現(xiàn)代大學(xué)英語(yǔ)精讀5 An Iowa Christmas 課文翻譯 譯文

1、Every Christmas should begin with the sound of bells, and when I was a child mine always did. But they were sleigh bells, not church bells, for we lived in a part of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where there were no churches. My bells were on my fathers team of horses as he drove up to our horse-headed hitchi

2、ng post with the bobsled that would3 take us to celebrate Christmas on the family farm ten miles out in the country. My father would bring the team down Fifth Avenue at a smart trot, flicking his whip over the horses rumps and making the bells double their light, thin jangling over the snow, whose r

3、adiance threw back a brilliance like the sound of bells.每一個(gè)圣誕節(jié)都是由鈴鐺聲拉開(kāi)序幕的，我童年記憶中的圣誕節(jié)總是如此。但那不是教堂里的鈴鐺，而是雪橇上的鈴鐺，因?yàn)槲覀兗揖幼≡趷?ài)荷華州的細(xì)達(dá)河洛佩茲的一個(gè)地區(qū)，那個(gè)地區(qū)沒(méi)有教堂。我的鈴鐺在我父親拉雪橇的馬隊(duì)里。我家有一個(gè)馬頭形的拴馬樁，父親會(huì)把馬兒們趕到拴馬樁那兒把大雪橇套在馬身上，帶著我們到10英里以外的鄉(xiāng)下農(nóng)場(chǎng)去慶祝圣誕節(jié)。當(dāng)父親駕著馬車(chē)輕快地駛過(guò)第五大街，輕輕地舞動(dòng)著馬鞭時(shí)，清脆悅耳的鈴聲便跳躍在我的耳畔。地上輝映著的雪光使鈴聲更加清脆動(dòng)聽(tīng)。There are no such de

4、partures any more: the whole family piling into the bobsled with a foot of golden oat straw to lie in and heavy buffalo robes to lie under, the horses stamping the soft snow, and at every motion of their hoofs the bells jingling, jingling. My father sat there with the reins firmly held, wearing a lo

5、ng coat made from the hide of a favorite family horse, the deep chestnut color still glowing, his mittens also from the same hide. It always troubled me as a boy of eight that the horses had so indifferent a view of their late friend appearing as a warm overcoat on the back of the man who put the ir

6、on bit in their mouths.如今再也沒(méi)有那樣的出發(fā)場(chǎng)景了：一家人擠上大雪橇，身下是金黃的燕麥草，身上蓋著厚厚的水牛皮長(zhǎng)袍；拉雪橇的馬兒踩著柔軟的雪，系在它們脖子上的鈴鐺隨著馬蹄的節(jié)奏叮當(dāng)作響。父親坐在那里牢牢地握著韁繩，他穿的長(zhǎng)大衣是用家里人都非常喜歡的一匹馬的皮毛做成的。那深紅棕色的皮毛仍然閃著光澤，他戴的手套也出自同一張馬皮。那時(shí)8歲的我總是很納悶，不知道為什么那些馬眼見(jiàn)著它們剛剛故去的朋友變成了把銜鐵塞在它們嘴里的人身上溫暖的大衣而熟視無(wú)睹，毫無(wú)反應(yīng)。There are no streets like those any more: the snow sensibly

7、left on the road for the sake of sleighs and easy travel. We could hop oil and ride the heavy runners as they made their hissing, tearing sound over the packed snow. And along the streets we met other horses, so that we moved from one set of bells to another, from the tiny tinkle of the individual b

8、ells on the shafts to the silvery, leaping sound of the long strands hung over the harness. There would be an occasional brass-mounted automobile laboring on its narrow tires and as often as not pulled up the slippery hills by a horse, and we would pass it with a triumphant shout for an awkward nuis

