A Garden That Welcomes Strangers 两种版本译文欣赏.docx

1、A Garden That Welcomes Strangers 两种版本译文欣赏A Garden That Welcomes StrangersBy Allen LacyI do not know what became of her, and I never learned her name. But I feel that I knew her from the garden she had so lovingly made over many decades.The house she lived in lies two miles from mine a simple, two-st

2、ory structure with the boxy plan, steeply-pitched roof and unadorned lines that are typical of houses built in the middle of the nineteenth century near the New Jersey shore.Her garden was equally simple. She was not a conventional gardener who did everything by the book, following the common advice

3、 to vary her plantings so there would be something in bloom from the first crocus in the spring to the last chrysanthemum in the fall. She had no respect for the rule that says that tall-growing plants belong at the rear of a perennial border, low ones in the front and middle-sized ones in the middl

4、e, with occasional exceptions for dramatic accent.In her garden, everything was accent, everything was tall, and the evidence was plain that she loved three kinds of plant and three only: roses, clematis and lilies, intermingled promiscuously to pleasant effect but no apparent design.She grew a doze

5、n sorts of clematis, perhaps 50 plants in all, trained and tied so that they clambered up metal rods, each rod crowned intermittently throughout the summer by a rounded profusion of large blossoms of dark purple, rich crimson, pale lavender, light blue and gleaming white.Her taste in roses was old-f

6、ashioned. There wasnt a single modern hybrid tea rose or floribunda in sight. Instead, she favored the roses of other ages the York and Lancaster rose, the cabbage rose, the damask and the rugosa rose in several varieties. She propagated her roses herself from cuttings stuck directly in the ground a

7、nd protected by upended gallon jugs.Lilies, I believe were her greatest love. Except for some Madonna lilies it is impossible to name them, since the wooden flats stood casually here and there in the flower bed, all thickly planted with dark green lily seedlings. The occasional paper tag fluttering

8、from a seed pod with the date and record of a cross showed that she was an amateur hybridizer with some special fondness for lilies of a warm muskmelon shade or a pale lemon yellow.She believed in sharing her garden. By her curb there was a sign: “This is my garden, and you are welcome here. Take wh

9、atever you wish with your eyes, but nothing with your hand.”Until five years ago, her garden was always immaculately tended, the lawn kept fertilized and mowed, the flower bed free of weeds, the tall lilies carefully staked. But then something happened. I dont know what it was, but the lawn was mowe

10、d less frequently, then not at all. Tall grass invaded the roses, the clematis, the lilies. The elm tree in her front yard sickened and died, and when a coastal gale struck, the branches that fell were never removed.With every year, the neglect has grown worse. Wild honeysuckle and bittersweet run r

11、ampant in the garden. Sumac, ailanthus, poison ivy and other uninvited things threaten the few lilies and clematis and roses that still struggle for survival.Last year the house itself went dead. The front door was padlocked and the windows covered with sheets of plywood. For many months there has b

12、een a for sale sign out front, replacing the sign inviting strangers to share her garden.I drive by that house almost daily and have been tempted to load a shovel in my car trunk, stop at her curb and rescue a few lilies from the smothering thicket of weeds. The laws of trespass and the fact that he

13、r house sits across the street from a police station have given me the cowardice to resist temptation. But her garden has reminded me of mortality; gardeners and the gardens they make are fragile things, creatures of time, hostages to chance and to decay.Last week, the for sale sign out front came d

14、own and the windows were unboarded. A crew of painters arrived and someone cut down the dead elm tree. This morning there was a moving van in the driveway unloading a swing set, a barbecue grill, a grand piano and a houseful of sensible furniture. A young family is moving into that house.I hope that

15、 among their number is a gardener whose special fondness for old roses and clematis and lilies will see to it that all else is put aside until that flower bed is restored to something of its former self.参考译文一座向陌生人敞开的花园文/美艾伦莱西1译/曹明伦我并不知晓她当时的境遇，也从未听说过她的姓名，但我觉得我曾了解她，因了她精心照料过数十年的那座花园。她住过的房子离我家有两英里地。那是幢两

