A：So Chris, I've heard that you're from a big family. How many people?

克里斯，我聽說你來自一個大家庭。有多少人?

B：Nine total. Seven children and my parents.

一共9人。7個孩子和我父母。

A：Seven children? That's a lot. Why did your parents have so many?

7個孩子?那很多喔。為什么你父母要這么多孩子?

B：Well, my mother came from a big family, and wanted to have one of her own. My father was an only child, and didn't really care about having a large family, but my mother talked him into it.

嗯，我母親來自一個大家庭，因而想要一個自己的大家庭。我父親是獨子，因而確實不想要一個大家庭，但我母親說服了他。

A：Jeez, seven children. That must have a lot of problems. We have four children in my family and my grandparents can never get our names right.

唉呀，7個孩子。那一定有很多問題。我家有4個孩子，我祖父母從未叫對過我們的名字。

B：It can be hard, and there are certain sacrifices you have to make.

確實很難，你必須做出某些犧牲。

A：Like what? I assume that there's no privacy.

什么樣的?我想是沒有隱私。

B：That's one. Another is the lack of personal property. Everything you have, from toys to clothes, is used by your brothers and sisters. Especially clothes. Three quarters of my wardrobe are hand-me-downs.

那是一個。另外一個是沒有個人財產(chǎn)。你所有的東西，從玩具到衣服，都被你的兄弟和姐妹用過。特別是衣服。我衣柜里四分之三的衣服都是傳過來的。

A：And the age gap is also annoying. There's a ten-year difference between my younger brother and me. We have nothing in common.

再者代溝也很惱人。我弟弟和我相差十歲。我們沒有任何共同之處。

B：Same problem here. There's an 18-year gap between the oldest and youngest child in my family. The last child was born just as the oldest was going to college.

這里也是同樣的問題。在我家最大的和最小的相差18歲。最小的出生時正好最大的要上大學(xué)。

A：Well, at least going to college won't be too bad. Since both of your parents are college professors, they must give you reduced tuition at the college.

嗯，至少上大學(xué)不會太難。既然你父母親都是大學(xué)教授，大學(xué)肯定會給你減少學(xué)費。

B：They do, but it doesn't help too much. Having seven children means that the money situation in my home is always pretty tight.

他們會，但不會有太大的幫助。有7個孩子意味著我家的經(jīng)濟狀況總是很緊張。