杯子 -- 三张照片和它们的故事

搬过来应美坛坛主“美坛综艺秀假日篇”之邀写的小文（英文原文+中文翻译+照片）。

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Holiday season is also house cleaning time. Did a bit of rearrangement in kitchen cabinets yesterday and ran into these mugs, each with its own story, only if they could talk.

 

The 1st picture are gifts from families: The middle one was from Beijing and given by my father, made in 2011 for University publisher's 10 year anniversary, good for keeping hot tea with the cover. Two with beautiful portrait drawings done by nephew David, were carried by sister Liz all the way from NS in 2009. The broken handle was courtesy of AirCanada baggage handler, but makes the mug unique.

 

The 2nd picture is an odd collection: The black one is a limited edition bought from the world's first Starbucks in Seattle, we got it for its shape and I use it everyday for coffee. The orange one with the image of Westminster Abbey was bought in London UK when we were there in 2002, good memory. Big mountain mug was brought in by my son and a souvenir from his 2013 2 day/night climbing trip to the peak of Mt Whitney (14500 ft elevation, highest in CA Sierra Nevada mountain range). The small white one was a "thank you for donation" mug from TVOntario some 18 years ago, there were a pair of them, but only one survived the time.

The 3rd picture is of past work related to all 3 of us. The white ones were from training classes back in good Nortel time, the mugs are still here, but the company and its products are legacy now, as many others in the high tech industry. I got lots of Cisco mugs from my 10 years venture there, but the most Cisco handouts then were colorful t-shirts, with one for each milestone and every occasion, so much so that some kids assumed Cisco was a company specialized in producing cool t-shirts. LOL.

 

Mugs啊mugs, only if you could talk ......  

 

BTW, what are the stories of your mugs?   

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中文翻译：

 

节日假期也是打扫房子时间。 昨天重新安排了厨房橱柜，看到了这些杯子，觉得如果它们会说话的话, 每个杯子都会有一肚子的故事。

第一张照片里的杯子是亲戚们送的礼物：中间的来自北京，是老爸给的。杯子是2011年为大学出版社十周年制作，有盖子很适合装热茶。 旁边那两个杯子上的精美肖像画是先生的外甥画的，2009年由先生的姐姐不远万里从（加拿大）东部带过来。破损的杯把儿是加航行李搬运工的“恩赐”，让这个杯子变得更独特呵。

第二张图里是个不寻常的组合：黑色杯子是从西雅图世界第一家星巴克买的限量版，因为喜欢它的形状，我每天都用它喝咖啡。 那个带着西敏寺教堂图案的橙色杯子是2002年我们去英国伦敦时买的，美好的回忆。 有大山图案的杯子是儿子拿回来的，是他 2013年2天/夜攀登惠特尼山峰（海拔14500英尺，加州内华达山脉最高点）的纪念品。 那个白色的小杯子是18年前安省电视台的“捐赠感谢”杯，当时有一对，只有一个幸存了下来。

第三张照片和我家三个人过去的工作有关：两个白杯子是在北电上班培训时发的，杯子们还在，但北电，像高科技许多消失了的公司一样，已经成为传说。我在思科也工作过10 年，得过不少公司杯子。不过当时思科给员工发放最多的是各种 T 恤，每个“里程碑”和各个场合都会有一件，多到让员工的孩子们以为思科是一家专产酷炫 T 恤的公司，哈哈哈。

杯子啊杯子，多希望你们会说话啊 。。。

顺便问一声，你家杯子们的肚子里会有怎样的故事呢？

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Picture #1

 

Picture #2

 

Picture #3

 

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附：在美坛的跟帖：

• 沙发！欢迎回美坛，参加综艺秀假日活动。好久不见。问好。：）） -盈盈一笑间- ♀   (0 bytes) (4 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 09:22:32

• 谢谢！对不起，一直比较忙，另外也一直在努力恢复提高自己的中文，我们非专业的第二语言水平是不会超过母语的，所以学无止境呵。 -最西边的岛上- ♀   (0 bytes) (5 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 11:39:18

• Wow, each mug could talk about a story. limited edition. -盈盈一笑间- ♀   (0 bytes) (3 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 09:27:27

• Impressive ～～ -盈盈一笑间- ♀   (167 bytes) (3 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 09:30:39

• 在这里见到西岛，问候你！mugs could talk how they come to the world! -暖冬cool夏- ♀   (0 bytes) (1 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 11:41:02

• 谢谢暖冬！你是英文专业的吗？ 我这个工程师出身的退休码工在这儿班门弄斧，见笑了哈 -最西边的岛上- ♀   (0 bytes) (2 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 11:48:17

• 哪里，你的写得很好很流畅啊！到了北美，什么专业不专业都不好意思说了，大把大把理工科生英文写得杠杠的！美坛人才济济！ -暖冬cool夏- ♀   (0 bytes) (0 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 12:37:44

• Good writing. 要不是读你的文字， 我都没注意到那个杯子的把缺了一半。 -天边一片白云- ♀   (0 bytes) (2 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 16:53:56

• 哈哈，谢谢！ -最西边的岛上- ♀   (0 bytes) (0 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 19:38:31

• The handle is broken at right place&can be hold as normal:) -卫宁- ♂   (0 bytes) (1 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 17:45:17

• Yes, it looks like purposely done for artistic effect. Hahah -最西边的岛上- ♀   (0 bytes) (0 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 19:43:34

• Nice write with a great sense of humor. Thanks for sharing. -CBA7- ♀   (0 bytes) (3 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 20:26:43

• BTW, 最西边的岛在哪里？：）Just curious. -CBA7- ♀   (0 bytes) (2 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 20:28:29

• (Great) Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada, capital of -最西边的岛上- ♀   (332 bytes) (4 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 20:49:20

• Got it. Thanks! -CBA7- ♀   (0 bytes) (0 reads) 12/21/2023 postreply 20:56:22