朗读 | Flora Fang

BGM |《在法国的十三天》

【 落 花 生 】

Peanuts

作者：许地山 | 翻译：张培基

我们屋后有半亩隙地。母亲说：“让它荒芜着怪可惜，既然你们那么爱吃花生，就辟来做花生园罢。”

Behind our house there lay half a mu of vacant land. Mother said, “It’s a pity to let it lie waste. Since you all like to eat peanuts so much, why not plant some here?”

我们几姊弟和几个小丫头都很喜欢——买种的买种，动土的动土，灌园的灌园；过不了几个月，居然收获了!

That exhilarated us children and our servant girls as well, and soon we started buying seeds, ploughing the land and watering the plants. We gathered in a good harvest just after a couple of months!

妈妈说：“今晚我们可以做一个收获节，也请你们爹爹来尝尝我们的新花生，如何?”我们都答应了。

Mother said, “How about giving a party this evening to celebrate the harvest and inviting your Daddy to have a taste of our newly-harvested peanuts?” We all agreed.

母亲把花生做成好几样食品，还吩咐这节期要在园里的茅亭举行。

Mother made quite a few varieties of goodies out of the peanuts, and told us that the party would be held in the thatched pavilion on the peanut plot.

那晚上的天色不大好，可是爹爹也到来，实在很难得!

It looked like rain that evening, yet, to our great joy, father came nevertheless.

爹爹说：“你们爱吃花生么?”

“Do you like peanuts?” asked Father.

我们都争着答应：“爱!”

“Yes, we do!” We vied in giving the answer.

“谁能把花生的好处说出来?”。

“Which of you could name the good things in peanuts?”

姊姊说：“花生的气味很美。”

“Peanuts taste good,” said my elder sister.

哥哥说：“花生可以制油。”

“Peanuts produce edible oil,” said my elder brother.

我说：“无论何等人都可以用贱价买它来吃；都喜欢吃它。这就是它的好处。”

“Peanuts are so cheap,” said I, “that anyone can afford to eat them. Peanuts are everyone’s favorite. That’s why we call peanuts good.”

爹爹说：“花生的用处固然很多；但有一样是很可贵的。这小小的豆不像那好看的苹果、桃子、石榴，把它们的果实悬在枝上，鲜红嫩绿的颜色，令人一望而发生羡慕的心。它只把果子埋在地的，等到成熟，才容人把它挖出来。你们偶然看见一棵花生瑟缩地长在地上，不能立刻辨出它有没有果实，非得等到你接触它才能知道。”

“It’s true that peanuts have many uses,” said Father, “but they’re most beloved in one respect. Unlike nice-looking apples, peaches and pomegranates, which hang their fruit on branches and win people’s instant admiration with their brilliant colours, tiny little peanuts bury themselves underground and remain unearthed until they’re ripe. When you come upon a peanut plant lying curled up on the ground, you can never immediately tell whether or not it bears any nuts until you touch them.”

我们都说：“是的。”母亲也点点头。

“That’s true,” we said in unison. Mother also nodded.

爹爹接下去说：“所以你们要像花生，因为它是有用的，不是伟大、好看的东西。”

“So you must take after peanuts,” Father continued, “because they’re useful though not great and nice-looking.”

我说：“那么，人要做有用的人，不要做伟大、体面的人了。”

“Then you mean one should be useful rather than great and nice-looking,” I said.

爹爹说：“这是我对于你们的希望。”

“That’s what I expect of you,” Father concluded.

我们谈到夜阑才散，所有花生食品虽然没有了，然而父亲的话现在还印在我心版上。

We kept chatting until the party broke up late at night. Today, though nothing is left of the goodies made of peanuts, Father’s words remain engraved in my mind.

-End-

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