A Hi, Becky, what's up?

嗨，贝基，有什么事吗？

B Not much, except that my mother-in-law is driving me up the wall.

没什么，只是我婆婆让我气愤。

A What's the problem?

怎么啦？

B She loves to nit-pick and criticizes everything that I do. I can never do anything right when she's around.

她喜欢吹毛求疵，批评我做的每件事情。当她在边上时，我什么事都做不好。

A For example?

举个例子？

B Well, last week I invited her over to dinner. My husband and I had no problem with the food, but if you listened to her, then it would seem like I fed her old meat and rotten vegetables. There's just nothing can please her.

比如，上周我邀请她过来吃饭。我丈夫和我对饭菜都觉得没什么不好，但如果你听了她说的话，那就似乎是我给她吃臭肉、烂菜。简直没有一件事能让她高兴。

A No, I can't see that happening. I know you're a good cook and nothing like that would ever happen.

不，我看不出会发生这种事。我知道你是个手艺不错的厨师，像那样的事决不会发生。

B It's not just that. She also criticizes how we raise the kids.

事情还不止那样。她还批评我怎么抚养小孩。

A My mother-in-law used to do the same thing to us. If it wasn't disciplining them enough, then we were disciplining them too much. She also complained about the food we fed them, the schools we sent them too, and everything else under the sun.

我岳母娘过去也常对我们这样。如果不是对他们管得太严，就是对他们约束太多。她还抱怨我们给他们做的饭菜，我们所选的学校，以及世上的一切事情。

B You said she used to? How did you stop her?

你是说她过去也这样？你怎么阻止她的？

A We basically sat her down and told her how we felt about her constant criticizing, and how we welcomed her advice but hoped she'd let us do our things. She understood, and now everything is a lot more peaceful.

我们主要是让她坐下来，然后告诉她我们对她时刻不停地批评有什么感受，我们怎样欢迎她提建议，但希望她能让我们做我们的事。她理解了，现在一切都平静多了。

B That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to try that.

听起来是个好主意。我得试一试。