I was born in 1981. I don’t remember much， but I think it was Monday because the gynecologist1 had dark circles under his eyes. We used to play soccer in the street， we hated going to school， and we would look forward to opening a new bottle of Coca-Cola at Sunday lunches. There were no cellphones in my house， we printed things out to keep them， and we kept pictures in albums on the shelves in the living room. My God， I’m so old， I think I’m in the throes2 of a mid-life crisis.

我生于1981年。生日是哪天记不太清了，但我想那天应该是个周一，因为那位妇科医生顶着一对黑眼圈。我们过去常常在街上踢足球，讨厌上学，总是盼着周日午餐时能开一瓶新的可口可乐。那时我家里没有手机，我们把东西打印出来保存，照片则放在客厅书架上的相册里。天哪，我真是老了，似乎正处于中年危机的痛苦之中。

Our favorite plan was an outing to the countryside， we watched sports on TV， and we listened to the radio first thing in the morning to find out what the latest news in the world was. There were wars， but we hardly ever saw deaths live on television， charity was not a progressive movement against inequality for a sustainable world and it was not in the hands of big woke corporations3 but of small churches， and we cared for the elderly and widowed at home until God called them to his presence.

我们最喜欢的活动是去乡下郊游。我们在电视上看体育节目，每天早上第一件事就是听广播，了解最新的世界新闻。那时虽有战争，但电视上几乎看不到死亡的直播画面。那时的慈善活动并不是为了可持续发展的世界而反对不平等的进步运动，也不掌握在贴有“觉醒”标签的大型企业手中，而是由小教堂来组织。我们在家里照顾鳏寡老人，直到上帝召唤他们去他跟前。

We flirted with a certain future perspective. I mean that our emotional life went beyond the actual mating. To flirt， you had to know one another. To know one another， you had to talk to one another， to talk to one another you had to meet in a café， or at the university， or in the library， or in the village where we used to spend the summer. Animals were not just another member of the family and no one demanded that they behave like humans， the prices of things were not in the hands of politicians but of the market， and true friendships were sealed with a handshake and not with a double click.

我们曾是抱着对未来的确切打算才眉来眼去。