品味人生The Fresh Air Laundry Fragrance 音频下载

不少人不爱干家务活，因为怕脏怕累。本文作者却钟爱晾衣服，这是她祖辈相传的传统，晾衣带给她快乐，带给她清清“衣”香。

By Michelle Gleysteen

I believe in the simple pleasure of hanging laundry out to dry.¹



Few things in the world give me more satisfaction than taking freshly laundered clothing from the washer² and carrying it outside on a warm and sunny day to hang dry, especially when this sunny day is the first after a long line of cold winter days.



The birds are singing their hearts out³. The breeze is gentle but a bit nippy⁴. The golden sunlight warms my skin and tames the goose bumps that were brought on by the breeze.⁵ I take each item from the laundry basket, one at a time, and give it a shake to get some of the wrinkles⁶ out.



I carefully hold the item up to the clothesline and with a clothespin in one hand and the other pin held between my lips, I carefully clip the clothing to the line, one clip at each corner.⁷ Immediately the shirt begins to wave in the wind, moving slowly back and forth in a rhythmic motion.⁸ I work repeatedly to hang up the various articles of laundry. There are jeans and pants, dress shirts and T-shirts. When I finish, I pause long enough to lean close to a waving T-shirt to take a deep whiff⁹, and already the magic has begun.



Due to some crazy alchemy of sun and fresh air and water on wet clothes, the sweetest aroma emanates from the hanging clothing.¹⁰ It doesn’t even matter if the shirt is cotton or nylon or some other material. With one whiff I am transported back in time to when I was a child, climbing into the big bed at my grandmother’s house. The crisp white sheets smelled like this and seemed to make naptime less a punishment and of missing out on something and more of an eagerly awaited adventure into dreamland.¹¹



The “fresh air” laundry fragrance defies replication.¹² Although some manufacturers may claim to have caught the fragrance in detergent or air fresheners, their products pale in comparison and never truly smell the same in my mind.¹³



The freshness of this smell makes me happy. I grumble less about the task that needs doing (cleaning a week’s dirty undergarments, uniforms and play clothes) and find myself more content to get the job done.¹⁴ Not a time-saving activity, hanging clothes, but for those of us who are interested in it, we cannot be happier.



Hanging out the laundry was a tradition that my mom learned from her mom and I adopted as well. It is easy and worth the effort, especially when the reward lingers long after I have put the clothes away, or put a coat on.¹⁵ Ahhh!

1. hang out: 挂出；laundry: 已洗好的衣物，下文的launder是其动词形式，意为“清洗，洗涤”。
2. washer: 洗衣机。
3. sing one’s heart out: 大声歌唱。
4. nippy: 凛冽的，刺骨的。
5. tame: 使……缓和；goose bumps:［复］〈美口〉（恐惧、寒冷等引起的）鸡皮疙瘩。
6. wrinkle: 褶皱。
7. clothesline: 晒衣绳；clothespin: （晒衣用的）衣夹；clip: （用夹子）夹住，扣住。
8. back and forth: 来来回回地；rhythmic: 有节奏的；motion: 摆动，移动。
9. take a deep whiff: 深深地吸一口气。
10. alchemy: （改变事物的）魔力，（事物的）神秘变化；aroma: 芳香，香味；emanate: 散发，发出。
11. crisp: 清新的；naptime: 午睡时间；miss out on: 错过，失去。
12. defy: 使成为不可能；replication: 复制。
13. detergent: 清洁剂，去垢剂；air freshener: 空气清新剂；pale in comparison: 相形见绌。
14. grumble: 抱怨，发牢骚；undergarment: 内衣，贴身衣；uniform: 制服；play clothes: （在家或娱乐时穿的）游乐装，轻便装。
15. linger: 继续存留；put away: 放好，收好。