【正文】 nse of pride at what we39。ll have enough energy to stay on here is anybody39。我們僅有的機器（不包括割草機）是一臺3馬力的小型旋轉(zhuǎn)式耕耘機以及一架16英寸的鏈鋸。小范圍里實現(xiàn)自給自足的途徑是抵制誘惑，不去購置拖拉機和其他昂貴的節(jié)省勞力的機械。吉米和埃米莉雖然參加學(xué)校的各種活動，但他倆大多數(shù)時間也呆在家里。由于我們?nèi)绱嗣β?，手頭又緊，我們很少請客。這種生活需要一些特殊的素質(zhì)。鋪張的圣誕節(jié)成為一種回憶，我們把完成稿約作為度假的一部分…… 12 I suspect not everyone who loves the country would be happy living the way we do. It takes a couple of special qualities. One is a tolerance for solitude. Because we are so busy and on such a tight budget, we don39。我們?nèi)匀ッ軤栁只牳鑴】窗爬傺莩?，不過一年才幾次。ve been able to make up the difference in ine by cutting back without appreciably lowering our standard of living. We continue to dine out once or twice a month, but now we patronize local restaurants instead of more expensive places in the city. We still attend the opera and ballet in Milwaukee but only a few times a year. We eat less meat, drink cheaper wine and see fewer movies. Extravagant Christmases are a memory, and we bine vacations with story assignments... 我們通過節(jié)約開支而又不明顯降低生活水準的方式來彌補收入差額。不過我們每年留出2000美元入個人退休金賬戶。雖然我們?nèi)砸Ц缎〔糠轴t(yī)療費用，但我們的保險費也低每年只要560美金而我們給自己生大病保了險。我們需要為每一位家庭成員的任何一項醫(yī)療費用支付最初的500美金。那些開銷包括了所有支出，如音樂課學(xué)費、牙醫(yī)賬單、汽車維修以及大學(xué)費用等等。s majormedical policy. We have to pay the first $500 of any medical fees for each member of the family. It picks up 80% of the costs beyond that. Although we are stuck with paying minor expenses, our premium is low only $560 a year and we are covered against catastrophe. Aside from that and the policy on our two cars at $400 a year, we have no other insurance. But we are setting aside $2,000 a year in an IRA. 我掙的錢遠比不上擔(dān)任全職工作時的收入，可如今我們需要的錢也沒有過去多。m not making anywhere near as much money as I did when I was employed full time, but now we don39。為了寫那些內(nèi)容各不相同的文章，我為《體育畫報》爬進過黑熊窩；為《史密森期刊》替參賽的一組組狗套上過雪橇；為《科學(xué)文摘》調(diào)查過尚普蘭湖水怪的真相；為《終點》雜志在明尼蘇達劃著小舟穿越美、加邊界水域內(nèi)的公共荒野保護區(qū)。 9 There have been a few anxious moments since then, but on balance things have gone much better than we had any right to expect. For various stories of mine, I39。但我們一再回到一個老問題上來：真的會有更好的時機嗎？答案無疑是否定的。時機選得實在太差。s pay in accumulated benefits in my pocket off I went. 第二年我們種了更多的作物，差不多就靠著從自家樹林砍斫的木柴以及僅僅100加侖的燃油過了冬。 8 The next year we grew even more food and managed to get through the winter on firewood that was mostly from our own trees and only 100 gallons of heating oil. At that point I began thinking seriously about quitting my job and starting to freelance. The timing was terrible. By then, Shawn and Amy, our oldest girls were attending expensive Ivy League schools and we had only a few thousand dollars in the bank. Yet we kept ing back to the same question: Will there ever be a better time? The answer, decidedly, was no, and so with my employer39。最后，地窖里遍地是大堆大堆的土豆、西葫蘆、南瓜，谷倉里也儲滿了蘋果和梨。我們的冰箱里塞滿了櫻桃、藍莓、草莓、蘆筍、豌豆、青豆和玉米。一次是河水外溢，我們不少田地被淹了幾個星期。暴風(fēng)雪肆虐，一場接著一場，積雪厚厚地覆蓋著屋子和谷倉，而室內(nèi)，我們用自己砍伐的木柴燒火取暖，吃著自家種植的蘋果，溫馨快樂每一分鐘。 