每日一词学英语(28): row

婚姻的秘诀是什么？今天的The Times Online报导，Longest married couple reveal secret of success: regular rows (Times在第二天(May 27, 2009)将标题修改为：Couple married 81 years reveal secret of their success: regular rows)

Good news for couples everywhere: the secret to a long and happy marriage, according to the pair about to celebrate Britain’s longest and happiest marriage of them all, is “a little argument every day”. 对已婚男女来说真是个好消息，如果你们想让婚姻幸福、长久，不妨分享一下101岁老爷爷和100岁老奶奶的秘诀吧，今天是他们结婚81周年纪念日。(第一段话也作了修改：The secret to a long and happy marriage is a little argument every day, according to the couple who should know best.)

"Regular rows"等于“a little argument every day”。
金山词霸里列举了跟吵架有关的几个词，从例句中体会意思吧：
brawl， broil， donnybrook， fracas， fray， free-for-all， melee， row， ruction

The central meaning shared by these nouns is “a very noisy, disorderly, and often violent quarrel or fight”:
这些名词的中心意思都是“非常嘈杂、混乱和通常较激烈的争吵或吵架”：
a barroom brawl;
酒吧间的喧闹；
a protest march that degenerated into a general broil between the demonstrators and the police;
一次升级成示威者与警察全体对骂的示威游行；
an incident that turned into a vicious legal donnybrook;
演化成为恶意的法律大混战的事件；
putting down a violent fracas among prison inmates;
镇压监狱犯人间的暴力争斗；
eager for the fray;
对争吵感兴趣；
a regular free-for-all in the schoolyard;
校园内一次定期的任何人均可参加的竞赛；
police plunging into the melee;
警察插手互殴；
a terrific domestic row;
一次可怕的家庭争执；
a senseless ruction over trivia.
为区区小事的无意义争吵

看来吵架拌嘴是人之常情，要用这么多词来表达。从Times的报导中看到，至少有两个词金山词霸在同义比较中没有列出：daily squabbles，odd cross word。当然，光拌嘴是不行的，还要体谅、关心对方，时不时地制造浪漫......

祝所有希望婚姻幸福、长久的人都能终偿所愿。

补记：经网友提醒，英国另一家报纸Metro也报导了这条消息，标题是：Daily tiffs secret to 81yr marriage。"Daily tiffs"等于“a little argument every day”。