Family Background 家庭背景 Fred's family was comparatively isolated and one which exhibited a number of unusual and interesting features. The immediate family was composed of mother and father along with three sons. Fred was the oldest of the three boys; his next younger brother was two years his junior and the youngest boy, Tommy, about eight years younger than Fred. The family was from an upper-middle-class background on both sides. Fred's mother was a rather nervous and high-strung woman, with a long-standing, chronic drinking problem. She was a frail, tremulous woman, then in her mid-forties. She had been a chronic drinker throughout most of her married life and carried most of the physical stigmata of alcoholism. Even though she was only in her mid-forties, she gave the impression of a woman of considerably greater age. 弗雷德的家庭相对孤立，表现出许多不寻常和有趣的特点。这个核心家庭由父母和三个儿子组成。弗雷德是三个男孩中最大的；他下一个年轻的弟弟比他小两岁，而最小的男孩汤米比弗雷德小大约八岁。这个家庭双方都有中上阶层的背景。弗雷德的母亲是一个相当神经质、容易紧张的女人，长期患有慢性酗酒问题。她那时四十多岁，身体虚弱，颤抖。在她的大部分婚姻生活中，她都是一个长期酗酒者，身上带着大部分酒精中毒的身体污名。尽管她才四十多岁，但她给人的印象是一个年龄大得多的女人。 Fred's father was a trim, lean, graying, and rather bland business executive. He was approaching fifty and looked somewhat younger than his years. He was two years older than his wife. Fred's father's mother had died when he was quite young and as a result the father was almost totally dependent on his father—Fred's paternal grandfather. The grandfather owned a resort hotel in the northeastern part of the country. He was a bitter, authoritarian, and tyrannical man. He ran his hotel in a rigid and authoritarian manner, and any employees who tried to differ with him or argue with him were summarily fired on the spot. 弗雷德的父亲是一位身材苗条、精瘦、头发花白、相当乏味的商业高管。他快五十岁了，看起来比实际年龄要年轻一些。他比妻子大两岁。弗雷德父亲的母亲在他很小的时候就去世了，因此父亲几乎完全依赖他的父亲——弗雷德的祖父。祖父在该国东北部拥有一家度假酒店。他是一个刻薄、专横、残暴的人。他以僵硬和专横的方式经营他的酒店，任何试图与他持不同意见或与他争论的员工都会立即被当场解雇。 Fred's father worked for his father at the hotel and was treated by the old man as though he were just another employee. He had to adhere strictly to the old man's wishes or run the risk of getting thrown out. There was no warmth and no intimacy in their relationship. Fred's father respected and feared his father, and he was rigidly obedient to the latter's wishes, but there was no love and no warmth of any kind between them. Fred's father did reasonably well. He attended the better prep schools, and Ivy League college, and after graduation began work with a large business corporation as a sales and marketing executive. He attained a moderately good position in his firm and earned a respectable salary, but never seemed to be able to make it into the big time that he had always ambitioned and worked for. Many of his school friends and college chums had risen to positions of considerable eminence in their respective fields, and the father always felt somewhat remorseful and a little bitter about the fact he had been unable to make his mark in life and had been unable to achieve the eminence that he coveted. Even though he felt that he worked very hard for these goals and that he deserved them, they always seemed to elude him. 弗雷德的父亲在酒店为他的父亲工作，被老人当作另一个员工对待。他必须严格遵守老人的意愿，否则就有被赶出去的风险。他们的关系中没有温暖和亲密。弗雷德的父亲尊敬并害怕他的父亲，他严格服从后者的意愿，但他们之间没有任何形式的爱和温暖。弗雷德的父亲做得相当不错。他上了更好的预科学校和常春藤联盟学院，毕业后开始在一家大型商业公司担任销售和市场营销主管。他在公司获得了相当好的职位，薪水可观，但似乎永远无法实现他一直雄心勃勃、为之奋斗的美好时光。他的许多学校朋友和大学密友在各自领域都获得了相当高的地位，而父亲总是对自己一生未能取得成就、未能获得自己梦寐以求的地位感到有些懊悔和痛苦。尽管他觉得自己为了这些目标非常努力，也理应得到它们，但它们似乎总是与他擦肩而过。