chocolate cake,chocolatecake巧克力蛋糕

The Cake

Cindy glanced nervously at the clock on the kitchen wall. Five minutes before midnight.

"They should be home any time now," she thought as she put the finishing touches on the chocolate cake she was frosting. It was the first time in her 12 years she had tried to make a cake from scratch, and to be honest, it wasn't exactly an aesthetic triumph. The cake was…well, lumpy. And the frosting was bitter, as if she had run out of sugar or something, which, of course, she had.

And then there was the way the kitchen looked. Imagine a huge blender filled with all the fixings for chocolate cake — including the requisite bowls, pans and utensils. Now imagine that the blender is turned on. High speed. With the lid off. Do you get the idea?

But Cindy wasn't thinking about the mess. She had created something, a veritable phoenix of flour and sugar rising out of the kitchen clutter. She was anxious for her parents to return home from their date so she could present her anniversary gift to them. She turned off the kitchen lights and waited excitedly in the darkness. When at last she saw the flash of the car headlights, she positioned herself in the kitchen doorway. By the time she heard the key sliding into the front door, she was THIS CLOSE to exploding.

Her parents tried to slip in quietly, but Cindy would have none of that(不承受). She flipped on the lights dramatically and trumpeted: “Ta-daaa!" She gestured grandly toward the kitchen table, where a slightly off-balance two-layer chocolate cake awaited their inspection.

But her mother's eyes never made it all the way to the table. "Just look at this mess!" she moaned. "How many times have I talked to you about cleaning up after yourself?"

"But Mom, I was only… "

"I should make you clean this up right now, but I'm too tired to stay up with you to make sure you get it done right," her mother said. "So you'll do it first thing in the morning."

"Honey," Cindy's father interjected gently, "take a look at the table."

"I know — it's a mess," his wife said coldly. "The whole kitchen is a disaster. I can't stand to look at it." She stormed up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

For a few moments Cindy and her father stood silently, neither one knowing what to say〔獨立主格構造〕. At last she looked up at him, her eyes moist and red. "She never saw the cake," she said.

Unfortunately, Cindy's mother isn't the only parent who suffers from Situational Timbercular Glaucoma〔青光眼〕— the occasional inability to see the forest for the trees. From time to time we all allow ourselves to be blinded to issues of long-term significance by stuff that seems awfully important right now, but isn't. Muddy shoes, lost lunch money and messy kitchens are troublesome, and they deserve their place among life's frustrations. But what's a little mud — even on new carpet — compared to a child's self-esteem? Is a lost dollar more valuable than a youngster's emerging dignity? And while kitchen sanitation is important, is it worth the sacrifice of tender feelings and relationships?

I'm not saying that our children don't need to learn responsibility, or to occasionally suffer the painful consequences of their own bad choices. Those lessons are vital, and need to be carefully taught. But as parents, we must never forget that we're not just teaching lessons — we're teaching children. That means there are times when we really need to see the mess in the kitchen, and times when we only 〔need〕to see the cake.

finishing touches：最后的潤色；收尾

frosting：糖霜；覆上糖霜

from scratch：從零開始；白手起家

aesthetic：美學

triumph：勝利

lumpy：疙疙瘩瘩的；奇形怪狀的，不好看

as if：好像

And then：于是乎，然后，進而

blender：攪拌機

utensils：(家庭)用具，器皿;家什

lid off：蓋上蓋子

veritable：真實的;名副其實的;不折不扣的;十足的

kitchen clutter：廚房雜物

inspection：視察

all the way：一直

moaned：呻吟

stay up：熬夜；深夜不睡

interjected：插話；打斷

stormed ：怒氣沖沖

slamming：砰的一聲關上門

moist：濕潤了

time to time：不時地

life's frustrations：人生的挫折

carpet：地毯

dignity：尊嚴；自豪

sanitation：衛生環境

sacrifice：犧牲

vital：至關重要，必不可少

辛迪緊張地瞥了一眼掛在廚房墻壁上的時鐘，還有5分鐘就到午夜了。

“如今，他們隨時都會回來。〞她一邊想著，一邊在巧克力蛋糕上抹上最后一些糖霜。這是她從小到大12年來第一次嘗試制作蛋糕，完全是從頭學起。不過說實話，蛋糕至少從審美角度說不算成功。這塊蛋糕……嗯，看起來凹凸不平。糖霜是苦的，好似她把糖或者別的什么東西都用光了。當然，糖確實是用光了。

再看看她把廚房搞成什么樣了。想象一個宏大的攪拌機，里面盛著制作蛋糕的全部原料——包括必備的鍋、碗及其他器皿。再想象一下這個攪拌機開動了，高速運轉，蓋子是翻開著的。你能想象出這是什么樣的場景嗎?

但辛迪沒有考慮這些混亂。她創造了某件東西，一只用面粉和糖做成的十足的鳳凰正從廚房的一片狼藉中升起。她焦急地等待著父母約會后回來，以便她能將自己的周年紀念禮物送給他們。她關掉廚房的燈，在黑暗中興奮地等待著。終于，她看見汽車頭燈在閃爍，她在廚房門口站定。當她聽到鑰匙插進前門鎖孔的聲音時，她的心沖動得幾乎要蹦出來了!

父母盡量放輕腳步，悄悄地走進門來，但辛迪可不管那些。她沖動地用手指按下電燈開關，大聲叫道：“看!〞她莊嚴地向廚房的餐桌打了個手勢，一個略微有點不平衡的雙層蛋糕正在等待著他們的檢閱。

但是母親的眼睛壓根兒就沒有向餐桌那邊看去。“看看你搞得什么啊!〞母親抱怨道，“我給你說了多少次吃完飯要隨手拾掇干凈?〞

“可是媽媽，我只是……〞

我如今就想讓你立即拾掇干凈，但是今天太累了，沒法熬夜監視你干活，〞母親說，“你明早起床第一件事就是拾掇廚房。〞

“親愛的〞，辛迪的父親小聲提醒道，“看看餐桌。〞

“我知道——餐桌上一團糟〞，母親冷冷地說，“整個廚房簡直就是一場災難。我實在是看不下去。〞她氣沖沖地上了樓梯，進了房間，砰的一聲把門關上。

辛迪和父親靜立片刻，兩人都不知該說什么。最后辛迪抬頭看著父親，發紅的眼睛里含著淚水。“她根本沒看到蛋糕〞，她說。

不幸的是，辛迪的母親不是唯一一個這樣的父母，他們患有情景性森林青光眼——臨時性地只見樹木不見森林。由于那些眼下貌似極其重要但并非重要的事情，我們有時會對具有長遠重要意義的事情視而不見。沾上泥的鞋、丟了的午餐費、臟亂的廚房，這些東西是很討厭，值得讓人沮喪一陣子了。但是和孩子的自尊心相比，一個泥點——哪怕是粘在了新鋪的地毯上——又能算什么呢?喪失的一美元難道比一個孩子成長中的尊嚴更珍貴?廚房的衛生固然重要，可是值得為此犧牲溫順的親情嗎?

我不是說我們的孩子不需要學會負責任，不需要有時為自己錯誤的選擇付出痛苦的代價。這些道理也很重要，需要認真教授于他們。但是作為父母，我們不要忘了我們一不僅僅是在教課——我們是在教孩子。這意味著有時候我們確實要看到廚房的臟亂，而有時候我們只需看到蛋糕。