9、ance which was obviously not here to stay.如今再也沒(méi)有那樣的街道了：為了讓雪橇能夠順利駛過(guò)，路面上的積雪被有意地保留了下來(lái)。我們的雪橇跳躍著在鋪滿雪得路上狂奔，沉重的劃板摩擦著地面發(fā)出嘶嘶的聲音。在街上，我們會(huì)遇到其他的馬匹，當(dāng)我們駛過(guò)時(shí)可以挺大一串串各不相同的鈴鐺聲。有的馬車(chē)車(chē)轅上掛著單個(gè)鈴鐺，發(fā)出輕微的叮當(dāng)聲；有的馬具上則掛著一長(zhǎng)串鈴鐺，發(fā)出清脆悅耳、忽高忽低的響聲。在路上，偶爾我們會(huì)遇上坐著鎮(zhèn)上官員的小汽車(chē)，窄窄的車(chē)輪在積雪的路上吃力地行駛著，而且經(jīng)常不得不用一匹馬拉著才能駛上溜滑的山坡。每當(dāng)這時(shí)我們就會(huì)發(fā)出勝利者的歡呼快速駛過(guò)，嘲笑那個(gè)鋼鐵家伙

10、的蠢笨和不合時(shí)宜。The country road ran through a landscape of little hills and shallow valleys and heavy groves of timber, including one of great towering black walnut trees which were all cut down a year later to be made into gunstocks for the First World War. The great moment was when we left the road and

11、turned up the long lane on the farm. It ran through fields where watermelons were always planted in the summer because of the fine sandy soil, and I could go out and break one open to see its Christmas colors of green skin and red inside. My grandfather had been given some of that farm as bounty lan

12、d for service as a cavalryman in the Civil War.鄉(xiāng)間公路穿過(guò)一片小山丘，那里有很多淺淺的山谷，到處長(zhǎng)滿了郁郁蔥蔥成片成片的樹(shù)林。其中有一大片高聳入云的黑胡桃樹(shù)一年后都被砍倒，制成了在第一次世界大戰(zhàn)中使用的槍支的槍托。最令人興奮的時(shí)刻是我們的雪橇離開(kāi)鄉(xiāng)村公路駛上通往農(nóng)場(chǎng)的長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的小路的時(shí)候。雪橇駛過(guò)片片田地，那里是優(yōu)良的沙質(zhì)土壤，夏天種滿了西瓜。在西瓜成熟的季節(jié)，我總會(huì)好奇地跑去地里打開(kāi)一個(gè)，看看墨綠的瓜皮里紅紅的瓜瓤，那是圣誕的顏色。那片土地是我祖父因在南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中服過(guò)役當(dāng)過(guò)騎兵而得到的獎(jiǎng)賞。Near the low house on the hill

13、, with oaks on one side and apple trees on the other, my father would stand up, flourish his whip, and bring the bobsled right up to the door of the house with a burst of speed.在快要接近小山上那座低矮的、一邊種滿橡樹(shù)、一邊種滿蘋(píng)果樹(shù)的房子時(shí)，父親總會(huì)從雪橇座位上站起來(lái)，用力揮舞著手中的馬鞭，以風(fēng)馳電掣般的速度把雪橇駛到房門(mén)口停下。There are no such arrivals any more: the harn

14、ess bells ringing and clashing like faraway steeples, the horses whinnying at the horses in the barn and receiving a great, trumpeting whinny in reply, the dogs leaping into the bobsled and burrowing under the buffalo robes, a squawking from the hen house, a yelling of “Whoa, whoa,” at the excited h

15、orses, boy and girl cousins howling around the bobsled, and the descent into the snow with the Christmas basket carried by my mother.如今再也沒(méi)有那樣的到達(dá)時(shí)的熱鬧景象了：車(chē)轅上的鈴鐺清脆響亮，就像遠(yuǎn)處的尖塔一樣優(yōu)美絢麗；馬兒們朝著馬廄里的馬嘶鳴，馬廄里的馬兒們也以熱烈響亮的嘶鳴作答，狗兒們牛皮毯子下鉆來(lái)鉆去；母雞窩里傳來(lái)咯咯的雞叫聲；為了讓興奮的馬兒們安靜下來(lái)的“喔！喔！”聲；堂兄弟姐妹們?cè)谘┣林車(chē)鷼g鬧著追逐著；一家人走下雪橇，踏入雪中，媽媽提著的籃子里裝滿了圣

