Friday, with all of the other couples who are divorcing that week. Recently one of those couples was commentator¹ Ron Judd and his ex-wife Jackie.

In the Whatcom County Courthouse names are called, couples rise from a wood bench and stand before a Judge. Swearing to tell the whole truth, one partner reads from a script--it's a standard form with blanks filled in at home. That sheet of paper in my hand was all that was left of my marriage, the birth, life and death of a promise reduced to a single page double-spaced.

My name is Ronald Charles Judd. I am the husband of Jack² Won. We were married on May 18th, 2002 in Bellingham, Washington. My wife is not pregnant. No children have been born to us. Our marriage is irretrievably broken. Irretrievably broken! My wife and I come to our hometown courtroom to untie³ the knot. Each of us has sworn before friends and family we'd stay bound forever. I have a dozen other people that shuffled⁴ up to the judge before us. Most of them walked away in tears. When our turn came, I tried not to look at Jackie, standing⁵ at my shoulder for the first time in a long time. I tried not to remember that spring day five years ago when I knew, instantly and without doubt that I loved her .We were in the Rocky Mountains. She'd touched the nose of a wild deer and burst straight into tears. Not all counties require divorcers to appear in this very public un-marriage ceremony. And not all the duel⁶, cruel or savvy⁷ enough to force you say the words out loud.

Irretrievably broken? When movie stars part, their publicists kiss it off with a kind of more forgiving “irreconcilable differences”. Differences are something you just discover, unpleasantries that just show up one day like unsightly nostril⁸ hair. Broken was something we did, to ourselves, our friends, our extended families, in even worse cases, that something people do to their own children. But our marriage was irretrievably broken and the tears welling in my eyes were not just over the cold finality of those words, but the knowledge that they were true.

I blinked in that bad fluorescent⁹ light and wondered: shouldn't every bright-eyed couple applying for a marriage license¹⁰ two floors below have to sit through an hour of dissolution court first? Just to appreciate the stakes before registering on wedding.com. I wonder how many people are ever truly prepared to bear the weight of their own vows¹¹. Till death do us part? It's a catchy¹² slogan, but really just a five-words-string everybody secretly knows can be snipped¹³ by legal scissors. The truth: marriage is only as forgiving as the frequency in depth through which you can swallow your own pride. It's only as lasting¹⁴ as your own ability to forgive. Only as permanent as the strength you bring to it every hour .A lot of people grasp this at some point. Sadly, for us, that point was the day we found ourselves here, in the courthouse, wincing¹⁵ with the realization--that the only thing permanent about our marriage, was the two-word phrase that took it apart-- irretrievably broken, that's forever.


Ron Judd is a columnist for "The Seattle Times" and author of the book-- "The Roof-Rack Chronicles"

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 untie   

vt.解开，松开；解放

参考例句：

• It's just impossible to untie the knot.It's too tight.这个结根本解不开。太紧了。
• Will you please untie the knot for me?请你替我解开这个结头，好吗？

4 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• 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。

6 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

7 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

8 nostril   

n.鼻孔

参考例句：

• The Indian princess wore a diamond in her right nostril.印弟安公主在右鼻孔中戴了一颗钻石。
• All South American monkeys have flat noses with widely spaced nostril.所有南美洲的猴子都有平鼻子和宽大的鼻孔。

9 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

10 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

11 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

12 catchy   

adj.易记住的，诡诈的，易使人上当的

参考例句：

• We need a new slogan.The old one's not catchy enough.我们需要新的口号，旧的不够吸引人。
• The chorus is very catchy to say the least.副歌部分很容易上口。

13 snipped   

v.剪( snip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He snipped off the corner of the packet. 他将包的一角剪了下来。 来自辞典例句
• The police officer snipped the tape and untied the hostage. 警方把胶带剪断，松绑了人质。 来自互联网

14 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

15 wincing   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She switched on the light, wincing at the sudden brightness. 她打开了灯，突如其来的强烈光线刺得她不敢睜眼。
• "I will take anything," he said, relieved, and wincing under reproof. “我什么事都愿意做，"他说，松了一口气，缩着头等着挨骂。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