每天都是情人节 Everyday Should Be Valentine's Day
Her name was Lisa. She was in many ways the kind of girlfriend most would want - attractive, sexy, and fun. An added bonus was that she got along with my friends, watched football with us, drank beer, and could play a mean game of pool. We had only been dating for four months when February came along. One night while watching TV, a diamond jewelry ad came on. "This Valentine's Day, get her something special she'll never forget."
丽萨是那种男人梦寐以求的完美女朋友——迷人、性感、幽默。更难得的是她喜欢和我的朋友们在一起看足球，喝啤酒，甚至玩撞球。到二月时我们就在一起四个月了。那天晚上我们一起看电视，出现了一个钻石广告：“情人节到了，给她一个意外的惊喜吧！”
I snickered, saying, "Right…get your loved one something really special – the same overpriced heart-shaped necklace thousands of other guys are going to get and the women across America are going to end up with." She laughed and agreed that Valentine's Day was an overly-commercialized holiday. It was on Valentine's Day, however, that I realized that Lisa had a tendency to agree with me on everything only to reveal her true feelings later.
我窃笑不止：“对，给你的爱人一些特别的——成千上万的男人给女人买一模一样的昂贵的心形项链。”丽萨大笑，她也觉得情人节被过分商业化了。在情人节来临以前我都觉得丽萨和我看法一致，但后来才知道她的真实想法。
"I can't wait to see what you have planned for us!" she said over the phone.
“我迫不及待想要看看你为我们安排了什么！”她在电话里兴奋地说。
"But I thought I told you…I don't think celebrating Valentine's Day is a big deal."
“但我记得我告诉过你，我并不认为情人节是什么重要的日子。”
"Well how is that going to look to my friends? You must have at least gotten me something!"
“那样我的朋友会怎么看我？你最少要送我点儿什么！”
Even after I spent 300 dollars on a dozen roses, a cheap-looking teddy bear with a heart on its tummy, and a heart-shaped box of Dove Chocolates, Lisa was still upset that I hadn't gotten her anything out of my own free will. As you can imagine, things didn't work out between the two of us after that.
在我花费了300美元给她买了一打玫瑰、一个肚子上有心形图案的玩具熊和一盒心形巧克力后，丽萨仍然感到失望，因为我并非自愿这么做的。你可以想象得到，事情没有这么简单，还没结束。
If one were to ask me what my favorite holidays are, number 1 would be a toss-up between Christmas and Thanksgiving. But Valentine's Day would indisputably be last. No question. Let me break it down for you.
如果有人问我最喜欢哪个节日，我会在圣诞节和感恩节间难以抉择。但毫无疑问，情人节肯定是最后一个。我可以说出我的理由。
Christmas, while often criticized it for being overly commercialized and way too capitalistic, has a religious aspect. It is a season of families getting together, giving, and good cheer. Like Christmas, Thanksgiving is also about families and friends gathering and enjoying a feast - what's not to love about that? Let's not forget about football! Halloween is great fun for kids and adults. Who doesn't love to see girls dress up in sexy cat suits? And Labor Day is an absolute must. I think there should be four Labor days a year. But Valentine's Day - that's a holiday that is in an evil league of its own.
当很多人都在批评圣诞节过分商业化和市场化时，要知道里面有宗教因素，这是一个家人团聚、互赠礼物和祝福的时节。像圣诞节、感恩节，家人朋友相聚——难道不是因为爱吗？别忘记还有足球！万圣节给孩子甚至是成年人带来了很多欢乐，你难道不想看见年轻漂亮的女孩穿上紧身衣吗？还有劳动节是很有必要的。我甚至希望一年中能有四个劳动节。但是情人节却很让人反感。
Most holidays are about bringing people together, sharing joy, and celebrating something. It's bad enough that Valentine’s Day is an obvious marketing ploy by greeting card companies to manipulate people's personal relationships, preying on women's desire for love expressed in other ways than the norm, and men's cluelessness about how to express it (through flowers and chocolate and jewelry…they make it so blatantly clear!) . I don't know any other holiday that brings more pain or segregates people more - the ones who are single from the ones who aren't. It is a bleak reality check for people about their personal relationship status. I'm a guy, but I also feel the uncomfortable cringe when I see someone ask a single acquaintance the dreaded question: "What are you doing for Valentine's Day?" And for the "lucky" ones who aren't single, Valentine's Day is like some sort of test or hurdle that couples, especially new ones, have to jump over. Boyfriends and husbands are expected to plan something special year after year for their girlfriends and wives. Not only do we have to top what we do year after year, but we're also expected to outdo all the boyfriends and husbands around. Even if we do somehow manage to be successful, often it hurts our wallets.
