从美国异族通婚说起
以我们今天的眼光看待Marilyn和James的婚姻似乎没什么不妥，但在1958年，白人和亚裔通婚这种事情是不被社会所接受的，被认为是违法和错误的。这就好比用我们现在的眼光看《西厢记》中的张生和崔莺莺，他们不过是男女的一场自由恋爱，但在当时的社会背景下，却是违返社会道德价值观的，同样不被社会所接受的。同样的故事在不同背景下承载的份量是完全不一样的。
第二章有一段这样的描写，这不是故事，在美国历史确有其事。
Just days before, hundreds of miles away, another couple had married, too—a white man, a black woman, who would share a most appropriate name: Loving. In four months they would be arrested in Virginia, the law reminding them that Almighty God had never intended white, black, yellow, and red to mix, that there should be no mongrel citizens, no obliteration of racial pride. It would be four years before they protested, and four years more before the court concurred, but many more years before the people around them would, too. Some, like Marilyn’s mother, never would.
1958年，维吉尼亚警察闯入一对异族夫妇——黑人女子米尔德里德和她白人丈夫理查德.洛文的家中把两人逮捕，理由是维吉尼亚州禁止异族通婚。洛文夫妇和维吉尼亚州政府的官司后来一路打到美国最高法院。1967年，最高法院九名大法官一致裁决，禁止不同种族男女通婚违反宪法。
从最高法院那次裁决到几十年后的今天，美国人对异族通婚的看法也发生了翻天覆地的变化。几十年前，人们认为异族通婚是错误甚至是非法的。而在今天美国人的心中，种族的界线变得越来越模糊。但即便如此，并不是所有人接受异族通婚。
这让我想起一位前同事，他是美国第五代移民。有次他给我看一张他们大家庭的合影，大概二十人左右，老老少少，男男女，有白人面孔，有华人面孔。他指着照片娘说，你看，我们家族里的女孩子都嫁给外国人了，但是男人都不会娶洋妞。即使在今天种族边界越来越模糊，华裔男人娶洋妞的还属于少数。
倒退几十年，Marilyn和James婚姻的确实让人担心，难怪Marilyn的妈妈说了下面这段话，想想你的孩子们吧！你将无片容身，后悔终生的！
“Think about your children,” she said. “Where will you live? You won’t fit in anywhere. You’ll be sorry for the rest of your life.”
他们两个人的婚姻可以说从一开始就注定是个悲剧。一个人想寻找一个异类，一个人想寻找一个混在人群中不显眼的人，看似搭调的组合，却被他们自己的结婚誓言出卖了：这个婚姻缺乏彼此之间的了解，没有互相信任的基础。 这是爱情吗？
A few months later, when they married, they would make a pact: to let the past drift away, to stop asking questions, to look forward from then on, never back.
这样的家庭在当时成为封闭的家庭当然不能完全怪罪于James或者Marilyn。她们不外出，不娱乐，没有party, 没有牌友，没有猎友，没有午餐伙伴，不去教堂。社会对异族婚姻不认可，对混血儿不认可，也许封闭是一种自我保护。但是James和Marilyn的教育无疑是失败的，把自己的梦想强加于女儿，认为唯有读书高。一个脱离社会孤立存在的家庭，加上父母封闭的教育，孩子怎么才能正常成长？
婚礼和葬礼从两方面进一步烘托出这个家庭的孤单，与社会的脱节，人物性格的缺陷。
Words
1. She jerked herself free and the lipstick went flying, then skittered to a stop on the floor tiles. ”
skitter（to run or move very quickly and lightly）
感觉这个词用在这里画面感很强，要让我译成中文，居然不知道用哪个词好。
仿写个句子：The coin slipped off from my hand, then skittered to a stop down the desk.
2.Then she took his lapel in her fist, pulled his face to hers, and kissed him.
took his lapel in her fist 一把抓住衣领, 可以感觉动作强烈
3. James has the car windows rolled up tight, but the breeze shakes the leaves of the trees on the banks and corrugates the surface of the water”
the breeze corrugates the surface of the water 微风吹着湖面，泛着波纹
关于James性格的一些片段描述
James那种害怕跟别人不一样，因为他的出身，他的父母，从小就跟别人不一样，即使美国本土出生，却没有归宿感。家庭对他的影响实在太大了。
1. He had mentioned once, in passing, that his parents had worked at a school, leaving it at that, hoping she’d think teacher.
