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There is a country-I read about it once-where the local custom is that
我曾经读过一篇文章，里面说有一个国家，当地的风俗是，
if you go to house and praise some small possession, the owners feel obliged to offer it to you as a gift.
如果你去到一幢房子那儿，对一些小财产夸奖一番，主人会觉得有义务把它作为礼物送给你。
I don't remember the name of the country; the only other place I know of with such a custom is my mother's apartment.
我不记得这个国家的名字了，我所知道的唯一有这种做法的地方是我母亲的公寓。
Knowing Mama, I have always been careful with my compliments, but that doesn't stop her.
我了解母亲，我总是很小心地恭维她，但这并不能阻止她。
Mama senses admiration far more subtle than what's spoken.
妈妈感受到的赞美远比表达出来的微妙得多。
If she catches me staring at anything small enough to put in a grocery sack, she hands it to me as I leave.
如果她发现我盯着任何小到可以放进购物袋的东西，她会在我离开时递给我。
It would do no good to protest.
抗议没有好处。
"I was merely staring at that photograph of Mount Hood because I have one exactly like it in my living room."
“我只是盯着胡德山的照片，因为我的客厅里有一张和它一模一样的照片。”
Mama would only nod and say, "Of course. You were thinking how nice it would be to have a set.
妈妈只会点头说：“当然。你在想要是有一套该多好。
If a mother doesn't understand, who does?"
如果母亲不明白，谁会明白？”
Sometimes, while visiting Mama and trying not to say anything complimentary,
有时，我去看望母亲时，尽量不说任何赞美的话，
I reflect on what might have been had she ended up in, say, the White House.
我会想如果她最终入主白宫会发生什么。
"Here you are, Mr. Prime Minister, that nice picture of George Washington you were admiring so much, from the Blue Room.
“总理先生，这是你在蓝厅里欣赏的乔治·华盛顿的漂亮照片。
No, take it. You like it. What do I need it for?"
不，拿着，你会喜欢它的，我要用它做什么呢？”
Being with Mama is like watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie: I never know what's going to happen next.
和母亲在一起就像看希区柯克的电影：我永远不知道接下来会发生什么。
For instance, I have lasting memories of childhood walks with her.
例如，我一直记得童年和她一起散步，
Mama noticed everything. We had to stop to admire a nice house, a nice tree, a nice flower.
妈妈会注意到一切。我们会停下来欣赏漂亮的房子，挺拔的树，美丽的花。
Mama regarded the people we saw (those who didn't look like her relatives) as portraits in a museum—no matter if people stared back.
母亲把我们看到的人（那些长得不像她亲戚的人）当作博物馆里的肖像，不管那些人是否回头看。
"She was pretty once, but has seen tragedy," Mama would whisper, or, "Such a handsome man, but conceited to the core."
“她曾经很漂亮，但也遭遇过不幸，”妈妈会小声说，或者说，“这么英俊的男人，却自大到极点。”
Her sharpest epithet was "Minky," reserved for the type of woman Mama thought would wear a mink to the supermarket.
她起的苛刻的绰号“Minky”，留给那种母亲认为会穿着貂皮大衣去超市的女性。
