The Thanks We Give It’s not the turkey alone we’re grateful for. Not the cranberry sauce or the stuffing or even the pumpkin

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问题                                         The Thanks We Give
    It’s not the turkey alone we’re grateful for. Not the cranberry sauce or the stuffing or even the pumpkin pie. Some of the people seated at the table are strangers—friends of friends, cousins of in-laws—and some are almost desperately familiar, faces we live and work with every day.
    In any other week, today would merely be Thursday and the gathering of all these people— the cooking and serving and cleaning—a chore. But today it doesn’t feel that way. The host—perhaps it’s you—stands up and asks that we give thanks, and we do, each in our own way. And what we’re thankful for is simply this, the food, the shelter, the company and, above all, the sense of belonging.
    As holidays go, Thanksgiving is in some ways the most philosophical. Today we try not to take for granted the things we almost always take for granted. We try, if only in that brief pause before the eating begins, to see through the well-worn patterns of our lives to what lies behind them. In other words, we try to understand how very rich we are, whether we feel very rich or not. Today is one of the few times most Americans consciously set desire aside, if only because desire is incompatible with the gratitude—not to mention the abundance—that Thanksgiving summons.
    It’s tempting to think that one Thanksgiving is pretty much like another, except for differences in the guest list and the recipes. But it isn’t true. This is always a feast about where we are now. Thanksgiving reflects the complexion of the year we’re in. Some years it feels buoyant, almost jubilant in nature. Other years it seems marked by a conspicuous humility uncommon in the calendar of American emotions.
    And this year? We will probably remember this Thanksgiving as a banquet of mixed emotions. This is, after all, a profoundly American holiday. The undertow of business as usual seems especially strong this year. The shadow of a war and misgivings over the future loom in the minds of many of us. Most years we enjoy the privacy of Thanksgiving, but this year, somehow, the holiday feels like part of a public effort to remember and reclaim for ourselves what it means to be American.

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答案 我们的感恩 不单单是因为有火鸡我们才感恩,也不是因为有红梅果酱、火鸡馅料,甚至不是因为有南瓜派。餐桌上就座的人有些是陌生人,是朋友的朋友、亲戚的亲戚,有些则是熟得不能再熟的人,一起生活的家人、一块工作的同事。 要是一年中其他时候,周四也就是个普通的周四,这么一群人聚在一起,少不了要做饭上菜、清洗杯盘,麻烦是难免的。可今天不同,今天我们并不感到麻烦。主人(也许正是你)站起身来,邀大家感恩,每个人便以各自的方式感恩。我们要感恩,也就是因为有饭吃、有房住、有人陪伴,更重要的是那份归属感。 在众多的假日中,感恩节可以说是最令人深思的节日。今天,我们会把平时习以为常的东西看得很珍贵。我们至少会在吃饭前的片刻,看透那一成不变的生活,悟出背后的道理。换句话说,无论我们觉得自己富裕与否,我们总是尽力把自己看得十分富有。今天是美国人难得有意识地将欲望搁置一旁的日子,这至少是因为今天我们有一颗感恩的心,更不用说还有一桌丰盛的菜肴,欲望此时光临便显得格格不入。 人们不禁会觉得,除了宾客不同、菜式翻新,感恩节还不是年年依旧。其实不然。感恩节这一餐总是关乎我们的处境,反映一年的年景。有些年的感恩节我们心情愉悦,几乎喜气洋洋。但有些年头我们却把感恩节过得相当低调,不敢骄傲,这并不是美国人惯有的情绪。 那么今年呢?日后若想起今年这个感恩节,我们也许会记得,这一餐吃得五味杂陈。这毕竟是一个深具美国特色的节庆之日。但一切如旧的现状对美国人造成的影响在今年似乎特别大。战争的阴影、对未来的担忧,一直盘踞在我们许多人的脑海中。感恩节我们一般与至亲好友在一起,感受那种其乐融融的气氛。可是今年,我们似乎要借感恩节与国人一起重温身为美国人的意义,重拾美国的精神。

解析     serving在这里指的是招待餐桌上的事情,因此具化为“上菜”,更直观形象;chore最常用的含义是“家庭杂务”,但结合语境可知,这里作者是在抱怨这样的聚餐需要做的工作非常繁琐讨厌,含有一种消极的语气态度,因此翻译为“麻烦是难免的”。
    翻译“the food”“the-shelter”和“the company”时需要结合语境,这里并非感谢“食物、住处和陪伴”本身,而是感谢上天赐予了这些东西,或者说让人们拥有了这些,因此增译为“有饭吃” “有房住”和“有人陪伴”,形式上实现了对照,且表意更准确;
    above aIl在这里强调了后边“归属感”的重要性,因此使用“更重要的是”体现这种强调。
    mixed emotions表示“复杂情绪,百感交集,复杂的心情”,指的是多种情绪混合在一起,而其所修饰的banquet;本来是为感恩节而设,应该高兴、快乐,但和下文中提到的“战争的阴影、对未来的担忧”这些消极的情绪掺杂在一起,其中的复杂情绪,使用“五味杂陈”这个成语恰到好处。
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