6 None of us will ever forget our first winter. We were buried under five feet of snow from December through March. While one storm after another blasted huge drifts up against the house and barn, we kept warm inside burning our own wood, eating our own apples and loving every minute of it. 我們誰也不會忘記第一年的冬天。除了日常的家務(wù)，她還照管菜園和蜂房，烘烤面包，將食品裝罐、冷藏，開車送孩子學(xué)音樂，和他們一起練習(xí)，自己還要上風(fēng)琴課，為我做些研究工作并打字，自己有時也寫寫文章，還要侍弄花圃，堆摞木柴、運送雞蛋。 5 In between such chores, I manage to spend 50 to 60 hours a week at the typewriter or doing reporting for the freelance articles I sell to magazines and newspapers. Sandy, meanwhile, pursues her own demanding schedule. Besides the usual household routine, she oversees the garden and beehives, bakes bread, cans and freezes, drives the kids to their music lessons, practices with them, takes organ lessons on her own, does research and typing for me, writes an article herself now and then, tends the flower beds, stacks a little wood and delivers the eggs. There is, as the old saying goes, no rest for the wicked on a place like this and not much for the virtuous either. 在這些活計之間，我每周要抽空花五、六十個小時，不是打字撰文，就是為作為自由撰稿人投給報刊的文章進行采訪。過些時候，四個孩子中的兩個小的，16歲的吉米和13歲的埃米莉，會幫著我一起把拖了很久沒修的室外廁所修葺一下，那是專為室外干活修建的。再過三個月，氣溫會升到95度，我們就要給玉米松土，在草莓地除草，還要宰殺家禽。ll spray the orchard, paint the barn, plant the garden and clean the hen house before the new chicks arrive. 但如此美妙的生活有時會變得相當(dāng)艱苦。我們守著看鷹兒飛過上空，看玉米田間鹿群嬉躍。我們?yōu)槁淙盏挠噍x而激動。夏日里我們在河上蕩舟，在林子里野餐，騎著自行車長時間漫游。 3 It39。自家飼養(yǎng)的雞提供雞蛋，每星期還能剩余幾十個出售。s a selfreliant sort of life. We grow nearly all of our fruits and vegetables. Our hens keep us in eggs, with several dozen left over to sell each week. Our bees provide us with honey, and we cut enough wood to just about make it through the heating season. 這是一種自力更生的生活。在城市以及郊區(qū)歷經(jīng)多年的悵惘失望之后，我和妻子桑迪終于在這里的鄉(xiāng)村尋覓到心靈的滿足。B如今我同時做著這兩件事。m getting by. And after years of frustration with city and suburban living, my wife Sandy and I have finally found contentment here in the country. 多爾蒂先生創(chuàng)建自己的理想生活 吉姆s class as a writer or in my neighbors39。 Mr. Doherty Builds His Dream LifeJim Doherty 1 There are two things I have always wanted to do write and live on a farm. Today I39。多爾蒂當(dāng)初開始其寫作和農(nóng)場經(jīng)營雙重生涯時所體驗到的那樣，農(nóng)耕生活遠非輕松自在。很少有人真去把夢想變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實。 unit 1 Mr. Doherty Builds His Dream Life In America many people have a romantic idea of life in the countryside. Many living in towns dream of starting up their own farm, of living off the land. Few get round to putting their dreams into practice. This is perhaps just as well, as the life of a farmer is far from easy, as Jim Doherty discovered when he set out to bine being a writer with running a farm. Nevertheless, as he explains, he has no regrets and remains enthusiastic about his decision to change his way of life. 在美國，不少人對鄉(xiāng)村生活懷有浪漫的情感。許多居住在城鎮(zhèn)的人夢想著自己辦個農(nóng)場，夢想著靠土地為生。或許這也沒有什么不好，因為，正如吉姆但他寫道，自己并不后悔，對自己作出的改變生活方式的決定仍熱情不減。m doing both. I am not in E. B. White39。 league as a farmer, but I39。多爾蒂 有兩件事是我一直想做的――寫作與務(wù)農(nóng)。作為作家，我和E懷特不屬同一等級，作為農(nóng)場主，我和鄉(xiāng)鄰也不是同一類人，不過我應(yīng)付得還行。2 It39。我們食用的果蔬幾乎都是自己種的。自家養(yǎng)殖的蜜蜂提供蜂蜜，我們還自己動手砍柴，足可供過冬取暖之用。s a satisfying life too.