论文部分内容阅读
和往常一样,米尔德里德·皮尔斯太太一边低声哼着歌曲一边在厨房里忙碌,她正在烤制精美的家庭蛋糕,脸上禁不住绽出满意的笑容。这位三十多岁、颇具姿色的太太从结婚以后,似乎就是为这座普通住宅的小小厨房而生存的。她的丈夫伯特·皮尔斯原在沃利·费伊的地产公司工作,起先也挣过不少钱。她有过雄心要让两个女儿受上等教育,生活得象阔人家的闺秀一样。她把女儿们住的房间装饰得十分舒适阔绰,为大女儿维达买钢琴,买漂亮体面的衣裳。伯特对她这种做法表示过不满,但在他们经济宽裕时,他也就容忍了她的奢侈的“爱好”。可是好景不长,四十年代中有一阵子,人们突然不再买房子了,伯特失了业,四口之家的生活渐
As usual Mrs. Mildred Pierce was busy in the kitchen while humming the song, she was baking her fine home-baked cake with a happy smile on her face. The pretty wife in her thirties, after getting married, seems to be living for her little kitchen in this ordinary home. Her husband, Bert Pierce, who was originally a real estate company at Wally Fay, earned a fortune at first. She has the ambition to get her two daughters to be educated and to live as ladylike people. She decorated the daughters’ rooms with great comfort, buying pianos for her eldest daughter, and buying beautiful, decent clothes. Burt expressed dissatisfaction with her approach, but when they were well-off, he tolerated her extravagant “hobby.” But the good news is not long, and for some time in the 1940s, people suddenly stopped buying houses. Burt lost his job, and his family’s life gradually grew