Altogether Autumn

1、Altogether AutumnAltogether autumn金秋時(shí)節(jié)Its time to plant the bulbs百合. But I put it off 延后as long as possible because planting bulbs mean making space in borders邊界which are still flowering開花. Pulling out all the annuals 一年生植物which nature本性has allowed to erupt 長牙in overpowering壓倒purple, orange and pink

2、, a final cry of joy. That would almost be murder, and so I wait until the first night frost 受凍，結(jié)霜anaesthetizes麻醉，使入睡all the flowers with a cold, a creaky 老朽的crust 堅(jiān)硬表皮that causes them to wither枯萎凋謝; a very gentle溫和的，文雅的death. Now I wander through my garden indecisively優(yōu)柔寡斷的, trying to hold on to th

3、e last days of late summer.又到了種球莖的時(shí)節(jié)了，但我盡可能拖延栽種的時(shí)間，不想讓其他開得正盛的花為它挪地方。要強(qiáng)行移除這些正在長芽的，五顏六色的植物，最終帶來的不會(huì)是喜悅而是痛苦。所以我等到第一個(gè)霜降之夜，霜裹住它們堅(jiān)硬腐朽的表皮，等它們慢慢凋謝，溫柔的死去。我才徘徊于我的花園，試圖抓住夏天的尾巴。The trees are plump變豐滿with leafy多葉的splendor.光彩The birch樺樹is softly溫柔的柔和的rustling沙沙作響的gold, which is now fluttering顫抖的down like an unendi

4、ng stream of confetti糖果，五彩紙屑. Soon November will be approaching with its autumn storms and leaden鉛灰色的clouds hanging above your head like soaking浸濕的wet潮濕的rags碎屑. Just let it stay like this, I think, gazing凝視a t the huge mysterious shadows the trees conjure想象up on the shining green meadows草地，牧場, the c

5、ows languidl y疲倦的，不活潑的flicking閃爍their tails. Everything breathes an air of stillness,靜止the silence rent出租by the exuberant 生氣勃勃的color of asters紫菀屬植物, dahlias大麗花, sunflowers and roses.樹木因葉子的光彩而顯得豐滿，樺樹輕柔地沙沙作響，如今落葉像五彩的糖果紙般落下，十一月就要來了，那時(shí)秋天的暴風(fēng)將會(huì)襲來，鉛灰色的烏云如浸濕的碎屑般壓在你頭頂。我想，最好還是保持這樣吧，可以凝視著樹木的巨大而神秘的倒影，想像閃耀這光芒的綠色

6、牧場，奶牛們慵懶地?fù)u著尾巴。你嗅到的一切都是靜止的，而這靜謐又會(huì)被紫菀，大麗花，向日葵和玫瑰們生氣勃勃的顏色所打破。The mornings begin chilly寒冷的. The evenings give you shivers哆嗦，戰(zhàn)栗and cold feet in bed. But in the middle of the day the sun breaks through, evaporating蒸發(fā)the mist 薄霧on the grass, butterflies and wasps黃蜂appear and cobwebs蜘蛛網(wǎng)glisten閃光against wind

7、ows like silver lace.花邊The harvest of a whole years hard work is on the trees and bushes灌木; berries漿果類, beech山毛櫸mast, chestnuts栗子, acorns橡子.早晨便是寒冷的，夜晚更會(huì)凍得你直打哆嗦，雙腳冰冷。但是中午時(shí)分，當(dāng)陽光照下來驅(qū)散籠罩在早地上的薄霧時(shí)，蝴蝶、黃蜂都會(huì)出來，窗前的蜘蛛網(wǎng)像給窗戶鑲上了一圈銀邊。一年勞動(dòng)的成果都結(jié)在了樹上，有灌木，漿果，山毛櫸，栗子，橡子。Suddenly, I think of my youngest daughter, living

8、now in Amsterdam. Very soon she will call and ask “Have you planted the bulbs yet?” Then I will answer teasingly戲弄that actually Im waiting until she comes to help me. And then we will both be overcome by nostalgia,鄉(xiāng)愁because once we always did that together. One entire sunny autumn afternoon, when sh

