James Yaffe (1927—？)
作者姚弗乃美国作家。本文采自1957年9月份《大西洋月刊》。原题《只有傻瓜才生女儿》（“Only a Crazy Man Has Daughters”），文字轻松幽默，对白尤为传神，为家庭喜剧中之佳作。兹录其开头几段如下：
When a father has a complaint to make about his son, all he has to do is take the boy aside and yell at him:
/"What do you mean by getting home at three o/'clock in the morning? Your mother was worried to death!/"
/"Twenty bucks? You want twenty bucks? My God, the way you spend my money, you could be the United States government./"
/"A car of your own? Listen to him, will you? He/'s still wet behind the ears, and he wants a car of his own!/"
● to make a complaint：责备。complaint通常译作“诉苦”，但“诉苦”二字易滋误解；complaint只是使人不满意不愉快的事情，受了委屈固然是complaint，其他如儿子荒唐，天气冷热不调，火车误点，垃圾桶无人清理，日本渔船越界捕鱼等都可成为complaint，其表达方式则喃喃低诉与大声斥责均可。
● all he has to do：all之后省去that一字，但是照英文口语的习惯，这个that以不加为妥。the boy：此二字极简单，但是用来很好。这里如用take him aside，则易与主语之he相混；如重复his son，则句法太累赘；如用the latter，则太像官样文章，风味大减；只有the boy二字，才是恰到好处。
● 下面三小节都是父亲责备儿子的话：第一节是儿子深夜返家时说的。注意was worried用的是过去式。“你这么晚回来，你妈着急死了！”母亲的着急，是在儿子回来之前，故用过去式（到了家就不着急了）。这种时间先后关系，中文无需表出，学习时应特别注意。
● bucks=dollars（美国俚语）。the way：此二字有介词的作用。“照你这样不断地问我要钱，你简直成了美国政府了。”（按：美国政府捐税苛杂之重，时为民众所诟病。）could be是虚拟式，这里不可以用直述式can be，因为一个人是永远不能成为一个政府的。
● 第三小节：儿子向老子开口要买汽车了，老子说：“你自己要一辆汽车！请听听他的话看！乳臭未干的小孩子，自己想要一辆汽车了！”will you之you并不指什么人，只是老子生气时所说的话，旁边未必有第三者在听他说话。wet behind the ears，相当于中文的“乳臭未干”，“胎毛未干”，原义是“你还要母亲给你洗脸呢！”
This is the sort of thing that goes on every day. Sarcasm, grumbling, out-and-out rage—how else should a father in this modern world express his affection and concern for his own son?
● the sort of thing含混得好。如用the sort of conversation反而不确切；thing的范围比较conversation来得广，父亲骂儿子也不好算是conversation。这里要找一个确切的字很难，用了一个含糊的thing，读者也知道是怎么一回事了。
● sarcasm：讥刺；反唇相讥。grumbling：叽喔咕噜地骂人；喃喃怨语。out-and-out：完全的，十足的。rage：盛怒；大发雷霆。affection：亲爱。concern：关怀。“这个年头，做老子的还有什么别的法子（how else）可以表示他对于他亲生儿子的慈爱和关切呢？”
But between a father and his daughter it isn/'t so easy. Because a father can/'t yell at his daughter, or wave his fist at her threateningly, or call her a good-for-nothing. More than one father has, of course. But he usually ends up with a terrible feeling of guilt over it. And then, when she smiles up at him and puts her hands on his shoulders and murmurs that pet name which he/'s always been a sucker for, the most determined father in the world is as helpless as a baby.
● wave his fist at her：拳头在她面前晃。threateningly：威胁状；作势欲打。good-for-nothing：无用之人；没出息的。
● 第二句是Because开头的独立附属从句，照文法规定，这样写法是有毛病的。因为because是个subordinate conjunction，应该改用for（它是coordinate conjunction）。但是用because开头的独立句，现在很常见到。
● More than one father has后面省去yelled，waved，called等字。这一句的has也有问题。既然是More than one，是不是该用have（动词复数形式）呢？但是这里的has没有错，林语堂的《开明英文法》中[5:42(6)]说：
Each, many a and more than one with nouns in the singular almost always take the singular verb.
