|
Picture a child of 8 or so. He wakes up and carefully makes his bed before going downstairs and emptying the dishwasher. He fixes himself a bowl of cereal and calmly eats it at the table, then clears his place, rinses the bowl and spoon, and places them both in the now-empty dishwasher. 想象一个八岁左右的孩子，早上醒来后先仔细整理好自己的床铺，然后下楼将洗碗机中的碗碟拿出来，接着给自己冲上一碗麦片，坐在桌边安静地吃完，接下来清理餐桌，将碗勺洗冲干净，放进已是空着的洗碗机内。 If this seems like some sort of mythical youngster from a faraway culture or a bygone age, you may be in the market for one of the parenting books smartly reviewed by Elizabeth Kolbert in this week's New Yorker. Summing up the point of both the books and the review, she writes, 'With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty and the dauphins of pre-Revolutionary France, contemporary American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world.' 如果在你看来，这个孩子虚幻得像一个来自远古文明或某个逝去年代的年轻人，那么伊丽莎白•科尔伯特(Elizabeth Kolbert)这周为《纽约客》(New Yorker)就育儿书撰写的精彩书评中提到的那些书籍，你很可能会乐意读上一本。她在总结这些书籍和相关书评的要点时写道：“除了中国明朝的皇子皇孙和法国大革命前的王储，现在的美国小孩有可能是有史以来最娇生惯养的年轻人。” | 
