足足十年間，我的每次旅行都因攜帶三個調皮的孩子而苦不堪言；但這次，我無 “孩”一身輕，閑逛的時間大把大把，心情更是說不盡的輕松！

By Tiffany Guerzon

丁歡顏 選注

As I walk away from the van of crying children, I feel light.[1] Unfortunately this feeling is immediately followed by crushing[2] guilt. I am going away for the weekend alone and not one of my three children is happy about it.

I walk to the counter trailing[3] my impossibly small suitcase. The attendant asks if I have any bags to check. I don’t. I haven’t flown without checking bags for years. Ten years to be exact, since my first child was born. Since then, I’ve flown frequently with and without my husband – but never without kids. Boarding pass in hand, I stroll to the security checkpoint and take off my shoes.[4] I marvel at how quickly I pass through when I’m not trying to shove the stroller into the X-ray machine while simultaneously trying to corral three shoeless children.[5]

After clearing security, I stand for a moment, contemplating checking out the bookstore or getting a coffee.[6] I decide to do both – I have an entire hour. That hour would normally be spent handing out gum and mints,[7] trying to keep my children from bothering other passengers while making trips back and forth to the airport bathroom because my kids are scared of the one on the plane.

After spending a blissful 45 minutes browsing,[8] I make my way to the gate. I sit, not quite sure what to do with myself. Normally I would be obtaining a tag for the stroller and trying to keep my kids from doing gymnastics[9] in the gate area. I open one of my new magazines and smile sympathetically at couples wrestling with strollers and infant seats.[10] I’m still smiling as I board the plane with the other grown-ups instead of the preboard crowd[11].

Once seated, I buckle in and take a sip of the hot coffee,[12] a luxury I wouldn’t have had if I was flying with children. A hot drink on an airplane with kids is an invitation to disaster, as one of them would surely crawl into my lap or jostle my elbow,[13] burning themselves – or more likely – me. I sit back and listen to the melodic[14] sound of French being spoken by the family in the next row without having to explain why those people are talking funny and that the language is called French; a conversation which would have probably ended with me drawing a map of Europe on a piece of paper to show my inquisitive[15] 6-year-old where France is located. And instead of trying to keep my 2-year-old from sitting on the tray table, the other two from hanging their heads over the seat in front of us or any of them from pushing the call button – I choose a movie for myself that is entirely inappropriate for children.

Then it happens. My nirvana is interrupted by the sound of a baby howling.[16] Soon the other babies on the plane join him. I sigh. So much for my peaceful, child-free journey. But then the flight attendant hands me my headphones, which I immediately slip on to muffle[17] the noise. The babies may be howling, but they aren’t mine.

Vocabulary

1. van: 輕型汽車；light: 輕松的。

2. crushing: 極度的。

3. trail: 拉，拖。

4. boarding pass: 登機牌；stroll: 漫步，閑逛；security checkpoint: 安檢處。

5. 當無須一邊使勁將嬰兒車推進X光機一邊看顧三個沒穿鞋的孩子時，我驚訝于自己通過安檢的迅速。stroller: 嬰兒推車；corral: 圍住，把……集合在一起。

6. clear: 通過（海關等）；contemplate: 思忖，考慮。

7. gum: 口香糖；mint: 薄荷糖。

8. blissful: 樂而忘憂的；browse: 隨意觀看。

9. gymnastics: 體操（訓練），doing gymnastics形容孩子們在登機口外嬉戲淘氣。

10. sympathetically: 同情地；wrestle with: 努力解決，全力對付。

11. preboard crowd: 優先登機的人群，指因攜帶孩童或其他原因，被安排優先登機的人。

12. buckle in: 系上安全帶；sip: 呷，一小口。

13. lap: （人坐著時的）大腿部；jostle: 推撞。

14. melodic: 音調美妙的。

15. inquisitive: 好奇的，愛詢問的。

16. nirvana: 極樂世界，無憂無慮的境界；howl: 號啕大哭。

17. muffle: 使聲音減弱（或消失）。

（來源：英語學習雜志）