16、誕節(jié)的東西。 While my mother and sisters went into the house, the team was unhitched and taken to the barn, to be covered with blankets and given a little grain. That winter odor of a barn is a wonderfully complex one, rich and warm and utterly unlike the smell of the same barn in summer: the body heat of

17、 many animals weighing a thousand pounds and more; pigs in one corner making their dark, brown-sounding grunts; milk cattle still nuzzling the manger for wisps of hay; horses eyeing the newcomers and rolling their deep, oval eyes white; oats, hay, and straw tangy still with the live August sunlight;

18、 the manure steaming; the sharp odor of leather harness rubbed with neats-foot oil to keep it supple; the molasses-sweet odor of ensilage in the silo where the fodder was almost fermenting. It is a smell from strong and living things, and my father always said it was the secret of health, that it sc

19、oured out a mans lungs; and he would stand there, breathing deeply, one hand on a horses rump, watching the steam come out from under the blankets as the team cooled down from their rapid trot up the lane. It gave him a better appetite, he argued, than plain fresh air, which was thin and had no body

20、 to it.母親和姐妹們走進(jìn)房子。馬兒們從雪橇上被解下來(lái)，帶到了馬廄里，披上了毯子，喂上了飼料。冬天馬廄里的那種氣味是一種令人陶醉的混合味道，濃郁而溫暖，完全不像夏天里的味道：許多重達(dá)上千磅甚至更重的大牲畜身上散發(fā)出的體溫；幾頭豬在角落里發(fā)出陰郁低沉的哼哼聲；奶牛不停地用鼻子拱著食槽，咀嚼著里面的干草；馬兒們滴溜溜地轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)著它們那深邃的橢圓形的大眼睛，審視著那些新成員；燕麥、干草還有稻草都散發(fā)著新鮮的八月陽(yáng)光的味道；還有冒著熱氣的動(dòng)物糞便的氣味以及為了使皮革馬具柔軟而用牛腳油摩擦皮革散發(fā)出的濃烈的味道，還有貯藏在地窖里正在發(fā)酵的未干的秣草發(fā)出的米糖般甜甜的味道。那是一種從強(qiáng)壯而又有生命力的東西

21、身上發(fā)出的氣味，父親總是會(huì)說(shuō)這種氣味是保持健康的秘訣，因?yàn)樗梢韵礈烊说钠⒎?。他總?huì)站在那里，一只手搭在馬屁股上，一邊做著深呼吸，一邊看著馬匹由于剛剛在小徑上疾馳而產(chǎn)生的熱氣從毯子下面冒出來(lái)。他還說(shuō)這種氣味比新鮮空氣更能使他有好胃口，新鮮空氣太過(guò)平淡而沒(méi)有味道。A barn with cattle and horses is the place to begin Christmas; after all, thats where the original event happened, and that same smell was the first air that the Christ

22、Child breathed.牛馬棚正是圣誕節(jié)的發(fā)源地，畢竟那是故事最開(kāi)始發(fā)生的地方，圣嬰呼吸到的第一口空氣就是這種味道。By the time we reached the house, my mother and sisters were wearing aprons and busying in the kitchen, as red-faced as the women who had been there all morning. The kitchen was the biggest room in the house and all family life save sleepi

23、ng went on there. My uncle even had a couch along one wall where he napped and where the children lay when they were ill. The kitchen range was a tremendous black and gleaming one called a Smoke Eater, with pans bubbling over the holes above the fire box and a reservoir of hot water at the side, lin

24、ed with dull copper, from which my uncle would dip a basin of water and shave above the sink, turning his lathered face now and then to drop a remark into the womens talk, waving his straightedged razor as if it were a threat to make them believe him. My job was to go to the woodpile out back and ke