这句话中有两个插入语很好的表现了James即小心翼翼的小心思，in passing, leaving it at that, 顺便提了一下和点到即止，
in passing：If something is said in passing, it is said while talking about something else and is not the main subject of a conversation.
leave it at that：to say or do no more about something.
2. In the fifth grade, he had stopped speaking Chinese to his parents, afraid of tinting his English with an accent; long before that, he had stopped speaking to his parents at school at all.
因为害怕有口音，就不再跟父母讲中文。在学校也根本不跟父母说话。
3. He was afraid to tell Marilyn these things, afraid that once he admitted them, she would see him as he had always seen himself: a scrawny outcast, feeding on scraps, reciting his lines and trying to pass.An imposter.He was afraid she would never see him any other way.
outcast 异类，feeding on scraps 吃剩饭长大，reciting his lines and trying to pass一心背书考试，imposter冒名顶替的骗子
James把这向个标签劳劳的贴在自己身上，极度自卑。
4. His father had gone six months later. Complications of pneumonia, the doctors had said, but James had known the truth: his father simply hadn’t wanted to live alone.
James的妈妈死于脑瘤，他的爸爸因不愿独活，在他的母亲去世六个月后随他而去。
James的爸爸明明还有儿子可以依靠，为什么说独活？足以见得James在生活中并不能带给父亲一丝一毫的关爱和精神支持。
5. A few months later, when they married, they would make a pact: to let the past drift away, to stop asking questions, to look forward from then on, never back.
James的婚姻。这个看似美好的婚姻契约，一点也不美好。stop asking question这一条似乎暗示了两个根本不了解的人走在一起
Summary (CH1-3)
On May 3, 1977, Lydia was dead. But her parents, James and Marilyn thought she was missing. After they reported police, the police officer suggested they call all of Lydia's friends. They made a call list. After all the calls, they discovered their perfect daughter, in their eyes, has no friends. She always pretended she was on the phone with her friends, gossiping. She always pretended she went out with her friends, but always alone. However, her brother, Nath knew his sister's secrets.
After a few days, the police dragged the lake nearby and found Lydia's body. How did this happen? What is about her family? Their parents? Her mother, Marilyn wants to stand out, but her farther James Lee wants to blend in.
In 1955, Marilyn enrolled in introductory physic with excellent high grades. She was the only one girl in the class, and by midterm, she set the curve for every exam. In her junior year, she met James Lee who taught the course of The Cowboy in American Culture, and fell love with him. In the eyes of Marilyn, James was different from other young men she knew. She kissed James in his office across the desk after the first James' lecture. She believed this man was she wanted in her life.
James was the second generation of Chinese immigration and born in American, but he never felt belong there. When he was six, his family moved to Iowa, where his parents worked for a small boarding school as worker. Undoubtedly, he had a gift for learning. He passed the entrance exam easily, attended the school for free and spent 12 years there, but he never felt at home. He knew he was different, and he just wanted to look like anyone else. He tried to blend in the society, listening to the radios, reading comics, saving his pocket money for double features, learning the rules of the new board games. But he was still alone, not attending the dances, rallies, or proms. He had no friends.
When Marilyn kissed the him, he could not believe it. Why did he love Marilyn? When she came to his office, he had not even recognized her. That is the reason he came to love her: because she had blend in so perfectly.
They fell in love quickly and spent all that year autumn together. It seemed that everything was going on well. James thought he was going to be hired by Harvard. Marilyn would graduate next year and head off to medical school. However, nothing quite as planned. Harvard did not hire him and Marilyn was pregnant.Instead of Harvard, an offer from humble Middlewood College. Instead of medical school, a wedding. Before the wedding, Marilyn's mother tried to stop the marriage, but it did work. After the wedding, she never saw her mother again.
Next was Lydia's funeral. Nath believed that Jack knew something about his sister's death. At the cemetery, Nath caught Jack, questioning him. But their conversation and fight was interrupted by their parents, Nath got nothing with Jacking leaving with his mother.