9、e was three and a half years old, she helped me with all enthusiasm熱情and joyfulness歡喜of her age.突然，我想起了現(xiàn)在生活在阿姆斯特丹的小女兒。她很快就會(huì)打電話回來問我：“有沒有種百合啦？”，而我會(huì)開玩笑的回答她，我要等她回來幫我種。然后我們都將被鄉(xiāng)愁打敗，因?yàn)樵裎覀円恢痹谝黄鸱N百合。當(dāng)她三歲半的時(shí)候，她總是花上一整個(gè)晴朗的秋日下午幫我，帶著她那個(gè)年紀(jì)特有的熱情和歡喜。It was one of the last afternoons that I had her around, because he

10、r place in school has been already reserved預(yù)定. She wandered around so happily carefree無憂無慮with her little bucket 鏟斗，水桶and spade鏟子, covering the bulbs with earth and calling out “Night, night” or “Sleep night”, her little voice chattering顫動(dòng)constantly時(shí)常，不斷的on. She discovered “baby bulbs”, “kiddie小孩bul

11、bs”, and “mummy and daddy bulbs”, the latter snuggling 緊抱，依偎cozily舒適的together. While we were both working so industriously,勤勉的I watched my kid very deliberately.慎重的，謹(jǐn)慎的She was such a tiny thing, between an infant嬰兒，幼兒and a toddler學(xué)步的小孩with such a round little tummy肚子.那是最后幾個(gè)有她陪伴的下午，因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)她的學(xué)校已經(jīng)訂好了。她無憂無

12、慮的拿著她的小鏟子和鏟斗，把百合埋在土里，高喊著“晚安，晚安”或者“睡吧，安”，她稚嫩的聲音沒有停過。她發(fā)明了“貝比百合”“小百合”和“媽咪爹地百合”后者緊緊的依偎在一起。我們都干得非常賣力，我仔細(xì)地打量著我的孩子，她是這么個(gè)小東西，有著一個(gè)介乎于嬰兒和學(xué)步的小孩之間的圓圓的小肚子。Every autumn, throughout貫穿her childhood, we repeated the ritual慣例of planting the bulbs together. Every autumn I saw her changing, the toddler became a schoolg

13、irl, a straightforward簡單的，坦率的realist現(xiàn)實(shí)主義者, full of drive內(nèi)驅(qū)力. Never once dreamy空幻的, her hands in her pockets; no longer happily indulging in沉迷her fantasies. The schoolgirl developed long legs, her jaw-line下巴changed, she had her hair cut. It was autumn again that I thought “bye roses, bye butterflies,

14、 bye schoolgirl”. I listened to her stories while we painstakingly 煞費(fèi)苦心的burrowed躲藏in the earth, planting the promise of spring.她童年的每一個(gè)秋天，我們延續(xù)著一起種百合的慣例。每個(gè)秋天我看著她長大，從一個(gè)姍姍學(xué)步的小孩，到一個(gè)學(xué)生，一個(gè)簡單的現(xiàn)實(shí)主義者并且內(nèi)心充滿了動(dòng)力。她不再空想，手插在口袋里，不再沉迷于她的白日夢。她的腿變長了，她的下巴變了，她的頭發(fā)剪短了。又是一年秋天，我想我該說：“再見了，玫瑰，再見了，蝴蝶，再見了，學(xué)生”。我聽著她的故事，那時(shí)我們煞費(fèi)苦心地在地

15、上挖洞，種下春天的承諾。Suddenly, much quicker than I had expected, a tall teenager was standing by my side. She is taller than I. The ritual慣例，儀式became rather silent, and we no longer chatter from one subject to another. I thought about her room full of posters海報(bào)and knick-knacks小裝飾品, how it had been full of tr

16、easures真品in bottles and boxes, white peddles叫賣, a copper brooch銅的胸針, colored drawings圖畫, the treasures of a child who still knew nothing of money, who wanted to be read to and who looked anxiously at a spider 蜘蛛at her room and asked, “Would he want to be my friend?”突然，比我想象的還要快，一個(gè)高高的少女已經(jīng)站在了我身邊，她已經(jīng)比我高

17、了。我們一起種百合的儀式突然變得沉默了，我們不再從一個(gè)話題聊到另一個(gè)話題。我想到她的房間里貼滿了海報(bào)和小裝飾品。瓶子和盒子里裝滿了她的珍藏，有白色的小東西，一個(gè)銅的胸針，彩色的圖畫，一個(gè)對錢還一無所知的孩子的珍藏，一個(gè)希望被讀懂的孩子，一個(gè)看見蜘蛛在自己房間里會(huì)緊張地問：“你想做我朋友嗎”的孩子。Then came the autumn when I planted the bulbs alone, and I knew from then on it would always be that way. But every year, in autumn, she talks about it

