每天都是情人節(jié) 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."

麗薩是那種男人夢寐以求的完美女朋友——迷人、性感、幽默。更難得的是她喜歡和我的朋友們在一起看足球，喝啤酒，甚至玩撞球。到二月時我們就在一起四個月了。那天晚上我們一起看電視，出現(xiàn)了一個鉆石廣告：“情人節(jié)到了，給她一個意外的驚喜吧！”

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.

我竊笑不止：“對，給你的愛人一些特別的——成千上萬的男人給女人買一模一樣的昂貴的心形項鏈。”麗薩大笑，她也覺得情人節(jié)被過分商業(yè)化了。在情人節(jié)來臨以前我都覺得麗薩和我看法一致，但后來才知道她的真實想法。

"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為我們安排了什么！”她在電話里興奮地說。

"But I thought I told you…I don't think celebrating Valentine's Day is a big deal."

“但我記得我告訴過你，我并不認為情人節(jié)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!"

“那樣我的朋友會怎么看我？你最少要送我點兒什么！”

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.

在我花費了300美元給她買了一打玫瑰、一個肚子上有心形圖案的玩具熊和一盒心形巧克力后，麗薩仍然感到失望，因為我并非自愿這么做的。你可以想象得到，事情沒有這么簡單，還沒結(jié)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.

如果有人問我最喜歡哪個節(jié)日，我會在圣誕節(jié)和感恩節(jié)間難以抉擇。但毫無疑問，情人節(jié)肯定是最后一個。我可以說出我的理由。

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.

當很多人都在批評圣誕節(jié)過分商業(yè)化和市場化時，要知道里面有宗教因素，這是一個家人團聚、互贈禮物和祝福的時節(jié)。像圣誕節(jié)、感恩節(jié)，家人朋友相聚——難道不是因為愛嗎？別忘記還有足球！萬圣節(jié)給孩子甚至是成年人帶來了很多歡樂，你難道不想看見年輕漂亮的女孩穿上緊身衣嗎？還有勞動節(jié)是很有必要的。我甚至希望一年中能有四個勞動節(jié)。但是情人節(jié)卻很讓人反感。

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.

大多數(shù)節(jié)日都是讓朋友聚集在一起分享歡樂還有慶祝之類的。對于那種將賀年片作為文化行銷手段和商業(yè)公司控制人際關系、捕捉女人希望另類表達愛意的欲望、以及男人對于表達方式的慘白的想象力（除了花、巧克力、珠寶……不用說都是這些玩意），天哪！簡直是糟透了！我不知道還有其它的什么節(jié)日能像情人節(jié)這般帶來如此大的痛苦和如此多的形單影只的人——一些人有伴一些人沒有。而且這也考驗了人們之間真正的關系。我是個男人，但是每當聽到有人問一個單身的人“你情人節(jié)要怎么過”這種夢魘般的話時，我就會感到非常的不舒服。對于那些“幸運的”、有伴的人來說，情人節(jié)有些嘗試解決的意味，尤其是那些剛剛建立關系的情侶。而男朋友和丈夫就必須年復一年地為他們的女朋友還有妻子準備特別的禮物。不僅每年要超越前一年，并且還要超過女朋友的好朋友的丈夫和男朋友。就算我們成功地做到了這些，使我們的女朋友或者妻子滿意了，那“受傷”的就是我們的錢包了。

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.

在我工作的地方有兩個單身女孩受情人節(jié)影響很大。詹妮整天沉浸在浪漫愛情劇和90年代的電視劇中不能自拔。

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.

記得在那些可怕的情人節(jié)晚會上有很多女孩給自己買鮮花和糖果使自己感覺不那么悲慘嗎？詹妮就是其中之一。每次快到情人節(jié)時她就會情緒低落，那種悲傷會隨著情人節(jié)的臨近越來越濃，以至于在看瑞茜·威瑟斯彭和梅格·瑞恩的電影時，我就會產(chǎn)生一種想把她的那份自怨自艾扔進一大罐冰激凌里的沖動。

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，另一種類型的單身女孩。她一直都在努力成為一個獨立女性，而且總是和她的朋友們在情人節(jié)那天玩到盡興。去年她在出去喝酒跳舞與小男生打情罵俏后還開了一個睡衣晚會。我欣賞她的態(tài)度，覺得比詹妮要好。但事實上，我認為她是很喜歡這種方式的。如果她沒有這樣而是和一個心儀的男人去約會，我想她就不會這么有興致了。

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.

關鍵在于我們不需要太過于在乎——可以進行一些文化改革，比如廢除情人節(jié)，最起碼廢除那些隨之而來的無謂活動或者期待。女士們！你們應該給我們一些空間，讓我們休息一下，尤其在我們不想為你買那些人人都有的昂貴的鮮花、美麗的手鐲時。會有這種想法并非因我頑固不化，也不是我不解風情。事實上，我懂得什么叫做真正的浪漫。我認為每一天都是情人節(jié)——最起碼在大多時間里，你應該通過獨特的方式向你的她表達愛意。伙計們！你們應該在價錢沒有瘋長前送給你的愛人美麗的鮮花，你們應該沒有任何原因地和她進行別出心裁的約會。當然，女士們，你們更不需要為了情人節(jié)去買什么特別的情趣內(nèi)衣——而應該整年都有。

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