have the decency懂點分寸

把對女兒的祝福說成一句殘酷的盼望：願她笨一點，才好過一點。溫柔和絕望同時在這句話裡。

That's the best thing a ... in this world can be.

帶反諷地評論某種處境時用，語氣要平靜、不解釋；當真心祝福說會傷人。

That's the most a girl can hope for here. ／ It's the best a woman in this world can be.

中性

best thing 略重，in this world 放慢，can be 輕輕收住。

In that town, staying quiet was the best thing a woman could be. 在那個鎮上，安靜本分就是一個女人最好的樣子。

把整章的繁華收進一句輓歌式的判斷，bright 和 precious 越亮，fade 就越狠。

All the bright, precious things ...

感慨美好易逝、寫回憶收尾時用，書面而抒情；勸人時用會顯得太冷。

Everything bright and precious slips away so quickly. ／ The shiniest things are the first to go.

literary

bright, precious things 連讀，fade so fast 逐字放慢。

All the bright, precious moments of that summer faded so fast. 那個夏天所有明亮珍貴的時刻都褪色得太快了。

三個完成時排比把經歷堆到滿，越豐富越顯出底下的空，是典型的用盡力氣證明自己活過。

I've been ..., seen ..., and done ...

自嘲式地說自己什麼都經歷過時用，非正式、帶疲憊感；對剛認識的人說像炫耀。

I've been everywhere, seen it all, done it all. ／ I've had every experience and it still wasn't enough.

口語

been, seen, done 三個動詞各重讀一次，and 輕帶。

I've been everywhere, seen everything, and done everything twice. 我什麼地方都去過，什麼都見過，還都做過兩遍。

用 cynical 給自己蓋章，坦率得近乎炫耀，也讓後面那句關於女兒的柔軟顯得更加意外。

I'm pretty ... about everything.

自嘲或半真半假地承認自己看透了時用，口語、輕鬆；認真安慰別人時別說。

I'm fairly cynical about the whole thing. ／ I've grown pretty skeptical about everything.

中性

pretty 輕，cynical about everything 稍拖，收在 everything 上。

After ten years in that job, I'm pretty cynical about everything. 幹那行十年之後，我對一切都相當憤世嫉俗。