《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 59 (128):出嫁
But it means so much to the family, to see their children wedded off successfully. Tulsi has an aunt who just shaved her head as a gesture of thanks to God because her oldest daughter—at the Jurassic age of twenty-eight—finally got married. And this was a difficult girl to marry off, too; she had a lot of strikes against her. I asked Tulsi what makes an Indian girl difficult to marry off, and she said there are any number of reasons.
然而看見孩子們嫁得成功，對家人來說意義重大。圖絲有個舅媽把頭剃光，以示感謝神，因爲她的大女兒在老得很的二十八歲時終於嫁了出去。她還是個不容易嫁出去的姑娘；她的處境很不利於自己。我問圖絲，一名印度姑娘若很難嫁出去，是什麼原因。她說原因很多。"If she has a bad horoscope. If she's too old. If her skin is too dark. If she's too educated and you can't find a man with a higher position than hers, and this is a widespread problem these days because a woman cannot be more educated than her husband. Or if she's had an affair with someone and the whole community knows about it, oh, it would be quite difficult to find a husband after that . . ."
“比如說，星座命盤不好。年紀太大。膚色太黑。教育程度太高，因此找不到匹配的男人。近年來，這個問題很普遍，因爲女人不能比她老公受更多教育。或是跟某人談過戀愛，讓整個社區的人都知道，喔，這之後想找到老公可不容易……”I quickly ran through the list, trying to see how marriageable I would appear in Indian society. I don't know whether my horoscope is good or bad, but I'm definitely too old and I'm way too educated, and my morals have been publicly demonstrated to be quite tarnished . . . I'm not a very appealing prospect. At least my skin is fair. I have only this in my favor.
我很快看看這項清單，想知道自己在印度社會中是否容易成婚。我不清楚自己的命盤是好是壞，但我肯定年紀太大，受的教育太高，而我的道德已被公認爲有污點……我不是太有魅力的候選人。至少我的皮膚白。我只有這個優勢。
Tulsi had to go to another cousin's wedding last week, and she was saying (in very unIndian fashion) how much she hates weddings. All that dancing and gossip. All that dressing up. She would rather be at the Ashram scrubbing floors and meditating. Nobody else in her family can understand this; her devotion to God is way beyond anything they consider normal. Tulsi said, "In my family, they have already given up on me as too different. I have established a reputation for being someone who, if you tell her to do one thing, will almost certainly do the other. I also have a temper. And I'm not dedicated to my studies, except that now I will be, because now I'm going to college and I can decide for myself what I'm interested in. I want to study psychology, just as our Guru did when she attended college. I'm considered a difficult girl. I have a reputation for needing to be told a good reason to do something before I will do it. My mother understands this about me and always tries to give good reasons, but my father doesn't. He gives reasons, but I don't think they're good enough. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing in my family because I don't resemble them at all."
圖絲上個禮拜必須去參加她堂姐的婚禮，她說（以一種很不印度的方式）自己很討厭婚禮。人人跳舞、說三道四。打扮得漂漂亮亮。她寧可在道場刷地板、禪坐。她家沒有人瞭解她；她對神的虔敬在他們眼中已超乎尋常。圖絲說：“因爲我太不同，我的家人已經放棄我。我已得到一個名聲，是那種如果叫她做什麼，她肯定會反其道而行的人。而且我脾氣不好。我不認真於學業，不過現在我會認真學習，因爲我就要上大學，可以自己決定對什麼感興趣。我要念心理學，就像我們的導師念大學的時候一樣。我被認爲是難搞的姑娘。我有個名聲，做一件事之前得給我充分的理由，我才肯去做。我母親瞭解我這個特點，總是想辦法尋找充分的理由，但我父親可不。他給我理由，但我覺得不夠充分。有時候我不曉得自己在家幹什麼，因爲我跟他們一點也不像。”But it means so much to the family, to see their children wedded off successfully. Tulsi has an aunt who just shaved her head as a gesture of thanks to God because her oldest daughter—at the Jurassic age of twenty-eight—finally got married. And this was a difficult girl to marry off, too; she had a lot of strikes against her. I asked Tulsi what makes an Indian girl difficult to marry off, and she said there are any number of reasons.
然而看見孩子們嫁得成功，對家人來說意義重大。圖絲有個舅媽把頭剃光，以示感謝神，因爲她的大女兒在老得很的二十八歲時終於嫁了出去。她還是個不容易嫁出去的姑娘；她的處境很不利於自己。我問圖絲，一名印度姑娘若很難嫁出去，是什麼原因。她說原因很多。"If she has a bad horoscope. If she's too old. If her skin is too dark. If she's too educated and you can't find a man with a higher position than hers, and this is a widespread problem these days because a woman cannot be more educated than her husband. Or if she's had an affair with someone and the whole community knows about it, oh, it would be quite difficult to find a husband after that . . ."
“比如說，星座命盤不好。年紀太大。膚色太黑。教育程度太高，因此找不到匹配的男人。近年來，這個問題很普遍，因爲女人不能比她老公受更多教育。或是跟某人談過戀愛，讓整個社區的人都知道，喔，這之後想找到老公可不容易……”I quickly ran through the list, trying to see how marriageable I would appear in Indian society. I don't know whether my horoscope is good or bad, but I'm definitely too old and I'm way too educated, and my morals have been publicly demonstrated to be quite tarnished . . . I'm not a very appealing prospect. At least my skin is fair. I have only this in my favor.
我很快看看這項清單，想知道自己在印度社會中是否容易成婚。我不清楚自己的命盤是好是壞，但我肯定年紀太大，受的教育太高，而我的道德已被公認爲有污點……我不是太有魅力的候選人。至少我的皮膚白。我只有這個優勢。Tulsi had to go to another cousin's wedding last week, and she was saying (in very unIndian fashion) how much she hates weddings. All that dancing and gossip. All that dressing up. She would rather be at the Ashram scrubbing floors and meditating. Nobody else in her family can understand this; her devotion to God is way beyond anything they consider normal. Tulsi said, "In my family, they have already given up on me as too different. I have established a reputation for being someone who, if you tell her to do one thing, will almost certainly do the other. I also have a temper. And I'm not dedicated to my studies, except that now I will be, because now I'm going to college and I can decide for myself what I'm interested in. I want to study psychology, just as our Guru did when she attended college. I'm considered a difficult girl. I have a reputation for needing to be told a good reason to do something before I will do it. My mother understands this about me and always tries to give good reasons, but my father doesn't. He gives reasons, but I don't think they're good enough. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing in my family because I don't resemble them at all."
圖絲上個禮拜必須去參加她堂姐的婚禮，她說（以一種很不印度的方式）自己很討厭婚禮。人人跳舞、說三道四。打扮得漂漂亮亮。她寧可在道場刷地板、禪坐。她家沒有人瞭解她；她對神的虔敬在他們眼中已超乎尋常。圖絲說：“因爲我太不同，我的家人已經放棄我。我已得到一個名聲，是那種如果叫她做什麼，她肯定會反其道而行的人。而且我脾氣不好。我不認真於學業，不過現在我會認真學習，因爲我就要上大學，可以自己決定對什麼感興趣。我要念心理學，就像我們的導師念大學的時候一樣。我被認爲是難搞的姑娘。我有個名聲，做一件事之前得給我充分的理由，我才肯去做。我母親瞭解我這個特點，總是想辦法尋找充分的理由，但我父親可不。他給我理由，但我覺得不夠充分。有時候我不曉得自己在家幹什麼，因爲我跟他們一點也不像。”
