時差N小時:猜測別人的年齡是不禮貌的行為

Dear Annie: May I say something about people whomake assumptions about someone's age? My 18-year-old daughter is on the petite side. She is 4-foot-11 and weighs 95 pounds. On several occasions, wehave been invited to dinner at a restaurant andasked by our host if we would need a child's menu.

親愛的安妮：我能談?wù)勀切┎聹y別人年齡的人嗎?我有個18歲的女兒，她身材嬌小。她高4英尺11英寸，重95磅。我們?nèi)e人家做客時，主人有時會問我們是否需要兒童菜單。

I usually respond by giving them a quizzical look, and saying, "No. Why do you ask?"Sometimes, however, the question brings my daughter to tears. If someone wants a child'smenu, they will ask for one. If it turns out you accidentally hand an adult menu to a child, theworst that can happen is that the young person will be pleased to be mistaken for someoneolder. — Shorty's Mom

通常我的反應(yīng)以探尋的眼光看著對方，然后說“不，你為什么會這么問?”然而有時候，這樣的詢問會惹哭我的女兒。如果有人需要兒童菜單，他們會自己去要。就算偶然錯把成人菜單交給兒童，最壞的結(jié)果也是孩子們很高興被人誤認(rèn)為是年級比較大的人。——矮子的媽媽。

Dear Mom: Granted, no one should make assumptions about another's age, regardless of howold, but your daughter needs to toughen up. She is going to be confronted with this for the restof her life and should find ways to deal with it instead of bursting into tears. (The good news is,when she is 50, people will assume she is 20 years younger.)

親愛的媽媽：誠然，任何人都不能隨意猜測別人的年齡，無論多少歲也不能。但是你的女兒需要堅強(qiáng)起來。她以后的生命中都要面對這個問題，所以她應(yīng)該想辦法處理這件事，而不是以淚洗面。(不過好消息是，到她50歲時，人們會認(rèn)為她只有20來歲。)