A:So Chris, I've heard that you're from a big family. How many people?
克里斯,我聽說你來自一個大家庭。有多少人?
B:Nine total. Seven children and my parents.
一共9人。7個孩子和我父母。
A:Seven children? That's a lot. Why did your parents have so many?
7個孩子?那很多喔。為什么你父母要這么多孩子?
B:Well, my mother came from a big family, and wanted to have one of her own. My father was an only child, and didn't really care about having a large family, but my mother talked him into it.
嗯,我母親來自一個大家庭,因而想要一個自己的大家庭。我父親是獨子,因而確實不想要一個大家庭,但我母親說服了他。
A:Jeez, seven children. That must have a lot of problems. We have four children in my family and my grandparents can never get our names right.
唉呀,7個孩子。那一定有很多問題。我家有4個孩子,我祖父母從未叫對過我們的名字。
B:It can be hard, and there are certain sacrifices you have to make.
確實很難,你必須做出某些犧牲。
A:Like what? I assume that there's no privacy.
什么樣的?我想是沒有隱私。
B:That's one. Another is the lack of personal property. Everything you have, from toys to clothes, is used by your brothers and sisters. Especially clothes. Three quarters of my wardrobe are hand-me-downs.
那是一個。另外一個是沒有個人財產。你所有的東西,從玩具到衣服,都被你的兄弟和姐妹用過。特別是衣服。我衣柜里四分之三的衣服都是傳過來的。
A:And the age gap is also annoying. There's a ten-year difference between my younger brother and me. We have nothing in common.
再者代溝也很惱人。我弟弟和我相差十歲。我們沒有任何共同之處。
B:Same problem here. There's an 18-year gap between the oldest and youngest child in my family. The last child was born just as the oldest was going to college.
這里也是同樣的問題。在我家最大的和最小的相差18歲。最小的出生時正好最大的要上大學。
A:Well, at least going to college won't be too bad. Since both of your parents are college professors, they must give you reduced tuition at the college.
嗯,至少上大學不會太難。既然你父母親都是大學教授,大學肯定會給你減少學費。
B:They do, but it doesn't help too much. Having seven children means that the money situation in my home is always pretty tight.
他們會,但不會有太大的幫助。有7個孩子意味著我家的經(jīng)濟狀況總是很緊張。