25、ep the fire burning, splitting the chunks of oak and hickory, watching how cleanly the ax went through the tough wood.我們進(jìn)到屋子里的時(shí)候，母親和姐姐們正扎著圍裙在廚房里忙碌著。她們的臉頰跟其他在廚房里忙碌了一上午的婦女一樣，紅撲撲的。廚房時(shí)整個(gè)房子里最大的房間，除睡覺(jué)之外的所有家庭活動(dòng)都是在這里進(jìn)行的。叔叔甚至靠墻放了一張睡椅，他經(jīng)常會(huì)在上面打個(gè)盹兒，孩子們生病時(shí)也會(huì)躺在上面。叔叔家的廚房的灶臺(tái)很大，又黑又亮，被稱做“食煙者”。灶臺(tái)上大大小小的鍋在火箱上的灶眼里打出一盆水，然

26、后在下水池上刮他的臉。他會(huì)不時(shí)地轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)他那涂滿肥皂泡的臉在婦女們的談話中間插幾句嘴。他揮舞著手中的直刃刮胡刀，好像以此作為威脅讓別人相信他所說(shuō)的話。我的工作是到房子后面的柴堆取來(lái)木柴使火爐里的或持續(xù)燃燒，柴火不夠時(shí)還要揮舞利刃把堅(jiān)硬的橡木和山胡桃木 劈成可以燒火的木塊兒。It was a handmade Christmas. The tree came from down in the grove, and on it were many paper ornaments made by my cousins, as well as beautiful ones brought from the

27、 Black Forest, where the family had originally lived. There were popcorn balls, from corn planted on the sunny slope by the watermelons, paper horns with homemade candy, and apples from the orchard. The gifts tended to be hand-knit socks, or wool ties, or fancy crocheted “yokes” for nightgowns, tatt

28、ed collars for blouses, doilies with fancy flower patterns for tables, tidies for chairs, and once I received a brilliantly polished cow horn with a cavalryman crudely but bravely carved on it. And there would usually be a cornhusk doll, perhaps with a prune or walnut for a face, and a gay dress of

29、an old corset-cover scrap with its ribbons still bright. And there were real candles burning with real flames, every guest sniffing the air for the smell of scorching pine needles. No electrically lit tree has the warm and primitive presence of a tree with a crown of living fires over it, suggesting

30、 whatever true flame Joseph may have kindled on that original cold night.那真是自給自足的圣誕節(jié)：圣誕樹(shù)是從小山下的叢林里看來(lái)的，掛在上面的紙制裝飾物有許多事堂兄弟姐妹們自己做的，也有一些非常漂亮的是從叔叔家原來(lái)居住的名叫“黑森林”的地方帶來(lái)的。吃的東西有爆玉米花球，而玉米就產(chǎn)自西瓜地旁邊那片向陽(yáng)坡地，還有包著自制糖果的紙?zhí)柦呛蛷淖约夜麍@里摘下來(lái)的蘋(píng)果。禮物往往是手工編織的襪子、羊毛領(lǐng)帶、鉤針編織的精美的睡衣抵肩、梭織而成的襯衫衣領(lǐng)、布滿花卉圖案的小桌布、搭在椅子扶手和靠背上的罩布。有一次我還曾經(jīng)受到過(guò)一個(gè)磨得锃亮的牛角，

31、上面刻著一名騎兵，雖然雕刻簡(jiǎn)單，但也是威風(fēng)凜凜。禮物中總是會(huì)有用玉米皮做成的玩具娃娃，用李子干或核桃做成的臉，用上面帶有鮮亮絲帶的舊緊身胸衣碎片做成的艷麗的裙子。圣誕樹(shù)上點(diǎn)著真正的蠟燭，跳動(dòng)著真正的燭光，所有的客人都呼吸著彌漫在整個(gè)房間里的濃烈的松針燒焦的味道。沒(méi)有一棵點(diǎn)滿小電燈泡的圣誕樹(shù)會(huì)像一棵樹(shù)頂上點(diǎn)滿蠟燭的圣誕樹(shù)一樣能營(yíng)造出那種溫馨、質(zhì)樸的氛圍。給人的感覺(jué)是在那個(gè)故事開(kāi)始的寒冷夜晚，約瑟夫點(diǎn)燃的是同樣真切的燭火。There are no dinners like that any more: every item from the farm itself, with no deep fr

