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The happy couple, many years ago. I married the same woman twice. Once when I was 28, and then again at 33. I didn't have to marry her again; I wanted to.
多年前，我们也是一对幸福的小夫妻。我娶了这个女人两次。第一次结婚我28岁，第二次33岁。不是我必须娶她，而是我想娶她。
The first time, we eloped to a small town along the coast of Maine. A very nice woman there, named Brenda - the town clerk as it happens - provided us with the necessary documents in order to be issued a marriage license. We completed them in the woman's presence and with her help. Afterward, she wished us well and said that, for a $5 fee, she would mail the license to our home in New York just as soon as it was ready. It would be ready, Brenda said, once the justice of the peace we'd hired to perform a seaside service forwarded to the town a document noting that she had, in fact, signed off on the nuptials.
对于第一段婚姻，我们私奔到缅因州沿海的一个小镇。小镇上有个叫布伦达的女人人超好--当时在镇里工作--给我们提供了办理结婚证所需的文件。在她的帮助下，我们填完了所有内容。之后，她祝我们一切顺遂，并说只要5美元的费用，她就能在结婚证办好的时候尽快将其寄到我们纽约的家中。
Only Brenda never did get around to mailing us the license. And my wife and I never bothered to follow up. Our lives were full and very busy and little details like $5 documents just didn't rate high on the to-do list. Besides, no one had ever asked us to present our marriage license, for any reason. "One day, we'll track it down," was basically our position on the matter.
但是，布伦达却没有将结婚证寄给我们。而我和妻子也没有在这件事上多做计较。我们的生活充实而又忙碌，5美元文件这样的小事在待办清单上并不起眼。而且，也没有人让我们出示结婚证。"有一天，我会好好追踪这件事的，"这就是我们当时的态度。
Then, on the occasion of our fifth wedding anniversary, I got the idea to surprise my beloved by inserting the license into the card that I would give her, with the wooden gift that I had made for her. Around a month before the date, I dialed the Rockport town office in Maine and got none other than Brenda herself on the line. After I'd explained what I was after, she put me on hold to search for the documents, but was back on the line in no time flat with bad news - the application was tossed due to some misunderstandings.
之后，在我们5周年的纪念日上，我想要给亲爱的老婆一个惊喜：在我给她的那张卡中插入结婚证，同时送给她一份我亲手完成的木制礼物。纪念日前一个月，我给缅因州罗克波特市镇办公室打了电话，接电话的人正是布伦达。解释我此举的目的之后，她让我稍等一会儿开始翻找文件，但很快又拿起电话告诉了我一个坏消息--由于一些误解，当时的申请文件被扔掉了。
That night, I was forced to ruin the surprise I'd planned and ask my wife if she would marry me. Again. That was more than 20 years ago. We now live in a small town along the coast of Maine, very happy.
那天脕上，我准备的惊喜被破坏了，不得不再问一次老婆：你愿意嫁给我吗。那已经是20多年前的事了。现在，我们住在缅因州沿海的一个小镇上，非常幸福。
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