Bill Clinton was hard to miss in the autumn of 1970. He arrived at Yale Law School looking more like a Viking than a Rhodes scholar returning from two years at Oxford. He was tall and handsome somewhere beneath that reddish brown beard and curly hair. As I walked by Yale Law School's student lounge, I heard him say "... and not only that, we grow the biggest watermelons in the world!" I asked a friend, "Who is that?" "Oh, that's Bill Clinton," he said. "He's from Arkansas, and that's all he ever talks about." We didn't really talk to each other until the last day of classes in the spring of 1971. We happened to walk out of the same course at the same time. Bill asked me where I was going. I was on the way to the registrar's office to sign up for the next semester's classes. He told me he was heading there too. As we walked, he complimented my long flower-patterned skirt. We waited in line until we got to the registrar. She looked up and said, "Bill, what are you doing here? You've already registered." I laughed when he confessed that he just wanted to spend time with me, and we went for a long walk that turned into our first date. When we first met as students, I loved watching him turn the pages of a book. Now his hands are showing signs of age after thousands of handshakes and golf swings and miles of signatures. They are, like their owner, weathered but still expressive, attractive and flexible.
1970年秋的比尔·克林顿很难被人忽视。 那年他从牛津大学两年学成归来，刚进耶鲁法学院，可他的模样与其说有罗德学者般的气质，不如说更像维京大盗。 他体形高大，长相在红棕色胡须与一头卷曲浓密的头发衬托下还算英俊。 当我经过法学院的学生休息室时，听到他说：“不只那样，我们家乡种了全世界最大的西瓜!”我问朋友：“他是谁啊?”“哦，他是比尔·克林顿。”朋友说，“从阿肯色州来，他只说过这些。” 直到1971年春季最后一天上课，我们才有机会交谈。 上完课后我们同时走出教室。 比尔问我要去哪里， 我说要到注册办公室注册下学期的课， 他说他也正要去。 两人同行时，他赞美我穿的花色长裙。 两人到了注册办公室，排了好久的队才轮到我们， 注册员抬头看了一下，然后说：“比尔，你在这里干嘛?你已经注册过了。” 他坦言只是想跟我在一起，我笑了，接着便一块走了很久，就这样开始了第一次约会。 自从我们从学生时初识，我便喜欢看他翻书的样子。 这双手至今已握过数以千计的手，挥杆不下千余次，签过的名连起来也有好几英里长。 如今经过岁月磨炼，这双手跟它的主人一样几经风霜，但它的表现力、魅力与灵活度不减当年。
Afterwards, Bill went to visit my parents, but I was nervous because my dad was so uninhibited in his criticism of my boyfriends. I wondered what he would say to a Southern Democrat with Elvis sideburns. My mother appreciated Bill's good manners and willingness to help with the dishes. But Bill really won her over when he found her reading a philosophy book from one of her college courses and spent the next hour or so discussing it with her. It was slow going at first with my father, but he warmed up over games of cards, and in front of the television watching football bowl games. My friends liked him too. After I introduced him to Betsy Johnson, her mother, cornered me on the way out of their house and said, "I don't care what you do, but don't let this one go. He's the only one I've ever seen make you laugh!"
后来比尔去见我的父母，但我还是有些紧张，因为父亲对我的男友一向是不加遮拦地批判。 这次不知父亲又会给这位蓄着和猫王一样的络腮胡子的民主党南方佬出什么难题。 母亲欣赏比尔教养好，又肯主动帮助洗碗， 但真正让母亲打心底喜欢他的是：他看到母亲埋首阅读大学课程里的一本哲学书，于是花了整整一个多小时和母亲讨论其内容。 父亲属于慢热型，所幸在玩扑克牌、看电视转播橄榄球赛的过程中，也慢慢热情起来。 朋友们也都喜欢他。 我带他到贝琪·约翰逊家，离去时，贝琪的母亲把我拉到一角对我说：“我不管你用什么办法，绝对要留住他，我见过这么多人，他是惟一能让你笑得起来的。”
After completing law school in the spring of 1973, at twilight in the beautiful Lake District of England, we found ourselves on the shores of Lake Ennerdale, where Bill asked me to marry him. I was desperately in love with him but utterly confused about my life and future. So I said, "No, not now." What I meant was, "Give me time." My mother had suffered from her parents' divorce, and her sad and lonely childhood was imprinted on my heart. I knew that when I decided to marry, I wanted it to be for life. Bill Clinton is nothing if not persistent. He sets goals, and I was one of them. He asked me to marry him again, and again, and I always said no. Eventually he said, "Well, I'm not going to ask you to marry me any more, and if you ever decide you want to marry me then you have to tell me."
