英語(yǔ)美文欣賞：朋友,想說(shuō)分手不容易

　　摘要:現(xiàn)年52歲的拉哲特曼是新澤西州拉姆齊的一名護(hù)士。她說(shuō)，如果是我做錯(cuò)了什么事，我希望有機(jī)會(huì)道歉，或者和她好好談?wù)?。相反，我卻是在讀了三本自助書，花了兩年的時(shí)間后才讓自己接受了這個(gè)事實(shí)──我以為是好朋友的人和我絕交了。

　　Linda Lajterman suffered one of the worst experiences of her life while on a cruise with herhusband and two other couples. Halfway through the trip, one of her friends stopped talking toher -- for good.

　　Ms. Lajterman says she has no idea what prompted the woman, who was one of her bestfriends, to cut her off. They helped take care of each other's kids, celebrated family eventstogether and shared confidences. After the cruise, which took place a few years ago, she calledher friend and asked for an explanation, but received none. She says she was devastated.

　　琳達(dá)·拉哲特曼(Linda Lajterman)在與丈夫和另外兩對(duì)夫婦乘船游覽的時(shí)候遭遇了她這輩子最不愉快的經(jīng)歷。半路上，她的一個(gè)朋友不理她了，而且永遠(yuǎn)不理她了。

　　拉哲特曼說(shuō)，她不知道是什么事讓最好的朋友和她絕交了。她們?cè)鴰蛯?duì)方照看小孩，一起舉辦家庭慶?；顒?dòng)，分享秘密。在旅行過(guò)后，她打電話給那個(gè)朋友，請(qǐng)她作出解釋，不過(guò)對(duì)方什么也沒(méi)說(shuō)。這已經(jīng)是幾年前的事了。拉哲特曼說(shuō)，她因此感到很傷心。

　　I would have welcomed the opportunity to apologize or discuss it if I did anything wrong,'says Ms. Lajterman, a 52-year-old nurse from Ramsey, N.J. 'Instead, it took me three self-helpbooks and two years to make peace with the fact that someone I thought was a good friendended our friendship.'

　　現(xiàn)年52歲的拉哲特曼是新澤西州拉姆齊的一名護(hù)士。她說(shuō)，如果是我做錯(cuò)了什么事，我希望有機(jī)會(huì)道歉，或者和她好好談?wù)劇Ｏ喾?，我卻是在讀了三本自助書，花了兩年的時(shí)間后才讓自己接受了這個(gè)事實(shí)──我以為是好朋友的人和我絕交了。

　　There are 50 ways to leave your lover, according to Paul Simon. But how many ways are thereto leave a friend?

　　正如保羅·西蒙(Paul Simon)在歌中唱到的，離開(kāi)情人的方法有50種。不過(guò)，離開(kāi)朋友的方法有多少種呢?

　　I know, it's a terrible question. But think about it: Some of the worst breakups in our lives arenot with romantic partners. They are with friends -- the people with whom we often share ourdeepest thoughts. Friends provide guidance, encouragement, laughter and a refuge. Losinga good friend can be one of the saddest experiences in life.

　　我知道，這個(gè)問(wèn)題很可怕。不過(guò)好好想想：我們?nèi)松凶钤愀獾姆质纸?jīng)歷有些并不是和情人之間。有些是和朋友──那些我們經(jīng)常分享自己內(nèi)心深處想法的人。朋友能夠給你指引、鼓勵(lì)、歡笑和避風(fēng)港。失去一個(gè)好朋友有可能是一輩子最讓人難過(guò)的經(jīng)歷之一。

　　And yet, many friendships just don't last. Some simply fizzle out, victims of routine life eventssuch as moves, job changes, divorce or a divergence of interests.