32、eezer, no car for driving into town for packaged food. The pies had been baked the day before, pumpkin, apple, and mince; as we ate them, we could look out the window and see the cornfield where the pumpkins grew, the trees from which the apples were picked. 如今再也沒(méi)有那樣的圣誕晚餐了：沒(méi)有冷凍冰箱，沒(méi)有汽車(chē)開(kāi)進(jìn)城里去購(gòu)買(mǎi)袋裝食品，所有的

33、東西都產(chǎn)自自家的農(nóng)場(chǎng)。餡兒餅都是頭一天就烤好的，有南瓜餡兒的、蘋(píng)果餡兒的、肉餡兒的；我們可以一邊吃餡兒餅，一邊望到窗外生長(zhǎng)南瓜的玉米地和從上面摘下蘋(píng)果的蘋(píng)果樹(shù)。還有農(nóng)家干酪，仍滴著油脂的裝著凝乳的袋子還掛在冰冷的地窖天花板上。面包是當(dāng)天早上為烤肉預(yù)熱爐子而現(xiàn)烤出來(lái)的，當(dāng)嬸嬸匆匆從我身邊走過(guò)時(shí)，我能聞到那沁人心脾的面包剛剛出爐時(shí)的味道，那是最新鮮的香味。還有用一個(gè)巨大棕色瓦罐兒盛著的豌豆煙熏豬肉，豬肉來(lái)自每年11月屠宰的豬。越過(guò)大瓦罐兒，我們能看到場(chǎng)院角落里倒扣著的一口大黑鐵鍋，無(wú)辜的豬兒們停在那里蹭癢兒。There was cottage cheese, with the dripping b

34、ags of curds still hanging from the cold cellar ceiling. The bread had been baked that morning, heating up the oven for the meat, and as my aunt hurried by I could smell in her apron that freshest of all odors with which the human nose is honoredbread straight from the oven. There would be a huge br

35、own crock of beans with smoked pork from the hog butchered every November. We could see, beyond the crock, the broad black iron kettle in a corner of the barnyard, turned upside down, the innocent hogs stopping to scratch on it.總會(huì)有各種各樣的蜜餞水果和泡菜：有采自小樹(shù)叢中葡萄樹(shù)上的野葡萄，有山楂果子凍，有野黑刺霉和家種的覆盆子，還有從菜園地里采來(lái)的草莓，以及用小徑旁野

36、生的蒔蘿制成的酸甜泡菜，還有用我們放在牛奶房水槽里冷卻，然后在炎熱的9月下午吃的西瓜皮腌制的泡菜。Cut into the slope of the hill behind the house, with a little door of its own, was the vegetable cellar, from which came carrots, turnips, cabbages, potatoes, squash, Sometimes my scared cousins were sent there for punishment, to sit in darkness and

37、meditate on their sins; but never on Christmas Day. For days after such an ordeal they could not endure biting into a carrot.在房子后面的山坡上挖有一個(gè)菜窖，窖口有一個(gè)小門(mén)兒，里面儲(chǔ)存著胡蘿卜、蘿卜、卷心菜、土豆、南瓜。那時(shí)我那幾個(gè)被嚇壞的堂兄們會(huì)被送到那里接受懲罰，坐在黑暗里思過(guò)。但他們從未在圣誕節(jié)受到過(guò)這樣的懲罰。這樣的苦難經(jīng)歷過(guò)后的幾天里他們?cè)僖渤圆贿M(jìn)胡蘿卜了，一口也吃不下去了。And of course there was the traditional saue

38、rkraut, with flecks of caraway seed. I remember one Christmas Day, when a ten-gallon crock of it in the basement, with a stone weighting down the lid, had blown up, driving the stone against the floor of the parlor, and my uncle had exclaimed, “Good God, the pianos fallen through the floor.”當(dāng)然還有撒著一粒