1973年春，我从耶鲁法学院毕业，我们来到英格兰湖区，在微光中，比尔在艾纳戴尔湖畔向我求婚。 我深深地爱着他，但我完全不清楚自己的生活与未来， 所以我说：“不行，现在还不行。”言下之意是：“给我一点时间。” 外公与外婆离婚让母亲吃了不少苦，加上母亲悲苦、寂寞的童年深深印在我心中， 所以我下定决心，一旦结婚，一定要和丈夫白头偕老。 比尔若不执着，那就不是比尔·克林顿了。 他已经定下好些目标，而我就是其中之一。 他一再向我求婚，我也一再拒绝他。 最后他说：“我不会再向你求婚了，如果哪天你决定要嫁给我，请你务必告诉我。”
I first met Bill's mother, Virginia, in New Haven during a visit she made to see Bill in the spring of 1972. Before Virginia arrived, I didn't use makeup and wore jeans and shirts most of the time. I was no Miss Arkansas and certainly not the kind of girl Virginia expected her son to fall in love with. No matter what else was going on in her life, Virginia got up early, glued on her false eyelashes and put on bright red lipstick. My style baffled her, and she didn't like my strange Yankee ideas either. I had a much easier time relating to Virginia's third husband, Jeff Dwire, who became a supportive ally. He was kind to me from the first day we met and encouraging of my continuing efforts to build a relationship with Bill's mother. "Oh, don't worry about Virginia," he would tell me. "She just has to get used to the idea. It's hard for two strong women to get along."
比尔的母亲弗吉尼娅1972年春到纽黑文探视比尔，那是我们首次见面。 弗吉尼娅来之前，我不化妆，不重打扮，常是牛仔裤、T恤衫一套就出门了。 我既不是“阿肯色小姐”，当然也不是弗吉尼娅期望她儿子爱上的那类姑娘。 不管发生什么天大的事，弗吉尼娅出门前必定起个大早，仔细梳妆打扮，粘上假睫毛，抹上大红唇膏。 我的作风显然令她不解，一些北方人古怪的想法也令她不悦。 弗吉尼娅的第三任丈夫杰夫·德怀尔反倒和我较合得来，常帮我加油打气。 从我们初次见面的那一天起，他就对我很好，不断鼓励我与弗吉尼娅建立良好的关系。 “噢，别担心弗吉尼娅，”他说，“时间久了，她自然会习惯。两个女强人在一起，本来就难以相处。”
At the end of the school year I decided to take a long trip back to Chicago and the East Coast to visit friends and people who had offered me jobs. I still wasn't sure what to do with my life. On the way to the airport, Bill and I passed a red brick house near the university with a for sale sign out front. I casually mentioned that it was a sweet-looking little house and never gave it a second thought. After a few weeks of traveling and thinking, I decided I wanted to return to my life in Arkansas and to Bill. As Bill picked me up, he asked, "Do you remember that house you liked? Well, I bought it, so now you'd better marry me because I can't live in it by myself." Bill proudly drove up the driveway and ushered me inside. This time I said "Yes."
学年结束，我决定飞到芝加哥与东岸探亲访友，拜会曾赐我工作的上司。 那时我对未来仍不能确定。 比尔开车送我到机场的途中，我们看到大学附近一间红砖房子竖着“出售”的招牌， 我不经意地说道，这是一间可爱的小房子，然后就忘了。 经过数周的旅行与思考，我决定回到阿肯色与比尔一起生活。 比尔来接我，他说：“你记得那间你喜欢的房子吗?我已经买下了，现在你最好嫁给我，因为我不想一个人住进去。” 比尔骄傲地开进房子前的车道，拉我进去参观。 这次我回答：“好的。”
After all that has happened since, I'm often asked why Bill and I have stayed together. It's not a question I welcome, but given the public nature of our lives, it's one I know will be asked again and again. What can I say to explain a love that has persisted for decades and has grown through our shared experiences of parenting a daughter, burying our parents and tending our extended families, a lifetime's worth of friends, a common faith and an abiding commitment to our country? All I know is that no one understands me better and no one can make me laugh the way Bill does. Even after all these years, he is still the most interesting, energizing and fully alive person I have ever met.
婚后经历这么多风雨，不断有人问我：为何还和比尔在一起? 我虽然不喜欢被问及这个问题，但身为公众人物，我知道这事会被一提再提。 我们两人相爱了数十年，共同抚养一女，经历父母亡故，都得担负起照顾家人的责任，共有一群终身至交，加上信仰相同，一心想为国家尽心尽力———我究竟怎么说才能解释这些? 此外，没有人比比尔更了解我，也没有人能像比尔那样让我开怀大笑。 即使过了这么多年，他仍旧是我见过的最风趣、最有干劲、最富生气的一个人。
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