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The tree was just a baby, one of the donated saplings our neighborhood association planted with help from the children on our block. Men from the public-works department had come and cut squares in the sidewalk for us, reaming out holes with a machine that looked like a big screw. The kids planted the trees, proudly wielding shovels, loving their hands in the dirt.
這棵樹還十分幼嫩，是捐贈的樹苗，那批樹苗是由我們的鄰里協會在我們街區孩子的幫助下種的。公共工程部的員工來過這兒，為我們在人行道上劃好方塊，用看上去像一只大螺絲釘的機器在地上打洞。孩子們自豪地揮動鐵鍬把樹苗種下，非常喜歡手放在泥土里的感覺。
I had made name tags for each tree, with a poem printed on each one, and we asked the kidsto give each tree a name. "Hi,my name's Greenie , I'm new and neat, just like the children on our street." If we made the trees seem more like people, I thought, the kids would let them live.
我給每棵樹都做了塊牌子，在每個牌子上都印上一首詩。我們讓孩子們給每棵樹起個名字。"喂，我的名字叫綠樹秧，全身整潔披新裝，就像咱們街上的小兒郎。"我想我們把樹人性化，孩子們會讓它們活下來。
Both trees and people around here are at risk of dying young. After our neighborhood was flooded with crack cocaine and cheap, strong alcohol, things got very rough. In the last five years, 16 people have been murdered in our small police beat. Most of them were young black men, and most of them died on the sidewalks, where the trees witness everything: the children, the squealing tires and gunshots, the blood and sirens.
這兒的樹和人都有夭折的危險。強效純可卡因和廉價烈性酒充斥我們的住宅區后，情況變得十分糟糕。過去五年中，在我們這個小小的警察巡區里就有十六個人被謀殺。他們中大多數是黑人青年男子，大多數都死在人行道上，那兒的樹木目睹了一切：孩子們、發出嘎吱聲的輪胎、槍擊、鮮血和警報器。
My neighbors and I did all we could think of to turn things around, including planting the trees.
為了使我們住宅區的情況有所好轉，我和鄰居們做了我們所能想到的一切事情，包括植樹。