16、层小楼，造型简约，结构方正，屋顶陡斜，轮廓线都未经装饰，是19世纪中期新泽西海岸附近典型的住宅式样。那座花园也同样简约。她种花从不墨守成 规，不会凡事都照搬书本，按书上的建议去换种时令花卉，以期园中常有花开，从早春第一朵番红花到晚秋最后一枝黄菊。她对某条园艺规则也漠然置之，任其去说 高植株花卉应种在带状花坛的后排，矮植株的种在前排，而不高不矮的则种在中间，除非偶尔想营造出引人注目的特色。在她的花园里，所有的花都有特色，所有的花植株都高；而且不难看出，她喜欢三个类属的花，并且只喜欢那三类：玫瑰、百合、铁线莲。三类花混栽间种，令人悦目赏心，但却不显刻意规划的痕迹。她栽培了十余种铁线莲，总共大概有五

17、十株。她修剪其枝条，绑缚其茎蔓，使其植株沿金属杆攀缘；在整个夏季，金属杆顶部会陆陆续续戴上硕大的花冠，绀青、殷红、堇紫、浅蓝、莹白，五彩缤纷，花团锦簇。她对玫瑰有一种恋旧的偏好。花坛中看不见一株时兴的杂交香水玫瑰或丰花玫瑰。与之相反，她钟爱旧时流行的品种红白玫瑰、包心玫瑰、大马士革玫瑰，以及数种东亚皱瓣玫瑰。她自己繁殖新株，把削下的扦条直接插入土中，罩上倒扣的加仑罐加以保护。我想百合花是她的最爱。除了一些圣母百 合，旁人很难叫出其他品种的名字，因为花坛中到处都随意摆放着木制育苗箱，箱里都密密匝匝地种着墨绿色的百合幼苗。幼苗下偶有纸标签飘动，标签上写有栽种 日期和杂交纪录，这说明她是个业余的杂交

18、品种培育者，尤其爱培育像香瓜那种暖黄色调或像柠檬那种淡黄色调的百合。她认为其花园应该与人共享。她家围栏边曾立有一块标牌：“房主花园，欢迎观赏。请尽饱眼福，但切莫动手。”直到五年前，那花园还一直被照料得无可 挑剔，草坪按时施肥，定期修剪，花坛里没有一根杂草，高植株的百合都被小心地系在支撑桩上。可后来发生了变故。我不知当时究竟出了何事，只见修剪草坪的次 数日渐稀疏，后来竟完全无人修剪。芃芃丰草侵入花坛，挤入百合、玫瑰和铁线莲之间。前院那棵榆树萎蔫并枯死，被海风刮落的枯枝也不再有人清除。年复一年，花园愈发荒废。野生忍冬和南蛇藤在园中滋蔓。漆树、臭椿、毒葛和其他杂树野藤也不请自入，威胁着少许尚在挣扎求

19、生的百合、玫瑰和铁线莲。到了去年，那幢房子也人去楼空。前门被紧锁，窗户被胶合板封闭。其后几个月，房前一直竖着块“此房待售”的告示牌，就竖在原来立“邀客赏花”标牌的那个位置。我几乎每天都要驱车经过那幢房子，而且 一直都很想在后备箱里带把锹，把车停在花园边，去拯救几株正被蓬蓬荒草窒息的百合。可禁闯私宅的法律条款，加之那房子街对面就是警察局这一事实，使我心生 畏怯，从而抑制了这种诱惑。然而，她那座花园总让我想到物盛必衰，想到种花人及其营造的花园都像春草秋花，乃时间之造物，由时运摆弄，易衰朽飘零。上个星期，那块出售房子的告示牌被撤掉 了，封闭窗户的胶合板被揭开了。几名油漆工来刷那幢房子，那颗枯死的榆树

20、也被砍倒。今天上午，一辆搬家卡车停在屋前车道上，有人从车上卸下一副秋千、一个 烧烤架、一台三角钢琴，还有一整套实用的家具。一对年轻夫妻正带着孩子搬进那幢房子。我希望那家人中有个园丁，一个钟爱百合花、铁线莲和老品种玫瑰的种花人，其爱花之心能确保其他事都暂被撇在一边，先让那一溜花坛多少恢复其旧貌。一等奖欢迎陌生人的花园文/美艾伦莱西1译/姚强我不清楚她境况如何，也从不知她姓甚名谁。但几十年来她精心呵护的这座花园让我感觉和她已是知交。她的房子离我家有两英里，是一栋简简单单的两层小楼，外形四四方方，屋顶陡斜2，朴实无华，正是典型的十九世纪中期新泽西海岸附近的建筑风格。她的花园也同样简单。她并非那种死板

