散文：OnGrowingFlowers

　　老舍

　　Lao She我愛(ài)花，所以也愛(ài)養(yǎng)花(1)。我可還沒(méi)成為養(yǎng)花專家，因?yàn)闆](méi)有工夫去作研究與試我只把養(yǎng)花當(dāng)作生活中的一種樂(lè)趣在我的小院中，到夏天，滿是花草花開(kāi)的大小好壞都不計(jì)較，只要開(kāi)花我就高小貓兒們只好上房去玩耍(2)，地上沒(méi)有它們的運(yùn)動(dòng)場(chǎng)。花雖多，但無(wú)奇花異草。珍貴的花草不易養(yǎng)活，看著一棵好花生病欲死是件難過(guò)的事。我不愿時(shí)時(shí)落淚。北京的氣候，對(duì)養(yǎng)花來(lái)說(shuō)，不算很好。冬天冷，春天多風(fēng)，夏天不是干旱就是大雨傾盆;秋天最好，可是忽然會(huì)鬧霜凍。在這種氣候里，想把南方的好花養(yǎng)活，我還沒(méi)有那么大的本事。因此，我只養(yǎng)些好種易活、自己會(huì)奮斗的花草(3)。

　　I love flowers and hence have taken to growing them. But, short of time to do research and experiment in flower cultivation, I am no gardener at all. I merely take flower

　　cultivation as a pleasure of life. I really don't care whether or not my flowers will put forth plump and nice-looking blossom. I'll be delighted as long as they can blossom. In summer, flowers and plants growing in luxuriance in my small courtyard will leave little open space as a playground for the little cats, so they have to sport about in our rooms instead. I grow many flowers, but none of them are exotic or rare ones. It is difficult to grow a precious flower species. And I feel bad to see a good flower dying of illness. I don't want often to shed tears over that. But Beijing's climate is more or less unfit for the growing of flowers. Freezing in winter, windy in spring, and either too dry or too often visited by rainstorms in summer. While autumn is the best of all, it is often plagued by a sudden frost. In a climate like this, it is far beyond my capacity to grow precious flowers of southern breed. Therefore, I only grow flowers and plants that are hardy and enjoy a high survival rate.不過(guò)，盡管花草自己會(huì)奮斗(4)，我若置之不理，任其自生自滅(5)，它們多數(shù)還是會(huì)死了的。我得天天照管它們，像好朋友似的關(guān)切他們。一來(lái)二去(6)，我摸著一些門道:有的喜陰，就別放在太陽(yáng)地里，有的喜干，就別多澆水。這是個(gè)樂(lè)趣，摸住門道，花草養(yǎng)活了，而且三年五載(7)老活著、開(kāi)花，多么有意思呀!不是亂吹，這就是知識(shí)呀!多得些知識(shí)，一定不是壞事。

　　Although such flowers are able to weather through by themselves, I, however never ignore them or abandon them to their own fate, for otherwise most of them will probably

　　end up dead. I have to care for them every day as if they were my close friends. Thus, in the course of time, I've somehow got the hang of flower cultivation some flowers which are accustomed to growing in the shade should not be too much exposed to the sun. Those which prefer dryness should not be watered too often. It gives me much pleasure to know the right way of handling them. How interesting it is to be able to keep my flowers and plants alive and watch them thrive and bloom year in year out! It is no exaggeration to say that there is much knowledge involved in this! And the more knowledge one acquires, the better it is of course

　　我不是有腿病嗎，不但不利于行，也不利于久坐。我不知道花草們受我的照顧，感謝我不感謝;我可得感謝它們。在我工作的時(shí)候，我總是寫(xiě)了幾十個(gè)字，就到院中去看看，澆澆這棵，搬搬那盆，然后回到屋中再寫(xiě)一點(diǎn)，然后再出去，如此循環(huán)(8),把腦力勞動(dòng)與體力勞動(dòng)結(jié)合到一起，有益身心(外勝于吃藥。要是趕上狂風(fēng)暴雨或天氣突變哪，就得全家動(dòng)員(10)，搶救花草，十分緊張(L1)。幾百盆花，都要很快地?fù)尩轿堇锶?，使人腰酸腿疼，熱汗直流。第二天，天氣好轉(zhuǎn)，又得把花兒都搬出去，就又一次腰酸腿疼，熱汗直流?？墒?，這多么有意思!不勞動(dòng)，連棵花兒也養(yǎng)不活，這難道不是真理么?

　　As I have some trouble with my leg, I can't more around easily, nor can I sit too long. I don't know if the flowers under my care are grateful to me or not. However, I wish for my part to acknowledge my thanks to them. I often leave off sedentary work after writing a few dozen words and go to the courtyard to take a look at the flowers, watering them and moving about the potted ones. Then I'll return to my room to write a bit more. I'll go through the same back-and-forth process again and again, thus combining mental with manual labour. This is a better way to keep me fit in mind and body than taking medicine. In case of a violent storm or a sudden change of weather, however, the whole family will have to turn out to salvage the flowers and plants. Everybody will then feel keyed up. By the time when we have managed to move the several hundred potted flowers to the rooms in a hurry, we will be dog-tired and wet with perspiration. The next day, when the weather is fine, we will have another round of being dog-tired and wet with perspiration in taking all the flowers out to the courtyard again. How interesting it is! Isn't it true that without doing manual labour, we couldn't even keep a single flower alive?送牛奶的同志，進(jìn)門就夸“好香”!這使我們?nèi)叶几械津湴?。趕到曇花開(kāi)放的時(shí)候，約幾位朋友來(lái)看看，更有秉燭夜游的神氣(12)一一曇花總在夜里放蕊。花兒分根了，一棵分為數(shù)棵，就贈(zèng)給朋友們一些;看著友人拿走自己的勞動(dòng)果實(shí)，心里自然特別喜歡。

　　It filled the whole family with pride whenever the milkman exclaims on entering our gate, "What a sweet smell!" When the night-blooming cereuses are about to be in flower, we will invite some friends to visit us in the evening to feast their eyes on them一in an atmosphere smacking of nocturnal merry-making under candle lights. When the cereuses have branched out, we will pick some of the flowers and give them as a present to our friends. We are of course especially happy to see them take away our fruits of labour.