“The Age of Mystique
年龄的秘密
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don‘t mind, it doesn’t matter.
~Mark Twain
On my fiftieth birthday, my older daughter gave me a pin that said “Fifty is nifty.” I wore it to work that day, and what fun it was! All day, people kept saying things to me like, “Anita, you don‘t look fifty,” or “Why, Anita, you can’t be fifty,” and “We know you can‘t be fifty.”
It was wonderful. Now, I knew they were lying, and they knew I knew, but isn’t that what friends and co-workers are for? To lie to you when you need it, in times of emergency, like divorce and death and turning fifty.
You know how it is with a lie, though. You hear it often enough, and you begin to think it‘s true. By the end of the day, I felt fabulous. I fairly floated home from work. In fact, on the way home, I thought: I really ought to dump my husband. After all, the geezer was fifty-one, way too old for a young-looking gal like me.
Arriving home, I had just shut the front door when the doorbell rang. It was a young girl from a florist shop, bringing birthday flowers from a friend.
They were lovely. I stood in my doorway holding the flowers and admiring them, and the delivery girl stood there, waiting for a tip.
She noticed the pin on my jacket and said, “Oh, fifty, eh?”
“Yes,” I answered, and waited. I could stand one last compliment before my birthday ended.
“Fifty,” she repeated. “That’s great! Birthday or anniversary?”
~Anita Cheek Milner
年龄是关乎意识决定物质的问题。如果你不在乎,那年龄就无关紧要。
--马克·吐温
在我五十岁生日的时候,大女儿送了我一枚胸针,上面写着“五十真好”。那天我戴着胸针就去了办公室,并且度过了极为愉快的**。一整天人们都对我说着同样的话,“阿妮塔,你看起来完全不像五十岁”,或者“什么,阿妮塔,你怎么可能有五十岁呢”,再或者“我们知道你没有五十岁”。
那真是美妙的**。我明白他们说的不是真的,而他们也知道我明白这一点,可这不就是好朋友和同事该为你做的吗?在生活发生变故时,比如离婚、亲人去世,又或是年满五十岁的时候,你真的需要从他们那里听到这些善意的谎言。
尽管你听得出来人们说的不是真话。可是谎言重复千遍也会变成真理。听得多了,我也开始把人们所说的当真。所以那天下班的时候我感觉好极了。轻飘飘的就像在飞一样。实际上回家的时候我还一路在想:我
真应该甩掉我丈夫。毕竟那个家伙已经五十一岁了,和看起来依旧年轻的我站在一起显得太老了。
我前脚回到家里,后脚就听见门铃响了。原来是一家花店的小姑娘送花来了。我一个朋友给我送来了祝福。那些花真的很美。我站在门口,拿着那束花细细地欣赏,而那个送花的小姑娘就耐心地站在那里,等我给她小费。
这时她注意到我衣服上别着的胸针:“哦,五十,是吗?”
“是啊。”我回答道,心里不由自主地期待她再说点什么。我很乐意在生日这天多听几句赞美的话语。
“五十,”她重复道,“哇,真了不起!是生日还是结婚纪念日?”
--阿妮塔·奇克·米尔纳
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