So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes.
    我们对自己动手的热情越来越高了，以至于我们对专业工人的依赖越来越少了。因为数不清的DIY出版物的发行，没有人能对某事一无所知了。新婚夫妇用正确的工具和材料，就可以喜气洋洋地完成装修新家的任务了。
    PS: become less dependent on, 对…依赖越来越少
    PS++: embark on, 开始做…

    Men, particularly, spend hours of their leasure time installing their fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furnitures. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers.
    尤其是男人们，在闲暇时花很多时间安装壁炉、修建花园、建造车库、制作家具。一些特别热衷于自己动手的人甚至在组装自己的电脑。

    Shops cater for the do-it-yourself crazy not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assembly at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunaltely not all of us are born hardymen.
    店家迎合这种DIY的狂热，不仅为新手提供专门的咨询服务，也各种让客户可以在家组装的零件。这些东西为人们激发创造力提供了很好的出路，但不幸的是，不是所有人都是天生的能工巧匠。
    PS: cater for, 迎合

    Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics.
    一些夫人们总是愿意相信他们的老公能力无限，什么都能修。即使他们的老公连颗螺丝都拧不直，也应该天生就是电工、木匠、水管工和机械师。
    PS: tend to, 倾向于

    When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
    当电灯保险丝熔断、家具榫头松动、管道堵塞、或者吸尘器出故障时，这些妻子就会幻想老公们怎么都能搞好。对于DIY最糟糕的事情是，有时甚至是男人们尽管错误连连，但还是蜜汁自信他们什么都能做，原因就是要面子。
    PS: under the delusion, 错觉

    Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had broken down the prevous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestions and said that I would fix it myself.
    去年春天我老婆建议我找个人来看看割草机。它在去年夏天就坏了。尽管我答应修，但一直没时间。我不想找人修，说自己能做。
    PS: got round to, 抽空做

    One Saturday afternoon,I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided dismantle it.
    某个周六的下午，我把割草机拖入花园，近距离检查起来。就我的观察而言，它只需要一个细小的调整：这儿紧紧螺丝，那儿固定一下，然后加点油，就完美如新了。不可避免地，修理并不是个简单活儿。割草机还是不工作，所以我决定拆开它。
    PS: Inevitably, 不可避免地

    The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower. But I was extremely pleased myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again.
    在我拆开之后，花园里堆满了金属零件。但我还是对自己很满意，因为我找到了故障点，驱动轮子的链条断了一节。在买了一条新链条后，我面临的问题就是如何将这些令人眼花缭乱的零件重新组装起来。
    PS: be littered with, 堆满了；make up, 由…组成
    PS++: trace the cause of trouble，找到故障点

    I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in despair, The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buryed somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
    装起来之后它仍然不工作，我并不感到惊奇。很简单，我漏了几个奇形怪状的小零件，怎么也装不上去。我绝望地放弃了，几周之后草又长了起来。当我老婆催我想想办法，我告诉他我不得不买台新的割草机，否则就只能让草继续长。不用说，我家现在布满丛林。深草丛中有一台发了锈的割草机，那就是我许诺要装好的那台。