Sweet Names

There were many people living together in a one-block

complex. One of the wives complained to her husband,

"Look here! All of our neighbors' husbands call their wives

such sweet and romantic names.

You never call me one like that."

So the husband said, "What do they call their wives?

I never heard anything!"

The wife said, "The one who lives on our right,

he calls his wife 'apple pie'. The one who lives next

to him calls his wife 'sweet cherry blossom'.

The one who lives to the left of us calls his wife 'rosemary'.

(It's a very fragrant kind of spice you put into your food.)

The one next to him, calls his wife 'my lovely pizza'.

The other one says, 'Oh my diamond, my glorious diamond'.

And you! You never call me anything so sweet

and romantic like that!"

So the husband shook his head and said,

"I am sorry, but the one who lives on the right,

he is a baker. The one next to him is a gardener,

he plants Japanese cherries. The one who calls his

wife 'rosemary', grows herbs! And the other one calls his

wife 'diamond' because he is a jeweler. I cannot! I am

a shoe-repairer. I can't call you 'my broken shoe'. "

It was good that he wasn't a coffin-maker. Otherwise,

he called her, 'my solid coffin' to give her the

sweetest name that she desired

昵称

在某一个小区里住了许多户人家，其中的一户太太跟他

先生抱怨说：「我们隔壁的的先生们都是用甜美浪漫的

名字叫他们的太太，而你却从不曾那样叫过我。」那位

先生问：「他们是怎么叫太太的呢？我什么也没听到？」

太太就说：「住在我们右边的那家，他叫他太太“苹果派”，

而住在他们隔壁的那家，叫他太太“甜美的樱花”；住在

我们左边的那家，叫他太太“迷迭香”（迷迭香是一种很香

的香料，可加在食物中），而他们的隔壁叫他太太

“我可爱的披萨”；也有人叫太太“我灿烂的钻石”；

而你却从不叫我任何像这么甜美又罗曼蒂克的名称。

　那位先生摇摇头说：「我很抱歉，但是住在右边的先生

是做面包的；而在他们隔壁的是位园丁，他种日本樱花；

而叫太太迷迭香的先生是卖香料的；另一位叫太太钻石的

是因为他是位珠宝商。而我只是个补鞋匠，总不能叫你「我的破鞋啊！」

　还好他不是做棺材的，否则就要叫他太太「我坚固的棺材了」。