39、粒葛縷子粒的傳統(tǒng)泡菜。我記得有一個(gè)圣誕節(jié)，當(dāng)?shù)叵率依镉靡粔K兒石頭壓著蓋著蓋子的裝有10加侖這種泡菜的大罐子突然間爆裂，使得石頭砸到客廳下面的地板時(shí)，叔叔大聲叫道：“我的天，鋼琴?gòu)牡匕迳系粝氯チ?！”All the meat was from the home place too. Most useful of all, the goosethe very one which had chased me the summer before, hissing and darting out its bill at the end of its curving neck like a feathere

40、d snake. Here was the universal bird of an older Christmas: its down was plucked, washed, and hung in bags in the barn to be put into pillows; its awkward body was roasted until the skin was crisp as a fine paper; and the grease from its carcass was melted down, a little camphor added, and rubbed on

41、 the chests of coughing children. We ate, slept on, and wore that goose.所有的肉類(lèi)也是家產(chǎn)的。其中最有用的莫過(guò)于鵝肉了，那只鵝正是那年夏天伸著它那彎彎曲曲晃動(dòng)著的、像長(zhǎng)著羽毛的蛇一樣的脖子，張著大嘴，發(fā)出嘶嘶的聲音向我沖過(guò)來(lái)，在后面追趕過(guò)我的那只鵝。鵝是舊時(shí)圣誕節(jié)普遍食用的一種家禽：羽毛拔下來(lái)，洗凈，放進(jìn)袋子掛在馬廄里風(fēng)干，然后裝進(jìn)枕頭里；它那笨拙的身體會(huì)被烤得直到外皮變成像紙一樣薄脆；從它的軀體里熔化流出的油脂加進(jìn)一點(diǎn)兒樟腦可以涂搽在患咳嗽的孩子的前胸治病?？傊覀兂赠Z肉，睡鵝毛，穿鵝毛。 I was blessed

42、as a child with a remote uncle from the nearest railroad town, Uncle Ben, who was admiringly referred to as a “railroad man,” working the run into Omaha. Ben had been to Chicago; just often enough, as his wife Minnie said with a sniff in her voice, “to ruin the fool, not often enough to teach him an

43、ything useful.” Ben refused to eat fowl in any form, and as a Christmas token a little pork roast would be put in the oven just, for him, always referred to by the hurrying ladies in the kitchen as “Bens chunk.” Ben would make frequent trips to the milk house, returning each time a little redder in

44、the face, usually with one of the men toward whom he had jerked his head. It was not many years before I came to associate Bens remarkably fruity breath not only with the mince pie, but with the jug 1 funnel sunk in the bottom of the cooling tank with a stone tied to its neck. He was a romantic pers

45、on in my life for his constant travels and for that dignifying term “railroad man,” so much more impressive than farmer or lawyer. Yet now I see that he was a short man with a fine natural shyness, giving us knives and guns because he had no children of his own.作為一個(gè)小孩子，有一位來(lái)自離家最近的有鐵路的鎮(zhèn)子的遠(yuǎn)房叔叔是一件令人愉快的事

46、。我的叔叔，本，被人很羨慕地成為“鐵路人”，他在開(kāi)往奧馬哈的列車(chē)上工作。本叔叔曾經(jīng)去過(guò)芝加哥，他去過(guò)好幾次，他的妻子蜜妮每提起此事都會(huì)不屑地說(shuō)：“他去的這幾次沒(méi)學(xué)到什么好東西，反而長(zhǎng)了不少臭毛病?！北臼迨寰芙^吃任何禽類(lèi)做成的菜肴，作為圣誕節(jié)的象征會(huì)特地為他在爐子里烤一小塊豬肉，這塊肉被忙碌在廚房里的女士們稱做是“本的肉塊兒”。本叔叔會(huì)不停地往牛奶房里跑，每次回來(lái)臉上都會(huì)更紅潤(rùn)一些，通常他都會(huì)先跟在座的其中一個(gè)男人迅速擺一下頭然后一起走出去。幾年之后我才弄明白本叔叔嘴里的濃郁的果味香氣不只是因?yàn)槌粤斯怵W兒餅，還跟我在牛奶房冷卻冰箱里發(fā)現(xiàn)的用一塊兒石頭系在頸部沉在水箱底部的酒罐子有關(guān)。因?yàn)楸臼迨?/p>

