【正文】 is year were ten inches across. I wish you39。ve got a strong new crop ing. Elisa straightened her back and pulled on the gardening glove again: Yes. They39。鐵絲柵欄把她的花園圈了起來，免得牛呀，狗呀，雞呀這些家畜糟蹋。s voice. He had e near quietly, and he leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens.聽到丈夫的聲音，伊利莎吃了一驚。如果真有的話，她那犀利無比的手指也會(huì)在這些害蟲逃跑之前就將它們消滅。她脫掉一只手套，將自己有力的手指伸到從老的菊花根部新生的一叢幼苗里，然后分開葉子，在長(zhǎng)得郁郁蔥蔥的幼苗里查看?？吹贸鲞@座不大的屋子好好打掃過，窗戶也曾細(xì)心地擦拭過，就連前面臺(tái)階上的擦鞋墊都收拾得干干凈凈。She brushed a cloud of hair out of her eyes with the back of her glove, and left a smudge of earth on her cheek in doing it. Behind her stood the neat white farm house with red geraniums closebanked around it as high as the windows. It was a hardswept looking little house with hardpolished windows, and a clean mudmat on the front steps.她用手套的背部將眼前的一綹烏發(fā)抹開，一點(diǎn)污漬就留在了她的臉頰上。 even her work with the scissors was overeager, overpowerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.她這會(huì)兒正用一把鋒利的小剪子把去年的菊花枝剪短，還不時(shí)朝站在拖拉機(jī)棚邊上的三個(gè)男人望一望。She was cutting down the old year39。圍裙上有四個(gè)大口袋，用來放她干活時(shí)用的剪刀、泥鏟、刮管器、種子和刀。腳上是一雙粗笨的鞋子。由于穿著園藝工作服，她顯得鼓囊囊的、有點(diǎn)兒笨拙。s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress almost pletely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips, the trowel and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she worked with. She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked.伊利莎看了他們一會(huì)兒，又繼續(xù)忙自己的活兒。說話的時(shí)候，他們邊抽著煙，邊打量拖拉機(jī)。Elisa Allen, working in her flower garden, looked down across the yard and saw Henry, her husband, talking to two men in business suits. The three of them stood by the tractor shed, each man with one foot on the side of the little Fordson. They smoked cigarettes and studied the machine as they talked.伊利莎?埃倫正在花園里干活兒，穿過院子朝遠(yuǎn)處望時(shí)，她看見丈夫亨利正在與兩個(gè)身著工作服的人交談。s foothill ranch there was little work to be done, for the hay was cut and stored and the orchards were plowed up to receive the rain deeply when it should e. The cattle on the higher slopes were being shaggy and roughcoated.河對(duì)岸亨利?埃倫家位于丘陵上的農(nóng)場(chǎng)里已經(jīng)沒什么活計(jì)了：干草都收割過并存放了起來，果園業(yè)已深翻過，好等到有雨的時(shí)候澆個(gè)透底墑。從西南方向吹來一陣輕風(fēng)，農(nóng)民們隱隱地感到不久會(huì)有一場(chǎng)及時(shí)雨，但雨和霧是不 一起來的。 but fog and rain do not go together.這是一個(gè)安靜，叫人等待的季節(jié)。河邊上密密麻麻的柳叢上的黃葉顏色鮮濃，象著了火似的。農(nóng)民在寬闊平坦的土地上深耕，犁鏵過處，黑色的土地閃著金屬的光澤。The high greyflannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot. On the broad, level land floor the gang plows bit deep and left the black earth shining like metal where the shares had cut. On the foothill ranches across the Salinas River, the yellow stubble fields seemed to be bathed in pale cold sunshine, but there was no sunshine in the valley now in December. The thick willow scrub along the river flamed with sharp and positive yellow leaves.飄蕩在半空中的冬霧呈現(xiàn)出灰法蘭絨色，將薩利納斯山谷嚴(yán)實(shí)地罩了起來；同時(shí)也把它與外界分隔開。霧氣鎖著山頭，四面象頂蓋子，而山谷則成了一口蓋得嚴(yán)嚴(yán)實(shí)實(shí)的深鍋。在橫臥薩利納斯河的丘陵地上，農(nóng)場(chǎng)里的茬地泛著黃色，象是沐浴在冷冷的蒼白日光下；不過，現(xiàn)在時(shí)至臘月，山谷里沒什么陽光。