保持好关系的7种道歉

 　　The author of the The Age of Miracles: A Novel (now out in paperback) reveals the kind of "I'm sorry" that can turn a marital¹ mistake into a moment of connection.

　　1. I'm sorry I locked us out of our apartment building that night last January, while you were dragging our Christmas tree out to the curb² and it was 20 degrees outside and we didn't have our coats or our phones. But I saw the tree catch in the wind like a sail, and I could tell that you were about to run out into the street after it, and I wanted to help you, so I ran outside, too, but you know how forgetful I am and how absentminded, and I guess we'd be stranded³ like that a lot more often if you were that way, too.

　　2. I'm sorry I was too shy to tell you how I felt when we were 18 and lived on the same dorm floor, and so instead I just stood in the hall, talking loudly to other people, hoping you might hear my voice and want to open your door, which often you did.

　　3. I'm sorry I worry so much about plane crashes and skin cancer and burglars⁴. And I'm sorry that I always think our house is on fire, ever since that night in Brooklyn, the year we got married, when there really was a fire in our building, and we lived in a studio on the 15th floor, and the stairwells were filled with smoke, so we took a chance on the elevator, ducking down and holding hands, and then sneezed ash for days. And I'm so glad you don't worry like I do, so that I can always look to you when I need to and tell from your smile that we're safe, that someone next door is just cooking something smoky and that everything will probably be fine.

　　4. I'm sorry about the dishes and the laundry and the trash, and how I only know how to make cookies and pecan pie, and how I'm messy and disorganized, and so you always end up doing more than your fair share around the house—so unusual in the history of husbands!—and how, if the roles were reversed⁵, I'd probably be much less forgiving than you are.

　　5. I'm sorry I just couldn't get into The Wire.

　　6. I'm sorry that I have so many dreams about us getting divorced or about you dying in a car crash on the way home and me hearing the news from a stoic⁶ policeman in the middle of the night. But as you know, I've always dreamed most often of losing whatever I hold most dear.

　　7. And finally, I'm sorry about that gigantic⁷ cell phone bill last October—$285 in roaming⁸ charges for one month, from when I was traveling in Canada. It's just that I missed you, and I wanted to talk to you each night and laugh about the things we'd each done that day and the books we were reading, you in Iowa and me in Toronto, and I love how much we still like to talk, how our experiences don't seem quite complete until we've described them all to each other, and how we're still such good friends, even after 13 years together. But you do make an excellent point: There is such a thing as Skype.

1 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

2 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

3 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 burglars   

窃贼( burglar的名词复数 )； 破门盗窃者； 破门盗贼； 小偷

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The burglars took to their heels when they heard the police arrive. 窃贼听见警察来了，拔腿就跑。

5 reversed   

v.（使）反转( reverse的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）颠倒；（使）翻转；推翻adj.颠倒的

参考例句：

• The new president reversed many of the policies of his predecessor. 新任总统彻底改变了其前任的许多政策。
• The appeal court reversed the original verdict and set the prisoner free. 上诉法庭撤销了原判，把那个犯人释放了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 stoic   

n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者

参考例句：

• A stoic person responds to hardship with imperturbation.坚忍克己之人经受苦难仍能泰然自若。
• On Rajiv's death a stoic journey began for Mrs Gandhi,supported by her husband's friends.拉吉夫死后，索尼亚在丈夫友人的支持下开始了一段坚忍的历程。

7 gigantic   

adj.巨大的，巨人似的

参考例句：

• He has a gigantic appetite and eats gigantic meals.他有很大的食量，能吃很多的食物。
• The earth may be thought of as a gigantic magnet.整个地球可以想像为一块硕大无朋的磁石。

8 roaming   

随便走( roam的现在分词 )； 漫步； 眼睛或手 （缓慢地）扫遍； 摸遍

参考例句：

• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Canada. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在加拿大定居了下来。
• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Quebec. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在魁北克定居了下来。