信手拈來的道地

英文寫得'道地'一直是我的目標，不過我的進步似乎很緩慢。其實我們常常受到母語語法的影響讓我們的東西直接翻成另一個語言，所以感覺就是不道地。我還蠻常看'Annie's Mailbox' 專欄，每天在China Post都有，雖然有些問題我看了都覺得很想笑，有些問題看了也瞭解地球的另一端的人類在想什麼，其實還蠻有趣的，重點是Annie團隊的回答我都覺得很中肯，畢竟是一個有名的心靈求助專欄。這些文字都很淺顯很生活化，很多我們會的字常常有我們不常用的用法，所以也可以參考一下~~~

這一篇是2011四月四日的一個22患有亞斯伯格的大學生寫的，大概是抱怨他的室友都不整理家裡不洗碗之類的，劇情和大家的狀況差不多。回答是建議他分配好各自的工作，或者要不要出錢固定找人來打掃。並告訴他: Whatever you decide, resentment will build if you don’t deal with it and work out a tolerable arrangement. 不管怎麼做，如果不好好處理，找出一個大家都可以接受的方式，那當然就會產生不滿囉!

I am a 22-year-old college student living on a fixed income in a small apartment with a roommate. ‘Randy’ is one of my best friends, and we’ve known each other for 10 years. We’re a good match. I suffer from Asperger’s, and Randy has a minor case of OCD. We are two average, slightly sloppy 20-somethings. But I have a problem with Randy.

We moved in together a year ago and have only twice set aside time to clean the place. The first time, I was the only one doing anything. Randy spent those three days barking orders at me and playing on his computer. A few weeks ago, he asked if ‘we’ could clean. He helped in the kitchen, although. I did all the hard stuff while he mostly supervised. The next day, we started on the bathroom, but Randy got sidetracked playing on his computer, and I ended up cleaning it myself. Once in a blue moon, Randy will vacuum the living room, but he gives up about a third of the way through. He refuses to wash the dishes with anything expect cheap paper towels that come apart, so there’s always food still caked on them. Randy yells at me for leaving things out, even though he does the same thing. He’s been known to throw my stuff away without asking, and I’ve probably lost US$100 that way. If I ever asked him about these things, he gets angry or promises to try harder, but it never happens.

Randy is now out of town, and he left me all the dirty dishes and a ton of garbage. I admit I’m disorganized and I procrastinate, but Randy makes no effort to contribute. What can I do?
---Frustrated in New York.

Dear New York: These are common issues between roommates, and everyone resolves them differently. You could specify which parts of the apartment you will clean and then do so, telling Randy the rest is his. You could ask Randy to contribute money in lieu of working so you can invest in cleaning supplies or hire help. You could pool your resources to hire an occasional cleaning person. Whatever you decide, resentment will build if you don’t deal with it and work out a tolerable arrangement.