2006年NPR美国国家公共电台六月-'Summering' in My Own Bathtub

With few days remaining this summer, I realize that I have worked through the entire season and haven't had time to do my traditional summer ritual, something I started 20 years ago.

That's Day to Day contributing writer Annabelle Gurwitch.

The summer of my freshman 1 year in college, I headed off to London for a semester abroad. Before my classes started I visited some family friends in their manor 2 house in a tiny pastoral village in Dorset, home of the novelist Thomas Hardy 4. My days were spent tramping over rolling hills, baking shortbread, and at the end of each day I would take up a position in one of the many upstairs baths, a freestanding, old-fashioned, claw-and-ball tub with steaming hot water, ice tea, a few candles and a book. It seemed only appropriate to read a lot of Hardy that summer.

I had no way of knowing that, in fact, this would be my last carefree summer, that my family had suffered financial setbacks, I would need to drop out of college, I would actually be working as a mime 5, dressed as a hamburger, handing out flyers for Arby's on a street corner in downtown Manhattan, when I finally finished reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

For much of my ten years in New York, as I was struggling to forge a career as an actress, I lived in an apartment which was so miniature that you could literally 6 lie in bed, answer the door and fry an egg all at the same time. I also had a musically-inclined woodworking neighbor who for a period of four months mistakenly believed himself to be in love with me and I with him. He would play "If I Were a Carpenter and You Were a Lady" every time I returned to the building. The floor of my apartment was also slanted 7. It was a sublet 8 of a sublet of a sublet rented from my yoga teacher who was indicted 9 years later in a pyramid money scheme. And on top of all of that I had been told that Serpico once lived in the building, which might explain why shady characters were often lurking in the vestibule. It's safe to say I wasn't receiving invitations to Capri and the closest I got to the Hamptons was a train ride to Coney Island. But my apartment did have a great Art deco, purple-tiled bathtub and a window which looked out onto vine-covered chimney tops, so after a long day of pounding the pavements, dropping off pictures and resumes to agents and performing in various off-off-nowhere-near-Broadway, depressing of avant-garde productions which received even more depressing reviews, one of which consisted of the single word :WHY?

I would return home and observe my summer ritual. A few candles later, a tall ice tea and a soak in the tub could transform any ordinary city night into the Dorset countryside. Now that I live in LA, I do over more summery-type things. My husband and I play baseball and swim at our neighbors' next door with our son, of course, that's what we do all year long. But as an actor and writer, I still don't find myself in a villa 3 in Tuscany in August. Why? Because now I have just enough of an established career to be lucky enough to work a year round, so I haven't had my summer yet, until tonight, when I plan to brew 11 some ice tea, light some candles, take a hot bath and read a good book. Ah..

Radio stories, that one from actress and Day to Day contributing writer Annabelle Gurwitch.
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manor house:a big old house with a large area of land around it ;领主之宅邸
pastoral:typical of the simple peaceful life in the count;牧人的, 田园生活的, 牧师的
tramping:to walk somewhere slowly and with heavy steps;不定期运输
rolling:rolling hills have many long gentle slopes; 旋转的, 转动的, 摇摆的, 起伏的
freestanding:not fixed to a frame, wall, or other support ;独立式的, 不需依靠支撑物的
claw-and-ball:有抓球爪式脚的,有抓球爪式脚的家具的
no way:used to emphasize that you will not agree or be able to do something;不，决不
carefree:having no worries or problems; 无忧无虑的, 轻松愉快的, 不负责的
drop out of:to leave a school or university before your course has finished;不参与,退出,退学
flyer:a small sheet of paper advertising something;(广告)传单
sublet:to rent to someone else a property that you rent from its owner;转租,转租的房屋
yoga:a system of exercises that help you control your mind and body in order to relax;瑜咖
lurk:if something such as danger, a feeling etc lurks somewhere, it exists, but you may not see it or know about it ;潜藏, 潜伏, 埋伏
vestibule:space inside the front door of a public building; 门廊, 前厅
avant-garde:avant-garde music, literature etc is extremely modern and often seems strange or slightly shocking;先锋派, 前卫