James Yaffe (1927—？)
作者姚弗乃美國作家。本文采自1957年9月份《大西洋月刊》。原題《只有傻瓜才生女兒》（「Only a Crazy Man Has Daughters」），文字輕鬆幽默，對白尤為傳神，為家庭喜劇中之佳作。茲錄其開頭幾段如下：
When a father has a complaint to make about his son, all he has to do is take the boy aside and yell at him:
\"What do you mean by getting home at three o\'clock in the morning? Your mother was worried to death!\"
\"Twenty bucks? You want twenty bucks? My God, the way you spend my money, you could be the United States government.\"
\"A car of your own? Listen to him, will you? He\'s still wet behind the ears, and he wants a car of his own!\"
● to make a complaint：責備。complaint通常譯作「訴苦」，但「訴苦」二字易滋誤解；complaint只是使人不滿意不愉快的事情，受了委屈固然是complaint，其他如兒子荒唐，天氣冷熱不調，火車誤點，垃圾桶無人清理，日本漁船越界捕魚等都可成為complaint，其表達方式則喃喃低訴與大聲斥責均可。
● all he has to do：all之後省去that一字，但是照英文口語的習慣，這個that以不加為妥。the boy：此二字極簡單，但是用來很好。這裡如用take him aside，則易與主語之he相混；如重複his son，則句法太累贅；如用the latter，則太像官樣文章，風味大減；只有the boy二字，才是恰到好處。
● 下面三小節都是父親責備兒子的話：第一節是兒子深夜返家時說的。注意was worried用的是過去式。「你這麼晚回來，你媽著急死了！」母親的著急，是在兒子回來之前，故用過去式（到了家就不著急了）。這種時間先後關係，中文無需表出，學習時應特別注意。
● bucks=dollars（美國俚語）。the way：此二字有介詞的作用。「照你這樣不斷地問我要錢，你簡直成了美國政府了。」（按：美國政府捐稅苛雜之重，時為民眾所詬病。）could be是虛擬式，這裡不可以用直述式can be，因為一個人是永遠不能成為一個政府的。
● 第三小節：兒子向老子開口要買汽車了，老子說：「你自己要一輛汽車！請聽聽他的話看！乳臭未乾的小孩子，自己想要一輛汽車了！」will you之you並不指什麼人，只是老子生氣時所說的話，旁邊未必有第三者在聽他說話。wet behind the ears，相當於中文的「乳臭未乾」，「胎毛未干」，原義是「你還要母親給你洗臉呢！」
This is the sort of thing that goes on every day. Sarcasm, grumbling, out-and-out rage—how else should a father in this modern world express his affection and concern for his own son?
● the sort of thing含混得好。如用the sort of conversation反而不確切；thing的範圍比較conversation來得廣，父親罵兒子也不好算是conversation。這裡要找一個確切的字很難，用了一個含糊的thing，讀者也知道是怎麼一回事了。
● sarcasm：譏刺；反唇相譏。grumbling：嘰喔咕嚕地罵人；喃喃怨語。out-and-out：完全的，十足的。rage：盛怒；大發雷霆。affection：親愛。concern：關懷。「這個年頭，做老子的還有什麼別的法子（how else）可以表示他對於他親生兒子的慈愛和關切呢？」
But between a father and his daughter it isn\'t so easy. Because a father can\'t yell at his daughter, or wave his fist at her threateningly, or call her a good-for-nothing. More than one father has, of course. But he usually ends up with a terrible feeling of guilt over it. And then, when she smiles up at him and puts her hands on his shoulders and murmurs that pet name which he\'s always been a sucker for, the most determined father in the world is as helpless as a baby.
● wave his fist at her：拳頭在她面前晃。threateningly：威脅狀；作勢欲打。good-for-nothing：無用之人；沒出息的。
● 第二句是Because開頭的獨立附屬從句，照文法規定，這樣寫法是有毛病的。因為because是個subordinate conjunction，應該改用for（它是coordinate conjunction）。但是用because開頭的獨立句，現在很常見到。
● More than one father has後面省去yelled，waved，called等字。這一句的has也有問題。既然是More than one，是不是該用have（動詞複數形式）呢？但是這裡的has沒有錯，林語堂的《開明英文法》中[5:42(6)]說：
Each, many a and more than one with nouns in the singular almost always take the singular verb.
