The Family Recipe Contest

Every year, Simone's family held a small competition at their grandmother's birthday gathering. Whoever made her famous lemon cake closest to the original would win bragging rights for the year. Nobody had ever managed to get it exactly right, since their grandmother had never written the recipe down.

每年，西蒙娜一家都会在外婆的生日聚会上举办一场小小的比赛。谁做的柠檬蛋糕最接近外婆那款出名的原版，谁就能拥有一年的炫耀权。从来没有人做得完全一样，因为外婆从没把配方写下来过。

This year, both Simone and her brother Jasper decided to enter. Each was convinced they remembered the recipe better than the other. Simone had watched their grandmother bake it dozens of times as a child. She trusted her memory of the smell and texture. Jasper, meanwhile, had found an old handwritten card in a kitchen drawer. It might have been an early draft of the recipe. Half the ingredients, though, were smudged beyond reading.

今年，西蒙娜和她的哥哥贾斯珀都决定参赛。两个人都深信自己比对方更记得那个配方。西蒙娜小时候看外婆烤过几十次。她相信自己对气味和口感的记忆。而贾斯珀在厨房的一个抽屉里找到了一张旧的手写卡片。它也许是配方的早期草稿。不过，有一半的材料已经模糊得看不清了。

"That card could be from anyone," Simone teased him. "It might not even be Grandma's handwriting."

“那张卡片可能是任何人写的，”西蒙娜逗他说，“说不定连笔迹都不是外婆的。”

"And your memory from when you were seven is definitely more reliable," Jasper shot back, grinning.

“你七岁时的记忆肯定更可靠了，”贾斯珀笑着回敬道。

On the morning of the party, both cakes sat cooling on the counter. They looked almost identical from the outside. Simone's version leaned slightly sweeter, with a thicker glaze she remembered from childhood. Jasper's was lighter and less sweet, closer to what the smudged card seemed to suggest.

聚会那天早上，两个蛋糕都放在台面上晾着。从外表看，它们几乎一模一样。西蒙娜做的偏甜一点，淋着她记忆里童年时那种更厚的糖霜。贾斯珀做的更轻盈，没那么甜，更接近那张模糊的卡片所暗示的样子。

Their grandmother, now eighty-two, tasted both slices slowly, closing her eyes each time. The room went quiet, waiting for her verdict.

外婆今年八十二岁了，她慢慢地品尝了两块蛋糕，每次都闭上眼睛。房间里安静下来，大家都在等她的评判。

"Neither one is exactly right," she finally admitted, laughing at their disappointed faces. "But Simone's is closer. I always added a little extra lemon zest at the end, something I never told anyone."

“哪一个都不完全对，”她终于承认，看着他们失望的脸笑了起来，“不过西蒙娜的更接近。我总是在最后多加一点柠檬皮屑，这件事我从来没告诉过任何人。”

Jasper groaned dramatically, though he was clearly more amused than upset. "Next year, I'm getting that recipe out of you before the party, not after."

贾斯珀夸张地哀叹了一声，但他显然更觉得好笑，而不是难过。“明年，我要在聚会之前就把配方从你嘴里问出来，而不是之后。”

Their grandmother just smiled and reached for a second slice of Simone's cake. She refused to say another word about her secret.

外婆只是笑了笑，伸手去拿第二块西蒙娜做的蛋糕。关于她的秘密，她一个字也不肯再多说。