評論
打印
There are bigger waste problems. But when I think about the ozone hole, I find that it helps me to clean up. Thinking globally without acting locally can spin me down into despair.
還有更大的浪費問題。但當(dāng)我想到臭氧洞時，我覺得它促使我去做清潔工作。想著全局而不從局部做起會讓我陷入絕望。
Or into anger. I know that other people somewhere else made decisions that turned our neighborhood, once a good place, into a bad one. Like the alcohol-industry executives who decidedto aim expensive ad campaigns at African-American teens. I know decisions happen that way tothe old-growth forests, too.
抑或會令我發(fā)怒。我知道，是其它地方別的什么人做出的決定，才使得曾是我們美好家園的住宅區(qū)變成一個糟糕的地方的。比如，是釀酒業(yè)的老總們決定花大把的錢瞄準(zhǔn)非洲裔美國青少年做廣告推銷酒的。我知道，同樣的命運也降臨到原始森林的身上。
I went to a lecture at the Zen Center not far from my house, to hear the head gardener there. She talked about what is to be learned from gingko trees. I've always liked their fan-shaped leaves, bright gold in the fall, but I hadn't known they were ancient, evolved thousands of years ago. They exist nowhere in the wild, she said, but were fostered by monksin gardens in China and Japan. Somehow, gingkos have adapted so that they thrive in cities,in polluted air. They remind me of the kids around here, full of life in spite of everything.
我去離家不遠(yuǎn)的禪宗中心參加一個講座，聽那兒的首席園藝家講話。她講了能向銀杏樹學(xué)些什么。我素來喜歡銀杏樹在秋天呈金黃色的扇形葉子，但我并不知道它們是千萬年前進(jìn)化而來的古老樹木。她說銀杏樹不是野生的，而是由僧侶在中國和日本的庭院里培育起來的。不知怎的，銀杏樹很能適應(yīng)，可在城市里、在污染的空氣里茁壯成長。它們讓我想起這兒的孩童，不論怎樣他們總是充滿生命力。
The day after the lecture, I went to the nursery, ready to try planting trees again in the holes in the sidewalk. Now in front of my house are two tiny gingkos, each inside a fortified cage of four strong metal posts and thick wire mesh. To weed them, I kneel on thesidewalk and reach in, trying not to scratch my wrist on the wire.
聽講座后第二天，我去了苗圃，準(zhǔn)備再試著在人行道的洞穴里種樹。如今在我家屋前栽著兩棵小小的銀杏樹，每棵都被圍在由四根結(jié)實的金屬柱子和厚厚的鐵絲網(wǎng)做成的牢固籠子里。為了給它們除草，我跪在人行道上把手伸進(jìn)去，當(dāng)心著不讓手腕被鐵絲網(wǎng)劃破。
Kneeling there, I accept on faith that this little tree will do its best to grow according to its own plan. I also believe that every person wants a better life.
我跪在那兒，心中堅信這棵小樹會按照自己的方式盡量生長。我也相信每個人都想過更好的生活。
