美語婚姻（三）

A husband and wife are a team to which both bring their own strengths and weaknesses.

夫妻是配合的一對，彼此付出他們的優點和弱點。

Man is the head of the house while woman is the heart of the house.

男人是一家之主，女人是一家之心。（即男人以理性負責家庭，女人以愛心照顧家務）

Genuine love will always care for the heart “in sickness or in health， for better or for worse.”

不論病痛或健康，不論好或壞，真誠的愛都要時時為心靈而關懷。（后半句 “in sickness……” 也在結婚儀式上宣讀）

He said that she is forever his honey， his life and his eternal sunshine.

他說她是他永遠的寶貝，是他的生命和不斷的陽光。

The best way for a husband to clinch an argument with his wife is to take her in his arms.

丈夫與妻子爭吵的最好處理方式是將她擁在懷里。（clinch本指釘牢，這里是hold on）

The perfect gift is giving love to your better-half.

給你“另一半”的最好禮物就是愛。

His love for her still grows stronger everyday despite their having been together over 40 years.

盡管他們共同生活40年，他對她的愛仍然與日俱增。

Many childhood sweethearts successfully rekindle the old flame in later life.

許多少年時代的情侶，年老時，還能成功地燃起愛的火花。（flame = fire of love）

Marriage is just like wine getting better with age.

婚姻像美酒，愈久愈好。

After all， men are from Mars and women are from Venus.

畢竟男人來自火星，女人來自金星。（Mars在神話中是 God of war；而Venus是God of love，前者意謂野性 wild，后者意謂溫柔soft）

There has been an erosion in the percentage of people who think marriage is important.

人們認為結婚重要的百分率已經減少。（erosion = decline）

He believes that marriage is neither heaven nor hell； it its simply purgatory.

他相信婚姻既不是天堂也不是地獄，它只是受罪的場所。（purgatory = between heaven and hell）

A marriage license per se does not keep two persons permanently together.

結婚證書的本身未必能使兩人永遠在一起。（per se 是拉丁文 = by itself）

（編輯/立原）