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It is a custom in the South to build a small house near the homestead as an annex to be used on occasion. Such a house my father built after the Civil War, and when he married my mother they went to live in it. It was completely covered with vines, climbing roses and honeysuckles. From the garden it looked like an arbour. The little porch was hidden from view by a screen of yellow roses and Southern smilax. It was the favourite haunt of humming-birds and bees.
這源自南方人的習俗，挨著宅第建一座附屬的小房子，以備不時之需。宅第是我父親在內戰結束后建造的，在娶了我母親后，他們就在此定居了。房子完全被葡萄藤、攀爬的薔薇和金銀花覆蓋了，從花園望去，那里就像一個巨大的涼亭。而那個小門廊則被滿眼的黃玫瑰和南方天冬草所遮蔽。因此這里就變成了蜂雀和蜜蜂最常出沒的地方。
The Keller homestead, where the family lived, was a few steps from our little rose-bower. It was called "Ivy Green" because the house and the surrounding trees and fences were covered with beautiful English ivy. Its old-fashioned garden was the paradise of my childhood.
凱勒家的宅第距我們家的玫瑰小涼亭只有幾步之遙。這里也被叫做“常春藤綠地”，因為房子和周圍的樹叢及籬笆被美麗的英格蘭常春藤所纏繞覆蓋。這個老式的花園正是我童年時代的天堂。
Even in the days before my teacher came, I used to feel along the square stiff boxwood hedges, and, guided by the sense of smell would find the first violets and lilies. There, too, after a fit of temper, I went to find comfort and to hide my hot face in the cool leaves and grass. What joy it was to lose myself in that garden of flowers, to wander happily from spot to spot, until, coming suddenly upon a beautiful vine, I recognized it by its leaves and blossoms, and knew it was the vine which covered the tumble-down summer-house at the farther end of the garden! Here, also, were trailing clematis, drooping jessamine, and some rare sweet flowers called butterfly lilies, because their fragile petals resemble butterflies' wings.
直到我的老師出現之前，我一直習慣于沿著正方形的黃楊木樹籬摸索前行。嗅覺是我的向導，通過它，我發現了生命中的第一株紫羅蘭花和百合花。正是在這個小花園里，在經歷了暴躁情緒的發作之后，我繼續尋找令我舒適的感覺，我把自己溫熱的臉埋進涼颼颼的樹葉和草叢之中。將自己迷失在花叢中是如此地令人愉悅，從一個地方尋覓到又一個地方也帶給我其樂無窮的快感。就在探尋的過程中，我會突然碰到一枝美麗的藤蔓，我會通過它的葉子和花蕾來辨別其形狀，而且我知道，這就是那株覆蓋著搖搖欲墜的涼亭，遠在花園盡頭的葡萄藤！在我身邊，還有觸手可及的鐵線蓮，垂落于枝葉間的茉莉花，以及一些叫做蝴蝶百合的稀有花卉，這種花的花瓣因其形似蝴蝶那對脆弱易折的翅膀而得名。
