No Housework Day is one of those days you see on calendars on the Internet but don’t know where it came from. It is always on April 7th. It is one day of the year when it is OK to do nothing in the house. Everybody has the day off from doing the household chores. It’s OK to let the dishes and washing pile up; it’s no problem to let another layer of dust settle on top of the TV; and it’s absolutely fine to leave the vacuum cleaner in its corner for the day. And as for cooking, make sure you have a home-delivery phone number handy. Or even better, get yourself off to a restaurant. This is also a good day for those who never do anything around the house, who never lift a finger, to appreciate those who do the housework.
在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)日歷中,我們能夠看到“無家務日”,但卻不知道它的來源。每年的4月7日為“無家務日”。在每年的這一天里,我們可以在家“無所事事”。所有人都可以不做家務。讓碗筷堆積如山;電視上再多一層灰也沒有問題;角落里的吸塵器可以不用工作了。至于做飯,記得要把送餐電話準備好。下館子更好。對于那些從不做家務的人來說,我們也可以在這一天感謝他人的辛勤勞動。
What is housework, exactly? If you never do it, you probably never think about this. It is a lot of hard work and someone does it every single day. It starts while the rest of the house is still asleep. Next time you wake up, listen to see if you can hear the washing machine working or smell the coffee machine. It happens while you are still trying to open your eyes at the breakfast table. Then while you are at school or work, the breakfast dishes are magically cleaned, the tables wiped and the dishes all put in their place. You come home from school or work and the bath is clean, again. Your shirts are washed, ironed, and hanging in your closet, again. The toothpaste tube in the bathroom is never empty. Who does all this invisible housework?
到底什么是家務?如果你從不干家務,你也許從來不會思考這一問題。家務指的每天需要做的體力活。天不亮就有人起來干活了。下次醒來后,看看你是否能夠聽到洗衣機的聲音,或是咖啡機的香味。在你睡意惺忪的早餐時間,這些工作就已經(jīng)開始了。我們上班上學,早餐盤子神奇般地變干凈了,桌子擦過了,盤子放回了原位。放學下班回家,浴缸干凈如新。衣服洗凈熨平,又一次放在了你的壁櫥中。從來不會出現(xiàn)浴室沒有牙膏的情況。是誰做了這些家務?