Sue and Alan had been dating for many years.
Every weekend they went to a movie together on
Saturday night. On Sundays they went to the beach in
summer and to the country in winter.
  Sue knew that Alan wanted to marry her, and
she wanted to marry Alan. She waited patiently for him to ask
her to marry him. However, although he often told her he loved
her, he never said anything about marriage.
  This made Sue unhappy. She was nearly thirty. She believed that

if Alan did not marry her soon, she might never marry. She did not

want to be a spinster. She wanted to have a husband and a family of her own.
  One evening, when they were walking home after a movie,
she said, “Alan, don’t you think it is time for you to ask me
something?”
  Alan thought for a moment. He knew what she was thinking
about. At last he said, “I’m sorry, Sue, but I don’t think I have

anything to ask you at this time.”
  “Then I will have to ask you, Alan,” Sue said. “I cannot wait
any longer. I’m getting old.”
  She stopped walking and looked at him.
  “Alan,” she said, “we’ve known each other for ten years. I
love you and you love me. Will you marry me?”
  Alan took hold of Sue’s hand. “Sue,” he said, “I want to
marry you, but we cannot get married yet. We have nowhere to
live. I do not have much money and neither do you. We cannot
buy a place of our own.”
  “That isn’t important,” Sue said. “We can live with your
parents.”
  Alan shook his head. “I’m sorry but that isn’t possible.”
  “Why not?” Sue asked.
  “Because my parents are still living with their parents,” he
explained.

                住房困难
  苏和艾伦约会许多年了。每个周六，他们都一起去看电影，夏季的周日
一起去海滩，冬季的周日则一起去乡下。
  苏知道艾伦想娶她，她也想嫁给艾伦，她一直耐心地等着艾伦的求婚。
可尽管艾伦一直告诉苏他很爱她，却从没提过结婚的事。
  这让苏非常不高兴，她快三十岁了，她想，如果不尽快结婚，可能就嫁
不出去了。她可不想当老姑娘，她想拥有丈夫和家。
  一天晚上，当他们看完电影往家走时，苏问：“艾伦，你不认为现在该
向我问点什么事吗？”
  艾伦想了一会儿，他知道苏正在想什么，最后他说：“我很抱歉，苏，
但我想此刻没有什么事要问你。”
  “那么，艾伦，我不得不问你了，”苏说道，“我不能再等了，我正在
一点点地变老。”
  她停下来，盯着艾伦。
  “艾伦，”她说，“我们已经认识十年了，我爱你，你也爱我，你不想
娶我吗？”
  艾伦捧起苏的手说：“苏，我很想娶你，但现在还不行，我们没有房
子，没有很多钱，你也是这样，我们根本没有能力买一栋属于自己的房
子。”
  “那不重要，”苏说道，“我们可以和你的父母住一起啊。”
  艾伦摇摇头说：“很抱歉，那是不可能的事。”
  “为什么？”苏问。
  “因为我的父母还和他们的父母住一起呢。”