該書又舉了兩個例子：
More than one person was suspected.
But there are more than one person involved in the matter.
第一例的動詞緊跟著one person，故用單數形式was；第二例的動詞緊接more，故用複數形式are。這樣的用法合理嗎？英文用法，本來只是習慣沿襲而已，並沒有人來立過什麼「法」。要是不合理，也只好由它去了。
● ends up with：結局。照中文的想法（也是比較合理的想法），應該是「這件事情是如何如何的結局」，可是英文裡面偏偏用人（he）來做主語。父親罵了女兒，結局總是痛自後悔。feeling of guilt：歉疚之感。over=concerning，about。
● smiles up at之up有「抬頭」之意。
● pet name：表示親愛的稱呼，如「好爹爹」之類。sucker（美國俗語）：易受欺之人（上海話裡的「瘟生」；北平話裡的「二百五」；廣東話裡的「壽仔」）。這種特別稱呼一叫出來，父親一向就乖乖地甘願上當吃虧了。
● determined：決心（管教兒女）的。helpless：束手無策。
Such was the case with Dan Waxman. His daughter Barbara—Bobby he called her, this was his favorite nickname for a girl—was his only daughter. Ever since she was old enough to cry or flutter her eyelashes, she had very little trouble getting her way with him. But she more than paid him back for this. When she was little she paid him back in laughter and high spirits, in showing him how much she enjoyed her life. \"Sarah\", he used to say to his wife, \"what are we bringing up in this household, a little girl or a wild Indian?\" \"A wild Indian!\" Bobby used to shout out gleefully, and jump around the living room giving war whoops.
● Bobby he called her：這樣的說法在這裡是不是比He called her Bobby更順口一點呢？favorite nickname for a girl：普通女孩子的各種綽號之中，他就喜歡這一個。a girl=any girl。
● old enough：這裡的old不是老（three months old，five years old中的old也不是老）。flutter her eyelashes：（眨眼時）眼睫毛上下顫動。getting her way with him：使他聽從她。
● paid him back：父親聽從女兒（for this），女兒也有報答。more than：女兒的報答是使父親高興，假使父親稍稍地依從了女兒，女兒便可使父親大大地高興一下，那麼女兒便不止是報答親恩，更是積極地膝下承歡了。注意more than後面可以跟動詞。high spirits：興高采烈。女兒活潑好弄，父親看了高興，那便是女兒的報答。
● wild Indian：野蠻的印第安人。父親故意這麼問：「我們家裡養了一個小姑娘呢，還是小野人呢？」gleefully：意氣揚揚地。war whoops：印第安人作戰時的呼哨聲。小姑娘欣然以小野人自居，並且在起居室裡跳踉奔走，嘴發怪聲，好像是印第安人出兵打仗一般。
And now that she was almost grown up, she paid him back in quieter, more ladylike ways. She told him her secrets, the ones she wanted him to hear. She asked his opinion of her clothes and her hairdos. She even laughed at his jokes. Not out of diplomacy either, but heartily and spontaneously, because she thought they were funny and she liked to see him in a good mood.
● now that（連詞）：既然。ladylike：合乎小姐身份的。
● the ones=the secrets；秘密不能全部公開，有一部分她是願意父親知道的，她就拿這個跟他來談。把父親引為知己，亦是博老人高興之一法。
● hairdos：頭髮式樣。這裡是複數形式。
● even：父親所講的話，兒女通常並不覺得可笑，可是她聽了竟然也笑。
● 最後一句並不是完全句子，只是一個副詞短語和兩個副詞，形容上句的laughed。out of diplomacy：顧全面子起見。not…either：此二字連用，有「也不」之意。「她的笑，倒也並不是一種外交手段，而是自發地（spontaneously）真心地大笑。」
● they=his jokes。因為她覺得他的笑話真的可笑，再則，她也喜歡看見老人家心裡高興（in a good mood）。