47、經(jīng)常有機(jī)會(huì)到處游歷，還有他那令人備顯尊貴的“鐵路人”的稱謂，他在當(dāng)時(shí)是一位浪漫的傳奇式人物，比農(nóng)場(chǎng)主或者律師都更有吸引力。然而如今在我看來(lái)，他那時(shí)只是一個(gè)文雅而生性靦腆的矮個(gè)子男人，經(jīng)常送給我們玩具刀和手槍?zhuān)驗(yàn)樗约簺](méi)有孩子。And of course the trimmings were from the farm too: the hickory nut cake made with nuts gathered in the grove after the first frost and hulled out by my cousins with yellowed hands; the

48、black walnut cookies, sweeter than any taste; the fudge with butternuts crowding it. In the mornings we would be given a hammer, a flat iron, and a bowl of nuts to crack and pick out for the homemade ice cream.當(dāng)然配菜也同樣來(lái)自于農(nóng)場(chǎng)：山胡桃仁蛋糕用的是第一場(chǎng)霜降后從小樹(shù)林里采集來(lái)的山胡桃制成的，我的堂兄弟姐妹們因剝山胡桃而兩手發(fā)黃；用黑核桃仁制成的小甜餅比任何味道都甜美；還有撒滿白核桃

49、的牛奶軟糖。一般在早晨我們會(huì)得到一個(gè)鐵錘、一個(gè)平鐵板，還有一碗要砸開(kāi)的堅(jiān)果，為做自制冰激凌準(zhǔn)備果仁。And there was the orchard beyond the kitchen window, the Wealthy, the Russet, the Wolf with its giant-sized fruit, and an apple romantically called the Northern Spy as if it were a suspicious character out of the Civil War.廚房的窗外便是果園，果園里長(zhǎng)著各種蘋(píng)果樹(shù)：“富裕果”、

50、“赤褐果”、“狼果”的果樹(shù)上結(jié)滿了大個(gè)頭兒的果實(shí)；還有一種叫做“北方間諜”的蘋(píng)果樹(shù)，名字聽(tīng)起來(lái)像是出自內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的一位可疑人物。All families had their special Christmas food. Ours was called Dutch Bread, made from a dough halfway between bread and cake, stuffed with citron and every sort of nut from the farmhazel, black walnut, hickory, butternut. A little round on

51、e was always baked for me in a Clabber Girl baking soda can, and my last act on Christmas Eve was to put it by the tree so that Santa Clans would find it and have a snackafter all, hed come a long, cold way to our house. And every Christmas morning, he would have eaten it. My aunt made the same Dutc

52、h Bread and we smeared over it the same butter she had been churning from their own Jersey (highest butterfat content) milk that same morning.所有家庭都會(huì)準(zhǔn)備他們自己獨(dú)特的圣誕食物。我們家的是一種被叫做“荷蘭面包”，用介于做面包和蛋糕之間的面團(tuán)做成的面食，里面塞滿了香櫞和各式各樣產(chǎn)自農(nóng)場(chǎng)的果仁、榛子、黑核桃、山核桃、白胡桃。通常會(huì)專(zhuān)門(mén)用“酸牛奶姑娘”烘烤蘇打罐為我烤制一個(gè)又圓又小的“荷蘭面包”。圣誕夜我所做的最后一件事就是把這個(gè)特制的點(diǎn)心放在圣誕樹(shù)旁以便