18、, full of nostalgia鄉(xiāng)愁for the security保證，安全of childhood, the seclusion隱退of a garden, the final moments of a season. How both of us would dearly深深地love to have a time machine. To go back. Just for a day.接下來的一個(gè)秋天，只有我一個(gè)人種百合了，而且我意識到從今往后都要我一個(gè)人種百合了。但是，每當(dāng)秋天到來的時(shí)候，她談起種百合的事，都充滿了鄉(xiāng)愁和對童年的懷念。懷念一個(gè)正在消失花園和一個(gè)季節(jié)的最后的美好時(shí)

19、光。我們都深深的希望有一個(gè)時(shí)光機(jī)器，能帶我們會(huì)到過去，哪怕只有一天。眼下到了栽種球莖的好時(shí)光，但我卻能拖就拖，因?yàn)橐苑N球莖的話，就意味著要在開滿鮮花的狹長花壇中騰出空地來，就意味著要把這些一年生植物連根拔起，而這些植物此時(shí)正接受著大自然的恩賜在盡情地綻放各種色彩紫色、橙色、粉紅等，這是它們最后的歡聲。連根拔掉它們無異于謀殺。所以我要等到第一個(gè)霜降之夜，那時(shí)，所有的花兒將被寒霜麻醉，那冰冷的、嘎吱作響的霜層會(huì)讓它們慢慢凋零，會(huì)讓它們溫柔地逝去。此刻的我，憂心忡忡，徜徉在花園中，多想留住這夏末里的最后時(shí)日。周圍的樹木枝繁葉茂，茁壯成長。白樺樹在婆娑地?fù)u曳著一片片金色，這一片片金色飄然而下，猶如源

20、源不斷的五彩紙屑。很快，十一月份就要來臨，隨之而來的便是秋雨，還有那猶如浸濕的抹布般懸掛在頭頂上空的鉛灰色的云。多么想讓時(shí)光凝固在此刻，我思忖著，同時(shí)還注視著樹木在綠得發(fā)光的草地上投下的巨大而詭譎的黑影，還有那倦怠地甩動(dòng)著尾巴的牛兒。周圍的一切一片靜謐，唯有紫苑花、大麗菊、向日葵、玫瑰花那五彩斑斕的濃艷色彩在侵蝕四周的沉寂。清晨從一開始就冷颼颼的，到了夜晚，即使躺在被窩里也會(huì)打哆嗦，也會(huì)雙腳冰涼。但在正午時(shí)分，陽光透過云層照射過來，將草地上的霧氣蒸發(fā)。此時(shí)，蝴蝶和黃蜂都出來了，蜘蛛網(wǎng)襯著窗戶閃著光，猶如銀色的絲帶。一顆顆樹上、一簇簇灌木上，都掛滿了辛勞整整一年后的收成：漿果、山毛櫸實(shí)、板栗、橡

21、樹果實(shí)等等。突然，我想起了此時(shí)正生活在阿姆斯特丹的小女兒。過一兩天，她一定會(huì)打電話來問：“球莖種好了嗎？”我會(huì)打趣地告訴她，我正等著她來幫忙呢。接著，我們倆就會(huì)沉浸在懷舊的思緒中，因?yàn)橐郧坝幸欢螘r(shí)間，我們總是一起種球莖。在一個(gè)陽光燦爛的秋日下午（她那時(shí)剛過三歲半），她帶著她那個(gè)年紀(jì)所具有的所有熱情和歡樂幫我種下了球莖。當(dāng)時(shí)她已報(bào)到準(zhǔn)備上學(xué)了，她能伴我身邊只剩最后幾個(gè)下午了。那是其中一個(gè)下午的事兒。她提著小桶，拿著鏟子，興高采烈、無憂無慮地滿園子里跑，一會(huì)兒給球莖掩土，一會(huì)兒喊著“夜晚來臨了”或“睡個(gè)好覺吧”。那稚嫩的聲音一遍又一遍地傳來。她還會(huì)區(qū)分“球莖寶寶”、“球莖娃娃”和“球莖爸媽”。“球