Shouts & Murmurs

New Kinds of Trad Wife I Could Be

我可以成为的新型传统妻子
Outfit Only: I totally look like I’m in a sexy version of “Little House on the Prairie,” but I refuse to do a single chore.
仅限穿搭:我看起来完全像是性感版《草原小屋》里的人,但我拒绝做任何家务。
September 29, 2026
A woman in a village dressed in country style is holding a goose.
Photograph from Getty

“Yesteryear” was the book of the summer, leaving the nation divided into three camps: people trying to discuss the end of “Yesteryear,” people forced to walk around wearing shirts that say “Don’t tell me what happens at the end of ‘Yesteryear’ (I haven’t finished it yet),” and people who have not read a book since 2017 and will never again read a book in their lives (seventy per cent of Americans).

《昔日》是今年夏天的热门书,把全国分成了三个阵营:试图讨论《昔日》结局的人;被迫穿着印有“别告诉我《昔日》结局是什么(我还没看完)”字样T恤到处走的人;以及自2017年以来没读过一本书、这辈子再也不会读书的人(占美国人口的百分之七十)。

Although I don’t think I could be the kind of trad wife described in “Yesteryear”—a stay-at-home mom who drinks raw milk while wearing a pioneer-lady costume—here are some kinds of trad wife that I could be.

虽然我不认为自己能成为《昔日》里描述的那种传统妻子——一个穿着拓荒女服装喝生牛奶的全职妈妈——但以下几种传统妻子是我可以胜任的。

Trad Wife (Outfit Only): I totally look like I’m in a sexy version of “Little House on the Prairie,” but I refuse to do a single chore because I’m, like, “No way I’m splashing this dress with dishwater, it cost me five hundred dollars at Doên.”

传统妻子(仅限穿搭):我看起来完全像是性感版《草原小屋》里的人,但我拒绝做任何家务,因为我会说,“没门儿,我才不会让洗碗水溅到这条裙子上,它花了我五百美元,在Doên买的。”

Trad Wife (Supplies Only): I own four Mason jars.

传统妻子(仅限装备):我拥有四个梅森罐。

Farmer’s Wife Adjacent: Let’s be honest, being a farmer is very difficult. I could not be a farmer or a farmer’s wife (also known as a farmer), but I could and in fact have lived adjacent to a farm and stolen their corn.

农妇周边:说实话,当农民非常辛苦。我当不了农民,也当不了农夫的妻子(也叫农民),但我可以、而且确实曾经住在一个农场附近,还偷过他们的玉米。

Airbnb Trad Wife: Constantly browsing farm-style listings for a cute weekend upstate, but never booking any and instead just panic-buying a tomato at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket.

爱彼迎传统妻子:不停地浏览农场风格的房源,想去上州过一个可爱的周末,但从不预订,最后只是在布鲁克林大军广场绿色市集恐慌性买下一个番茄。

Proud Sourdough Mom: I get a sourdough starter but feeding it is so stressful that I feel like I have a pet dog. Being the owner of a sourdough starter becomes my entire personality.

骄傲的酸种妈妈:我弄了一个酸种酵头,但喂养它压力太大了,感觉像养了一条宠物狗。拥有酸种酵头这件事成了我整个人设。

Far-left Trad Wife: Shockingly similar to far-right trad wife, but with fewer children and zero Bibles. Will garden to reduce my carbon footprint, and remain vigilant so as not to accidentally start an ecoterrorist cult.

极左传统妻子:和极右传统妻子惊人地相似,但孩子更少,圣经为零。会种菜以减少碳足迹,同时保持警惕,以免不小心搞出一个生态恐怖主义邪教。

I Woke Up Like This Trad Wife: I somehow learn to sleep in a nightgown, and look cute doing so, instead of sleeping in it and flipping around so much in the night that it strangles me.

天生如此传统妻子:我不知怎么学会了穿睡裙睡觉,而且看起来还很可爱,而不是穿着它睡觉时翻来覆去,最后被它勒住脖子。

Ashamed Sourdough Mom: I’m still feeding my starter but I never have time to bake and so actually, yes, I bought this loaf at the bakery.

羞愧的酸种妈妈:我还在喂我的酵头,但从来抽不出时间烤面包,所以没错,这条面包是我在面包店买的。

Farmer’s Wife (Virtual): I’m a farmer’s wife a.k.a. a farmer but in the video game Stardew Valley, where all you do is have a farm.

农妇(虚拟):我是农夫的妻子,也就是农民,但在电子游戏《星露谷物语》里,你在那里做的就是经营一个农场。

Farmer’s Wife (Virtual, Adjacent): O.K., to be totally honest, I have never touched a video-game controller, but I could and in fact have sat next to a friend playing Stardew Valley.

农妇(虚拟,周边):好吧,说实话,我从来没碰过游戏手柄,但我可以、而且确实曾经坐在一个玩《星露谷物语》的朋友旁边。

Goose Regret Trad Wife: I buy a bunch of geese because I think that’s something a trad wife would do but then immediately remember that geese have bad attitudes so I try to pretend that they’re just random geese I didn’t spend seven hundred dollars on and I’m, like, “Where did all these geese come from? Ha ha.”

大鹅后悔传统妻子:我买了一群鹅,因为我觉得传统妻子会这么做,但随后立刻想起鹅的脾气很臭,于是我试图假装它们只是不知道从哪儿冒出来的野鹅,不是我花了七百美元买的,然后我说,“这些鹅都是从哪儿来的?哈哈。”

“Oh, My God, I’m Basically a Trad Wife!”: I loudly exclaim to an empty room after I vacuum for the first time in a month.

“天哪,我基本上就是个传统妻子!”:在我一个月来第一次吸尘之后,对着空荡荡的房间大声宣布。

Cow Friend: I have a friend who is a cow.

牛朋友:我有一个朋友,它是一头牛。

Trad Girlfriend: I’m wearing my natural-fibre aprons, and I’m growing produce in a state west of the Rockies, but I can’t get my boyfriend to marry me.

传统女友:我穿着天然纤维围裙,在落基山脉以西的某个州种菜,但我没法让男朋友娶我。

Trad Domestic Partner: The feminist dream. ♦

传统同居伴侣:女性主义之梦。 ♦

2 free previews left — register to get 30 translations a month