该书又举了两个例子：
More than one person was suspected.
But there are more than one person involved in the matter.
第一例的动词紧跟着one person，故用单数形式was；第二例的动词紧接more，故用复数形式are。这样的用法合理吗？英文用法，本来只是习惯沿袭而已，并没有人来立过什么“法”。要是不合理，也只好由它去了。
● ends up with：结局。照中文的想法（也是比较合理的想法），应该是“这件事情是如何如何的结局”，可是英文里面偏偏用人（he）来做主语。父亲骂了女儿，结局总是痛自后悔。feeling of guilt：歉疚之感。over=concerning，about。
● smiles up at之up有“抬头”之意。
● pet name：表示亲爱的称呼，如“好爹爹”之类。sucker（美国俗语）：易受欺之人（上海话里的“瘟生”；北平话里的“二百五”；广东话里的“寿仔”）。这种特别称呼一叫出来，父亲一向就乖乖地甘愿上当吃亏了。
● determined：决心（管教儿女）的。helpless：束手无策。
Such was the case with Dan Waxman. His daughter Barbara—Bobby he called her, this was his favorite nickname for a girl—was his only daughter. Ever since she was old enough to cry or flutter her eyelashes, she had very little trouble getting her way with him. But she more than paid him back for this. When she was little she paid him back in laughter and high spirits, in showing him how much she enjoyed her life. /"Sarah/", he used to say to his wife, /"what are we bringing up in this household, a little girl or a wild Indian?/" /"A wild Indian!/" Bobby used to shout out gleefully, and jump around the living room giving war whoops.
● Bobby he called her：这样的说法在这里是不是比He called her Bobby更顺口一点呢？favorite nickname for a girl：普通女孩子的各种绰号之中，他就喜欢这一个。a girl=any girl。
● old enough：这里的old不是老（three months old，five years old中的old也不是老）。flutter her eyelashes：（眨眼时）眼睫毛上下颤动。getting her way with him：使他听从她。
● paid him back：父亲听从女儿（for this），女儿也有报答。more than：女儿的报答是使父亲高兴，假使父亲稍稍地依从了女儿，女儿便可使父亲大大地高兴一下，那么女儿便不止是报答亲恩，更是积极地膝下承欢了。注意more than后面可以跟动词。high spirits：兴高采烈。女儿活泼好弄，父亲看了高兴，那便是女儿的报答。
● wild Indian：野蛮的印第安人。父亲故意这么问：“我们家里养了一个小姑娘呢，还是小野人呢？”gleefully：意气扬扬地。war whoops：印第安人作战时的呼哨声。小姑娘欣然以小野人自居，并且在起居室里跳踉奔走，嘴发怪声，好像是印第安人出兵打仗一般。
And now that she was almost grown up, she paid him back in quieter, more ladylike ways. She told him her secrets, the ones she wanted him to hear. She asked his opinion of her clothes and her hairdos. She even laughed at his jokes. Not out of diplomacy either, but heartily and spontaneously, because she thought they were funny and she liked to see him in a good mood.
● now that（连词）：既然。ladylike：合乎小姐身份的。
● the ones=the secrets；秘密不能全部公开，有一部分她是愿意父亲知道的，她就拿这个跟他来谈。把父亲引为知己，亦是博老人高兴之一法。
● hairdos：头发式样。这里是复数形式。
● even：父亲所讲的话，儿女通常并不觉得可笑，可是她听了竟然也笑。
● 最后一句并不是完全句子，只是一个副词短语和两个副词，形容上句的laughed。out of diplomacy：顾全面子起见。not…either：此二字连用，有“也不”之意。“她的笑，倒也并不是一种外交手段，而是自发地（spontaneously）真心地大笑。”
● they=his jokes。因为她觉得他的笑话真的可笑，再则，她也喜欢看见老人家心里高兴（in a good mood）。