从育儿书中学点英文

作为一名不靠谱的新晋奶爸，我开始学习如何育儿。对我来说获取经验最快的方式除了直接与前辈沟通外就是读书了，刚刚读完李清晨的《医生爸爸的365夜》，现在在读What to Expect系列的第二本书：The First Year，它的中文版名字叫《海蒂育儿大百科(0-1岁)》。

今天上午家里停电，把这本书读了200多页。在学习育儿知识的同时，我也学点英文。这本书写得很有趣，字里行间中充满了人情味，我摘录几段和大家一起赏析一下。

1. 老人要带娃，父母该做点啥？

One of your first responsibilities as parent? Letting your parents know it while helping them ease into their brand new (supporting, not starring) role as grandparents.

通过提问的方式引起读者注意力，然后自问自答引起读者共鸣。这里用到了supporting role和starring role，就是咱们常说的“配角”和“主演”。

Say it early, say it firmly, and most of all, say it lovingly. Explain to any well-meaning but meddling grandparents that they did a wonderful job of raising you and your spouse, but that it's your turn to wear the parent pants. There will be times when you'll welcome their know-how but other times when you'll want to learn from your pediatrician, books, websites, apps, parents peers, and your mistakes -- much as they probably did.

Say it early, say it firmly, say it lovingly这三个短句构成了重复，而且还很有层次，强调了时间（early）、态度（firmly）和方式（lovingly）。

另外我们学习一个表达wear...pants，在这里指的是“开始担任父母的角色”了，这个表达常用于表示“当家作主”，例如Who wears the pants in your family? 就是“你们家谁做主啊？”

2. 为了宝宝买买买

You've probably been itching to belly up to the nearest baby superstore or online baby registry for months now -- maybe even before you had a belly. After all, those too-cute onesies, cuddly stuffed animals, and magical mobiles are hard to resist. But between the slings, swings, and strollers, the cribs and car seats, the burping cloths and blankies, the bibs and booties, buying for baby can get a little overwhelming, not to mention credit-card-mixing.

belly up的意思是“to move close to”，和后面的belly对应可以理解为双关。后面一大长串的举例，用到了“头韵”的修辞手法，读起来琅琅上口，也表现出了要给婴儿买的物品之多，挑选之难。

3. 小朋友不用穿新衣

Babies don't mind wearing hand-me-downs. Fast-forward 7 or 8 years, and hand-me-down clothes may be a much tougher sell -- but fashion ignorance is bliss for babies. Even if you're a stickler for style, you'll appreciate having even less-than-styling onesies and rompers standing by for those days when spit-up reigns, diapers leak... and the washer's on the blink. Those hand-me-downs are a little worse for wear? That's okay -- the same will be true of the new clothes you're shelling out those big bucks for by the second time baby wears them. 

作者先下结论，直截了当地说：婴儿不介意穿别人穿过的衣服的。然后像是有读心术一样用举例和自问自答列出了她的理由：一会吐一会拉，有时候还不能及时洗，穿新衣服不是白瞎了吗。这个理由还不充分？别人穿过的衣服就不好？作者说：新买的衣服穿过一次不也成旧的么...

这里我们可以学到三个表达：

1⃣️ Hand-me-downs 别人穿过的衣服

2⃣️ on the blink 出故障

3⃣️ shell out 为...花费一大笔钱

在买衣服方面，还有一个单独的贴士：

So, resist the irresistible (and impractical, unwashable, and unwearable) and remember that babies are happiest when they're comfiest, and parents are happiest when dressing baby is a dream, not a drag.

When in doubt, buy big, keeping this in mind: Children grow and clothes shrink.

Resist the irresistible，不能忍也得忍啊。后面"a dream, not a drag"中也用到了头韵，drag在这里是“累赘”的意思。给建议的时候作者用了短句，让读者印象深刻。

今天就和大家分享这么多，大家有什么关于育儿的好书，欢迎你推荐给我啊。接下来我要读的一本是The Nurture Assumption, 读完和大家分享。把育儿当作学习的动力，和宝宝一起成长～

小鹿美照一张