The old kitchen had been annoying Birte and her husband for eleven years, so they were quite ready to argue about replacing it. They were not ready for how much there was to argue about. The tiles came first. Birte wanted white, and her husband wanted dark green. They brought home forty-one samples and taped them to the wall, and for two weeks they walked past them like people avoiding a debt.
那间旧厨房已经让比尔特和她丈夫烦了十一年，所以他们早就准备好为换新厨房吵上一架。可他们没料到，要吵的事竟然这么多。先是瓷砖。比尔特想要白色，她丈夫想要深绿色。他们带回了四十一块样品，用胶带贴在墙上，整整两个星期，他们从样品前走过，像躲债的人一样。
Then came the layout. Birte wanted to knock down the wall between the kitchen and the living room. Her husband said that a kitchen without walls was a kitchen where every dirty pan became public property.
接着是布局。比尔特想拆掉厨房和客厅之间的那堵墙。她丈夫说，没有墙的厨房，每一只脏锅都会变成公共财产。
The fridge was the worst. He wanted it beside the door, so that he could open it the moment he came home. She wanted it at the far end, away from the stove. They discussed it for three entire evenings. "If you had your way," he said, "I would have to cross the whole room for a glass of water."
冰箱最让人头疼。他想把它放在门边，这样一回到家就能立刻打开。她想把它放在最里头，离炉灶远一点。他们为此讨论了整整三个晚上。“要是照你的意思，”他说，“我喝杯水还得穿过整个房间。”
On the fourth evening, the contractor arrived to take measurements. He listened to the argument for an hour, tape measure in hand, and then he finally put it down. In thirty years of renovating kitchens, he said, he had never seen a couple truly fight about tiles. "People fight about what the room is for," he said. "So what is this room for?"
第四天晚上，承包商来量尺寸。他手里拿着卷尺，听他们吵了一个小时，最后终于把它放了下来。他说，他装修了三十年厨房，从没见过哪对夫妻真的为瓷砖吵架。“人们吵的是这个房间是做什么用的，”他说，“那么，这个房间是做什么用的？”
Nobody answered for a while. "For being near someone while I cook," Birte said at last. "In my parents' flat, the kitchen was a corridor, and I was always in the way. I want a room where somebody can sit and talk to me."
好一阵子，没有人回答。“用来在我做饭的时候，能靠近一个人，”比尔特终于说，“在我父母的公寓里，厨房就是一条走廊，我总是挡着别人的路。我想要一个房间，能让别人坐下来，一边跟我说话。”
Her husband looked at the floor. "My father came home every evening and went straight to the fridge," he said. "My mother was always standing beside it. That's where they talked, for ten minutes, before anything else. It was where the day started."
她丈夫低头看着地面。“我父亲每天晚上回到家，直接走到冰箱前，”他说，“我母亲总是站在冰箱旁边。他们就在那儿说话，说上十分钟，然后才做别的事。那是一天开始的地方。”
Birte stared at him. In fourteen years of marriage, she had never heard that.
比尔特盯着他看。结婚十四年，这些话她一次也没听过。
"So you want the fridge by the door," she said slowly, "and I want you in the kitchen with me. And you want to keep the wall."
“所以你想把冰箱放在门边，”她慢慢地说，“而我想让你和我一起待在厨房里。而且你想留着那堵墙。”
"Yes," he said. "A little."
“对，”他说，“留一点点。”
The contractor scratched his chin. "I could put a hatch in the wall," he said. "A wooden hatch at counter height, with a sliding shutter. You keep your wall, and she keeps her conversation."
承包商挠了挠下巴。“我可以在墙上开一个小窗口，”他说，“一个与台面齐高的木头窗口，带一扇滑动的挡板。墙，您留着；她呢，也能留着她的交谈。”
"That's ridiculous," said her husband.
“这太荒唐了，”她丈夫说。
"It's a hole in the wall," said Birte.
“那就是墙上的一个洞，”比尔特说。
They looked at each other. "I love it," they said at the same time.
他们互相看了看。“我喜欢，”他们同时说。
The fridge went beside the door. The tiles were white, with one dark green row at the height of the hatch. The shutter was painted green too. The contractor, who had never learned to hide his opinions, wrote "client's idea" next to it on the invoice, in capital letters.
冰箱放在了门边。瓷砖是白色的，在窗口的高度有一行深绿色。挡板也漆成了绿色。承包商从来学不会藏起自己的看法，他在发票上，紧挨着这一项，用大写字母写了“客户的主意”。
On the first evening, her husband came home, dropped his keys on the table and opened the fridge. Birte, at the stove, said hello. He stayed there for ten minutes, talking about nothing. Then he took a book to the sofa. A minute later, the shutter slid open, and a wooden spoon came through the hole.
第一天晚上，她丈夫回到家，把钥匙往桌上一扔，打开了冰箱。比尔特站在炉灶边，跟他打了招呼。他在那儿待了十分钟，东拉西扯地聊着。然后他拿了一本书走向沙发。过了一分钟，挡板滑开了，一把木勺从洞里递了过来。
"Taste," said Birte.
“尝尝，”比尔特说。
He tasted. "More salt," he said, and the shutter slid closed.
他尝了一口。“再加点盐，”他说，挡板又滑上了。