It was a time of quiet and of waiting. The air was cold and tender. A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long?？諝鉀鰶龅?，柔柔的。Across the river, on Henry Allen39。高處山坡上的牛變得毛皮雜亂粗糙。三個(gè)人都站在拖拉機(jī)棚邊上，一只腳蹬在那輛小型福特牌拖拉機(jī)的一側(cè)。Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work. She was thirtyfive. Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man39。她今年三十五歲，臉龐瘦俏并透著堅(jiān)毅，一雙眼睛清澈如水。她頭上戴著一頂男式的黑帽子，拉得很低，直到她的眼睛。下面穿的印花裙子幾乎全給那個(gè)大號(hào)的燈心絨圍裙遮蓋了起來。干活時(shí)她戴著厚厚的皮手套，免得弄傷手。s chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors. She looked down toward the men by the tractor shed now and then. Her face was eager and mature and handsome。她的臉上充滿著渴望，看起來成熟漂亮——甚至連她拿著剪刀干活的樣子都顯得那么有力，飽含期待，以至于那些菊花的枯桿相比之下都顯得纖細(xì)柔弱，容易收拾了。她身后是整潔的白色農(nóng)舍，紅色的天竺葵緊緊地簇?fù)碇?，直到窗戶附近。Elisa cast another glance toward the tractor shed. The strangers were getting into their Ford coupe. She took off a glove and put her strong fingers down into the forest of new green chrysanthemum sprouts that were growing around the old roots. She spread the leaves and looked down among the closegrowing stems. No aphids were there, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms. Her terrier fingers destroyed such pests before they could get started.伊利莎又朝拖拉機(jī)棚的方向看了一眼，那些陌生人正鉆進(jìn)他們的福特牌小客車?yán)?。里面蚜蟲、潮蟲、蝸牛、毛蟲什么的都沒有。Elisa started at the sound of her husband39。原來他已經(jīng)悄悄地走到了她的旁邊，從鐵絲柵欄那邊俯過身來。At it again, he said. You39。ll be strong this ing year. In her tone and on her face there was a little smugness. You39。d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big. Her eyes sharpened. Maybe I could do it, too. I39。 hands that knew how to do it. Well, it sure works with flowers, he said. Henry, who were those men you were talking to? Why, sure, that39?！甭牭秸煞虼钤挘晾逼鹕?，順手把那只手套又戴上：“對(duì)，今年長(zhǎng)勢(shì)會(huì)很好。 “你干活兒很有一手，”亨利說，“你今年種的黃菊花中有的有十英寸那么大，真希望你去侍弄果園，也結(jié)出那么大的蘋果來?！盎蛟S我也能。她隨便把什么東西往地下一插，就能活。”“嗯，種花也是這樣的，”他說。他們是西部肉制品公司的。”Good, she said. Good for you. And I thought, he continued, I thought how it39。s fights tonight. How39。t like fights. Just fooling, Elisa. We39。s see. It39。m going to take Scotty and bring down those steers from the hill. It39。ll go in town about five and have dinner at the Cominos Hotel. Like that? Of course I39。s good to eat away from home. All right, then. I39。ll have plenty of time to transplant some of these sets, I guess.“太好了，”她說，“真有你的?！薄疤昧?，”她重復(fù)道?！焙嗬又_玩笑說，“今天晚上有拳擊賽，你愿意看嗎？”“不，”她緊張地說，“我可不喜歡拳擊賽。我們?nèi)タ措娪?。這大概要兩個(gè)鐘頭。你覺得怎么樣？”“當(dāng)然可以，在外面吃飯好?！薄拔蚁胛視?huì)有充裕的時(shí)間把這些苗兒種上的。She heard her husband calling Scotty down by the barn. And a little later she saw the two men ride up the pale yellow hillside in search of the steers. There was a little square sandy bed kept for rooting the chrysanthemums. With her trowel she turned the soil over and over, and smoothed it and patted it firm. Then she dug ten parallel trenches to receive the sets. Back at the chrysanthemum bed she pulled out the little crisp