21、的园丁，凡事照搬园艺书，墨守陈规，只求花卉种类繁多，从春天的第一朵番红花到秋天的最后一朵菊花，总有应季的花卉开放。还有人认为在多年生草本花境3中，应让高者居后，矮者居前，不高不低者居于中，若是为了错落有致，引人注目，偶尔也可变换顺序，可她对此却不屑一顾。在她的园中，所有的花卉都引人注目，所有的花卉都个头高挑。显而易见，她只对三种花情有独钟：玫瑰，铁线莲和百合花。三者虽随意混杂，却颇为赏心悦目，仿佛浑然天成。她种了十几种铁线莲，共约50余株。这些铁线莲被牵绕在金属栅栏上，攀缘而上。整个夏季，每根栏杆的顶端都会开满大朵的铁线莲，五颜六色，花团锦簇，或暗紫，或深红，或淡紫，或浅蓝，或亮白，不时更替。

22、她偏爱古典玫瑰。在园内寻不到一株现代的杂交茶香月季或丰花月季，相反，她更青睐古老的玫瑰品种，比如白蕊红玫瑰4，包心玫瑰5，大马士革玫瑰等。她自己动手培育玫瑰花，将花枝剪下，直接插入土中，再把加仑壶倒扣在枝条上加以保护。而我相信她的最爱其实是百合花。因为花 圃中随处可见木质的育苗箱，里面密密地种植着深绿色的百合花幼苗，除了一些圣母百合之外，很难辨认出其余的幼苗是哪些品种。偶尔会有幼苗的种荚上系着纸 签，记录着杂交的日期和过程，随风飘动，这说明她还是个业余的杂交育种者，对带有香瓜色暖色调和浅柠檬黄色的百合花情有独钟。她乐于与他人共享花园。在园外的人行道旁有一块牌子，上面写着：“欢迎光临敝园。美景可

23、尽情观赏，却切勿拈花摘叶。”五年之前，她的花园还打理的井井有条， 草坪肥料充足，平平整整，花圃里没有杂草，高挑的百合花被细心地用木桩支撑。但接下来就发生了变故，我并不了解实情，但草坪没有以往修剪的那么勤快，后来 就干脆无人照看了。玫瑰、铁线莲和百合花的领地变得野草丛生。前院的榆树生了病，最终枯死。沿海的飓风袭来时，吹落了一地枯枝，却再也无人清理。年复一年，花园荒废的更加厉害。野生的金银花和南蛇藤在园内肆意生长。漆树，臭椿，毒葛和其它不请自来的植物让所剩无几但还在苦苦求生的百合花，铁线莲和玫瑰的处境变得更加岌岌可危。到了去年，房子也人去楼空。前门紧锁，窗户也被几块胶合板封住。园外邀请陌生人来游园

24、的牌子不知所踪，取而代之的是“此房出售”的标牌，一直挂了好几个月。我几乎每天都要驾车经过那座房子，也曾 想过要在后备箱里放把铁锨，将车停在她家路边，然后进入花园，救出几株被茂密的野草闷的喘不过来气的百合花。但法律禁止侵入私人住宅，而且她的房子对面恰 好是警察局，这让我心生怯意，只得打了退堂鼓。但她的花园让我想到死亡；园丁和他们培育的花园都很脆弱，受着时间的摆布，若是机缘不巧，只好花自飘零人自 去。上周，房前悬挂的售房告示被摘去，窗户上钉的板子也被卸下。来了一群油漆工人，还有人伐倒了枯死的榆树。今天早上，一辆搬家货车停在房前的私人车道上，卸下了一套秋千，一套烧烤架，一架大钢琴，和一大堆实用的家具，足够装满整个屋子。一个年轻的家庭正在迁入这所房子。我希望这家人中能有位园丁，她对古典玫瑰，铁线莲和百合花情有独钟，可以抛开其它所有琐事，先去整修花圃，直到它重新焕发几分昔日的光彩