　　不過(guò)，很多友誼就是無(wú)法持久。有些是無(wú)疾而終，成為搬家、工作變動(dòng)、離婚和興趣不同等普通人生過(guò)程的犧牲品。

　　Others end badly. Rob Wilson, 53, a writer in Atlanta, saw a 12-year friendship abruptly endafter he mentioned he was voting for George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. ArthurNewton, 46, a hotel manager from Austin, Texas, had a female friend tell him she couldn't hangout with him anymore because her husband was jealous.

　　有些則是不歡而散。53歲的羅伯·威爾遜(Rob Wilson)是亞特蘭大的一位作家。在2004年的總統(tǒng)大選中，他向朋友提到自己投了布什(George W. Bush)的票，之后兩人之間12年的友誼就戛然而止了。得克薩斯州奧斯汀46歲的酒店經(jīng)理亞瑟·牛頓(Arthur Newton)的一個(gè)女性朋友告訴他，因?yàn)樗煞蚣刀?，所以她無(wú)法繼續(xù)和他做朋友了。

　　Michael Hassard watched a good friend run away from him -- literally. He had heard his pal hadbegun dating his ex-girlfriend, so Mr. Hassard, 39, a NASA engineer from Muscle Shoals, Ala.,approached him in church one day to ask about it. But before he could speak, his friend turnedand fled down a hallway, out the door and into his car. He and his former buddy never spokeagain.

　　邁克爾·哈薩德(Michael Hassard)眼睜睜地看著他的一個(gè)好朋友從他身邊跑掉了。哈薩德39歲，是駐阿拉巴馬州的一名美國(guó)國(guó)家航空及太空總署(NASA)工程師。他聽(tīng)說(shuō)朋友開(kāi)始與自己的前女友約會(huì)，所以有一天他在教堂見(jiàn)到他時(shí)，想上前問(wèn)個(gè)究竟。可是還沒(méi)等他開(kāi)口，朋友就轉(zhuǎn)身沿著走廊跑掉了，跑到門外之后進(jìn)了自己的車。兩人從此再?zèng)]說(shuō)過(guò)話。

　　Friendships are such a nuanced and intriguing relationship that we even follow celebrity friendbreakups, as we do their romances. Why else would we care about Mariana Pasternak but forher tell-all book about her former friendship with Martha Stewart, which ended after Ms.Pasternak testified at Ms. Stewart's 2004 trial.

　　友誼是一種微妙而動(dòng)人的關(guān)系，我們甚至?xí)耜P(guān)注名人情侶分手一樣關(guān)注名人朋友分手。如果不是瑪麗安娜·巴斯特納克(Mariana Pasternak)那本有關(guān)她和“家政女皇”瑪莎·斯圖爾特(Martha Stewart)從前友誼的“全揭秘”書，我們又怎么會(huì)關(guān)注她呢?2004年斯圖爾特受審時(shí)，巴斯特納克曾出庭作證，之后兩人的友誼就結(jié)束了。

　　'It's a myth that friendships last forever,' says Irene S. Levine, a psychologist, professor ofpsychiatry at New York University's medical school and author of 'Best Friends Forever:Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend.' We are tied to our family by blood and our spousesby law, so we are often more attentive to those relationships. 'Friendships are relationships ofchoice, so we tend to overlook them,' she says.

　　紐約大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院精神病學(xué)教授、心理學(xué)家艾琳·萊文(Irene S. Levine)說(shuō)，友誼地久天長(zhǎng)的說(shuō)法純粹是天方夜譚。她曾著有《永遠(yuǎn)都是好朋友》(Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend)一書。她說(shuō)，我們與家人之間靠血緣關(guān)系維系，和配偶之間靠法律關(guān)系維系，所以我們對(duì)家人和配偶更用心;友誼則是你選擇的，所以我們往往會(huì)忽視。

　　As a result, many friendships die from neglect, Dr. Levine says. And this in itself poses a verysticky problem in friendship breakups: How do you know if you're being neglected -- ordumped? What if your friend is always too busy to get together but always seems to have agood excuse? What if she never calls you, but seems happy enough to hear from you when youcall?