大多数节日都是让朋友聚集在一起分享欢乐还有庆祝之类的。对于那种将贺年片作为文化行销手段和商业公司控制人际关系、捕捉女人希望另类表达爱意的欲望、以及男人对于表达方式的惨白的想象力（除了花、巧克力、珠宝……不用说都是这些玩意），天哪！简直是糟透了！我不知道还有其它的什么节日能像情人节这般带来如此大的痛苦和如此多的形单影只的人——一些人有伴一些人没有。而且这也考验了人们之间真正的关系。我是个男人，但是每当听到有人问一个单身的人“你情人节要怎么过”这种梦魇般的话时，我就会感到非常的不舒服。对于那些“幸运的”、有伴的人来说，情人节有些尝试解决的意味，尤其是那些刚刚建立关系的情侣。而男朋友和丈夫就必须年复一年地为他们的女朋友还有妻子准备特别的礼物。不仅每年要超越前一年，并且还要超过女朋友的好朋友的丈夫和男朋友。就算我们成功地做到了这些，使我们的女朋友或者妻子满意了，那“受伤”的就是我们的钱包了。
At my workplace there are two single girls who are affected by the V-Day bug. There is Jenny, a nice girl who lives for romantic comedies and the syndicated television shows of the 90's.
在我工作的地方有两个单身女孩受情人节影响很大。詹妮整天沉浸在浪漫爱情剧和90年代的电视剧中不能自拔。
Remember those awful junior high Valentine's Day dances where a lot of girls would buy themselves flowers and candy to make themselves feel better? Jenny was probably one of those girls. Come Valentine's Day, Jenny becomes especially more down, her wailing becomes even louder; I could totally imagine her drowning her sorrow in a tub of ice cream while watching a Reese Witherspoon or Meg Ryan movie.
记得在那些可怕的情人节晚会上有很多女孩给自己买鲜花和糖果使自己感觉不那么悲惨吗？詹妮就是其中之一。每次快到情人节时她就会情绪低落，那种悲伤会随着情人节的临近越来越浓，以至于在看瑞茜·威瑟斯彭和梅格·瑞恩的电影时，我就会产生一种想把她的那份自怨自艾扔进一大罐冰激凌里的冲动。
Then there is my good friend Kristen, the other type of single girl. Kristen tries to be a strong independent female and always makes a big deal out of going out with her girlfriends on V-Day. Last year she had a slumber party after going out drinking and dancing after flirting relentlessly with young college guys. I admire her attitude and definitely prefer it to Jenny's, but truthfully I think she also cares, and if she could have her way, she would definitely rather be spending it with a man she cares about. She should really not care.
然后就是我的好朋友克瑞斯廷，另一种类型的单身女孩。她一直都在努力成为一个独立女性，而且总是和她的朋友们在情人节那天玩到尽兴。去年她在出去喝酒跳舞与小男生打情骂俏后还开了一个睡衣晚会。我欣赏她的态度，觉得比詹妮要好。但事实上，我认为她是很喜欢这种方式的。如果她没有这样而是和一个心仪的男人去约会，我想她就不会这么有兴致了。
The point is that we just really shouldn't care – we should start a cultural revolution of some sort, do away with V-Day, or at least most of the bad stuff and expectations that come with it. Women, you should give us guys a break if we don't want to get you the overpriced bouquet and charm bracelet everyone else has. Really, I’m not being an ass. And it's not that I'm unsentimental or heartless. In fact I'm rather a romantic. I think everyday should be Valentine's Day - or at least most days, where you show your love to your significant loved one through other means than the usual. Guys, you should definitely buy your special lady flowers when the prices aren't insanely jacked up, and you should definitely plan special dates for no special reason. Of course ladies, there's also no need to buy special lingerie for V-day - buy more throughout the year, please.
关键在于我们不需要太过于在乎——可以进行一些文化改革，比如废除情人节，最起码废除那些随之而来的无谓活动或者期待。女士们！你们应该给我们一些空间，让我们休息一下，尤其在我们不想为你买那些人人都有的昂贵的鲜花、美丽的手镯时。会有这种想法并非因我顽固不化，也不是我不解风情。事实上，我懂得什么叫做真正的浪漫。我认为每一天都是情人节——最起码在大多时间里，你应该通过独特的方式向你的她表达爱意。伙计们！你们应该在价钱没有疯长前送给你的爱人美丽的鲜花，你们应该没有任何原因地和她进行别出心裁的约会。当然，女士们，你们更不需要为了情人节去买什么特别的情趣内衣——而应该整年都有。
