时光荏苒 时光荏苒

yoyo530521

As Time Goes By

The night before her eighth birthday, I found my daughter Lizzy weeping（v.抽泣） in her bed. "I love being seven," she sobbed. "I don't want to be eight!"

I held her in my arms and explained that being eight was going to be even better than being seven. I told her how much I loved her and what a wonderful birthday she was going to have. Eventually she was comforted, or maybe I just talked her to sleep.

I understood her feelings. It's always strange to imagine getting older, even when you aren't very old. I know that my own intense "when I grow up" yearnings throughout childhood were locked in combat（n.战斗） with an equally intense wish that nothing would ever change. I never wanted to be a "grown-up" or even an adolescent.

I don't remember whether I loved being 7, but I loved being 12. Toward the end of being 12, I was afraid that I'd become a different and detestable person on my 13th birthday. On that day, without my permission, I would wake up and not be a kid anymore.

I would be a "teenager." Instead of climbing trees and spending my days outdoors, I would wear my hair in a ponytail（n.马尾辫）, put on lipstick, and talk on the phone constantly. I would grow breasts, which looked to me like a real nuisance(n.讨厌的事情) at the time, and have to wear a bra. Obnoxious（adj.不愉快，讨厌的） seventh-grade boys would see the bra strap through my shirt and would reach out and snap it in the hallway in junior high. I had seen this happen to other girls.

I definitely did not want to be 13.

中文译文：
      八岁生日的前晚，我的小女儿Lizzy趴在床上哭，她哽咽着说：“我喜欢七岁，不想变八岁。”
      我把她搂在怀里，告诉她八岁比七岁还要好，我很爱她还会给她举办一个精彩的生日聚会。最后她欣慰地睡着了，也或许是我的话语催她进入梦乡。
      我理解她的感受。想着将要长大总是很别扭，即使你并不怎么大。我记得小时候非常渴望长大，但同时又多希望一切都不要改变。那时的我一直不想成为“成年人”，甚至不想成为青少年。
      我不记得是否曾经喜欢七岁，但我确实喜欢过12岁。接近13周岁生日的那段时间，我担心自己一旦13岁就会性格迥异、令人厌恶。不经我同意，13岁生日那天早上醒来时我就已经不再是个小孩子了。
      我将成为一个少年，不再爬树摸鸟、到处乱跑，而是扎了马尾，图了口红，抱着电话讲个不停。我的胸部会变大，还不得不穿上胸罩，这是多么烦人事情。读中学的时候，讨厌的七年级男生会透过衬衫看到我的胸罩带，还在走廊里伸手把它扯出来。我见过几个有过类似遭遇的女生。
      我当时一点儿都不想13岁！

Sylvia_scj

What's really obnoxious to me when getting older as a girl was getting periods.