我有个好消息！我们的园艺俱乐部终于又要聚会了！前段时间，我们的成员之间闹了点不愉快。有些人想继续种植原来的花草，而另外一些人希望引进新品种，两派意见谈不拢，弄得我们差点散伙。不过最后大家还是达成一致，和好如初。这让我想到一句习惯用语。那就是：clean slate。
大家都知道，clean是“干净的”，slate是“石板”的意思。连起来，clean slate的字面意思是“干净的石板”，引伸出来就是“尽弃前嫌、重新开始”的意思。
像上面的例子中，俱乐部成员最终克服了彼此间的矛盾，尽弃前嫌。在下面这个例子中，Jeremy未来如何？
- Jeremy had a terrible gambling problem. He got into such bad debt that he lost his house and his car. Eventually, he received counseling. And a court allowed him to declare bankruptcy. That's given him the clean slate he needed. He's slowly rebuilding his life.
杰里米以前赌博上瘾，结果欠了很多债，房子和车子都没了。最后，他接受了心理咨询，法院也允许他宣布破产，这给了他重新开始的机会。他正在慢慢地重新建立自己的生活。
他其实很幸运。很多嗜赌的人都有类似问题，而银行不会让每个人都宣布破产。这个词也让我想到现在美国国会山上的政治辩论。公众对政治家争吵不休，而又无法达成任何结果很不满意。我想下次选举，可能很多议员都会失去席位!
- A clean slate might be just what it will take to meet the voters' expectations.
选民们希望选举出新的议员，重新开始。
上面我们说到，如果你不满意代表自己的议员，下次不选他就是了。可是，如果你对自己的家人心存不满，要怎么办呢？或许下面的例子能给你一些启发：
- My sister and I used to argue constantly. Sometimes we wouldn't speak to each other for days. Then our mom was diagnosed with cancer. And we decided that we didn't want to go on fighting with each other anymore. We started with a clean slate. What happened in the past was behind us.
我妹妹和我过去经常吵架，有时一连好几天彼此谁也不理谁。可自从知道妈妈被诊断出得了癌症后，我们就决定再也这样没完没了地争吵了。过去的都过去了，我们决定重新开始。
是啊，有时候从不幸的事情里面，也会在其他方面得到好的结果。上面的例子里，如果这两个姐妹的妈妈不生病，她们可能一直都这样吵吵闹闹。
- They decided to leave the past behind them and start with a clean slate.
她们决定尽弃前嫌，重新开始。
