Lotus lily feet show from the hem of her gown.
她长袍的缝边上有莲花和百合。
She wanted to be a beauty. She lived to be 100.
她想要变得漂亮,她活到了100岁。
My mother lived to be 100.
我母亲活到了100岁。
"One hundred and three," she said.
她说,是103岁。
Chinese lie about their age, making themselves older.
关于年龄,中国人总是似是而非,把自己说的更老些。
Or maybe she was 97 when the lady official from Social Security visited her,
那个社会保障部门的女官员访问她的时候,她可能才97岁,
as the government visits everyone who claims a 100th birthday.
政府会拜访每个过百岁生日的老人。
MaMa showed off; she pedalled her exercise bike, hammer-curled hot pink barbells.
妈妈是在炫耀,她踩着室内健身车,举着热粉色的杠铃。
Suddenly stopped — what if So-so Security won't believe she's a century old?
突然一切都停止了——如果这样,社保的人会不会不相信她已经100岁了?
Here's a way for calculating age:
这里有种计算年龄的方法:
Subtract from her age of death my age now.
从她去世的年龄剪去我现在的年龄。
100 minus 65 equals 35. I am 35 years-to-go.
100减去65是35,我还有35年的生命。
Lately, I've been writing a book a decade;
我写一本书需要十年;
I have time to write 3 more books.
我还有时间写3本书。
Jane Austen wrote 6 books.
简奥斯丁写了6本书。
I've written 6 books. Hers are 6 big ones, mine 4 big ones and 2 small ones.
我也已经写了6本,她的是6本长篇,我的是4本长篇和2本短篇。
I take refuge in numbers.
我经常在数字中寻求庇护。
I waste my time with Sudoku.
用数独来虚度时间。
Day dawns, I am greedy, helpless to begin 6-star difficulty Sudoku. Sun goes down;
黎明破晓,我非常贪婪,不惜一切的要完成6星级难度的数独,太阳又下山了;
I'm still stuck for that square that will let the numbers fly into place.
我还困在那些方块里,需要把数字纷纷归位。