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Only after the straight-talking Maytag repairman handed me the bill and waved goodbye – for the third time in six months – did I finally acknowledge the painful truth: Our 20-year-old clothes dryer was irrevocably busted.

I turned to my husband. "He says we're throwing good money after bad," I sighed. "I think he's right."

"I'm going to miss that guy," said my spouse, the joker. "When do you want to go shopping for a new one?"

"Let me think about it."

I glanced out the window, appreciating the sunlight dancing on the big-leaf maples in our backyard.Perfect drying weather. Suddenly, I recalled my mother hanging laundry on the patio clothesline during my childhood. My giggling sister and I had played hide-and-seek among the sweet-smelling sheets flapping in the wind.

I had a plan.

"You know, we have all the elements of a dryer right in the backyard: plenty of warmth; clean, fresh air; and lots of branches to hang clothes on," I said.

"And it would help with the skyrocketing electric bill," noted the pragmatist in our family. "You're onto something."

And so it began: After the wash cycle, we festooned the maples with damp blue jeans, shirts, socks, and towels. The only things that didn't go outside were feminine unmentionables . And I persuaded my shameless husband to let his big boxer shorts stay indoors, too.

There is a secret pleasure in hanging laundry outdoors. It is the perfect excuse to get up from the computer. While checking on the laundry in the backyard, I could commune not only with cotton T-shirts, but also my cats nestled in deck chairs, licking their sun-warmed fur. I could watch cautious does amble through the yard with their fawns, listen to fretting squirrels in trees, observe a family of wild turkeys by the road. I'd return to my desk refreshed .

And, except for the sandpaper texture of sun-dried bath towels, the drying method was a complete success. But as autumn emerged, I'd scan the horizon to evaluate the day's drying potential. One morning I saw rain clouds ready to burst . I had a load of wet clothes in my arms and no place to put them.

I corralled my husband. Together we hung laundry throughout the house.

Then my husband gave me a hug and a smile. "I think it's time to buy a dryer," he said. "Like today."

"Good idea," I said, just as the infamous Oregon rain started in earnest.

Our home-based sun-dried laundry venture was closed for the season.

Vocabulary

1. 只有在美泰克公司那位直言直语的维修员递给我（修理费）账单并挥手道别之后（这已经是六个月以来的第三次了），我才终于承认了一个痛苦的事实：我们这台20年的烘衣机已不可挽回地损坏了。Maytag: 美国美泰克公司，系美国四大家电生产公司之一，生产包括洗衣机、烘衣机、洗碗机、电冰箱与吸尘器等众多家用电器产品；irrevocably: 不可挽回地；busted:〈口〉损坏了的。

2. spouse: 配偶。

3. maple: 枫树，槭树。

4. recall: 回想起，回忆起；laundry: 已洗好的衣物；patio clothesline: 庭院露台的晒衣绳。

5. 我与咯咯欢笑的妹妹在香喷喷的、随风起舞的被单中玩着捉迷藏的游戏。giggling: 咯咯笑的；flap: 飘动，拍动。

6. skyrocketing: 猛涨的；pragmatist: 实用主义者。

7. festoon: 像花彩般悬挂于；damp: 潮湿的。

8. feminine unmentionables: 女性内衣，此为委婉说法。常用复数。

9. boxer shorts: 拳击裤，腰间有松紧带的男用宽松内裤。

10. commune with: （感情上）融为一体；nestle: 安卧，偎依；deck chair: （户外用的）折叠帆布躺椅。

11. 我能看见谨慎的母鹿带着它们的小鹿悠闲地漫步穿过庭院，能听到树间松鼠烦躁不安的声音，还能观察到路边的野火鸡一家。doe: 雌鹿；amble: 轻松地走，从容漫步；fawn: （未满一岁的）幼鹿。

12. refreshed: 恢复活力的，振作精神的。

13. sandpaper texture: （织物的）质地粗糙的。

14. 但当秋天来临之时，我就得仔细察看天际，以估计一下当天烘干衣服的可能性。

15. burst: 胀裂，绽开。

16. corral: 〈主美〉召集，把……集合在一起。

17. infamous: 声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的；Oregon: 俄勒冈州，是美国西北部临太平洋的州；in earnest: 坚定地。

18. venture: 冒险行动，投机活动。

（来源：英语学习杂志编辑：丹妮）

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