53、讓圣誕老人發(fā)現(xiàn)它并把它作為宵夜。畢竟他是長(zhǎng)途跋涉冒著嚴(yán)寒來(lái)到我們家的。每一個(gè)圣誕節(jié)的早晨就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)他已經(jīng)把它吃了。嬸嬸做了同樣的“荷蘭面包”，我們把同樣的黃油（含有最高的乳脂含量）抹涂在上面吃，那是嬸嬸當(dāng)天從他們自家養(yǎng)的澤西種乳牛身上擠出的鮮奶中一次提煉制成的。To eat in the same room where food is cookedthat is the way to thank the Lord for His abundance. The long table, with its different levels where additions had been made f

54、or the small fry, ran the length of the kitchen. The air was heavy with odors not only of food on plates but of the act of cooking itself, along with the metallic smell of heated iron from the hard-working Smoke Eater, and the whole stove offered us its yet uneaten prospects of more goose and untouc

55、hed pies. To see the giblet gravy made and poured into a gravy boat, which had painted on its sides winter scenes of boys sliding and deer bounding over snow, is the surest way to overeat its swimming richness.在食物烹調(diào)出來(lái)的同一個(gè)房間里品嘗它們，這正是感謝主如此豐盛的恩賜的最好方式。廚房里的那張長(zhǎng)桌子由于為小孩子們不斷增加一些高低不等的桌面，幾乎已經(jīng)和廚房一樣長(zhǎng)了。空氣中濃香四溢，不僅

56、僅是裝在盤(pán)子里的食物的香味，空氣中還彌漫著食物在烹飪過(guò)程中發(fā)出的香味，以及“食煙者”灶臺(tái)上一直不停燒烤著的金屬發(fā)出的味道。整個(gè)爐子給我們提供著更多的等待上桌的烤鵝和餡兒餅。船形肉鹵盤(pán)的周?chē)枥L著冬天的情景，雪地上孩子們滑著雪橇，小鹿歡快地跳躍；看著家禽的內(nèi)臟制成的濃香的鹵汁，再倒入這樣的盤(pán)中，人們?nèi)滩蛔?huì)吃得過(guò)量。The warning for Christmas dinner was always an order to go to the milk house for cream, where we skimmed from the cooling pans of fresh milk t

57、he cream which had the same golden color as the flanks of the Jersey cows which had given it. The last deed before eating was grinding the coffee beans in the little mill, adding that exotic odor to the more native ones of goose and spiced pumpkin pie. Then all would sit at the table and my uncle wo

58、uld ask the grace, sometimes in German, but later, for the benefit of us ignorant children, in English:Come, Lord Jesus, beour guest,Share this food that youhave blessed.當(dāng)孩子們被派往牛奶房去取奶油時(shí)，就知道晚餐要開(kāi)始了。我們把出自澤西種乳牛、顏色跟它們側(cè)腹一樣的金黃的奶油從盛放鮮奶的冷卻盤(pán)中撇出。吃飯前的最后一件事是在小打磨機(jī)里磨咖啡豆，原本滿是本土烤鵝和香料南瓜餡餅味道的空氣中就又會(huì)增加了一種來(lái)自異國(guó)的香氣。然后所有的人都

59、圍坐在桌子旁，吃飯前的禱告通常是由叔叔做的，他有時(shí)用德文，但之后為了讓孩子們聽(tīng)懂，他會(huì)改用英文：來(lái)吧，主耶穌，來(lái)做我們的貴賓。跟我們一起分享您賜予我們的食物。There are no blessings like that any more: every scrap of food for which my uncle had asked the blessing was the result of his own hard work. What he took to the Lord for Him to make holy was the plain substance that an Iowa farm could produce in an average year with decent rainfall and proper plowing and manure.如今再也沒(méi)有那樣的祈福了：叔叔敬獻(xiàn)給上帝、請(qǐng)他賜福的所有食物都出自一個(gè)愛(ài)荷華州農(nóng)場(chǎng)的一般年景，雨水充足時(shí)，通過(guò)辛勤耕作、適當(dāng)施肥所獲得的普通收成。 The fir