　　萊文說(shuō)，結(jié)果就造成很多友誼因?yàn)楹鲆暥娼K。這本身就給朋友之間的分手帶來(lái)了一個(gè)非常棘手的問(wèn)題：你如何知道自己被忽視了，或被“拋棄”了?如果你的朋友總是看起來(lái)忙得無(wú)法和你見(jiàn)面，又總是看起來(lái)有很好的理由怎么辦?如果她從來(lái)不給你打電話，但在你打給她的時(shí)候看起來(lái)很高興呢?

　　And there's the rub. There are no rules or even societal norms for friendship breakups. Friendswho want to split don't go to counseling or get a mediator or a lawyer, as divorcing couplesdo. And there typically aren't a bunch of nosy relatives willing to intervene and relaymessages, as there are when a split is within a family.

　　問(wèn)題是，對(duì)于朋友之間的分手，并沒(méi)有什么規(guī)則可言，甚至沒(méi)有社交慣例可循。要分手的朋友不會(huì)像離婚的夫妻一樣去找顧問(wèn)咨詢，或是找個(gè)調(diào)解人或律師。與夫妻分手不同的時(shí)，朋友分手通常也沒(méi)有一大群嘰嘰喳喳的親戚想要干預(yù)或在中間傳話。

　　Also, dissolving a friendship is harder than ever these days, with so many digital ties holding ustogether, from social-networking Web sites like Facebook to stored numbers in cellphones.

　　此外，與朋友分手如今變得比以往更難了，因?yàn)橛心敲炊嗟臄?shù)字紐帶將我們連在一起，從Facebook等社交網(wǎng)站到手機(jī)上存儲(chǔ)的電話號(hào)碼。

　　Dave Nadkarni can tell you all about it. When he decided to end a relationship a few years agowith a close female friend he felt was spreading rumors about him, he stopped returning hercalls, defriended her on Facebook, blocked her on his instant-message list, stopped followingher on Twitter and changed her name in his cellphone to 'Do Not Pick Up.' 'It was cathartic,' hesays.

　　大衛(wèi)·納德卡尼(Dave Nadkarni)對(duì)此深有感觸。幾年前他決定和一位他覺(jué)得說(shuō)自己壞話的紅顏知己絕交的時(shí)候，他不回她的電話，在Facebook不再把她列為好友，在即時(shí)消息名單上把她屏蔽掉，不再關(guān)注她的“推文”，把手機(jī)中她的名字改成了“不要接聽(tīng)”。他說(shuō)，這真像是來(lái)了一場(chǎng)大掃除。

　　But it didn't work. His friend got the hint and stopped calling him, and he has successfullyavoided seeing her in real life. But he still runs into her constantly online, every time a mutualfriend retweets her Twitter posts or she leaves a comment on a mutual Facebook friend'sstatus update.

　　不過(guò)卻沒(méi)有用。他的那個(gè)女性朋友明白了他的暗示，不再給他打電話，現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中他也成功地得以避免再見(jiàn)到她。不過(guò)他仍會(huì)經(jīng)常在網(wǎng)上碰到她，比如每次他們共同的朋友把她的“推文”轉(zhuǎn)給他，或是她在共同的Facebook朋友的狀態(tài)更新中留言的時(shí)候。

　　'It sucks,' says Mr. Nadkarni, 29, a sales rep for a security company in Las Vegas. 'It's like thedog that's stuck on your leg that you can't shake off.'

　　現(xiàn)年29歲的納德卡尼是拉斯維加斯一家安保公司的銷售代表。他說(shuō)，太糟糕了，就像是一只咬著你腿不放、你怎么都擺脫不掉的狗。

　　So how do you finish off a friendship? Are some ways better than others?

　　你是如何結(jié)束一場(chǎng)友誼的?有沒(méi)有什么好的分手方法?