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Building Jerusalem
一個理想之地的建立
A very British story
一個發生在英國的故事
Jambusters: The Story of the Women's Institute in the Second World War. By Julie Summers.
《果醬大師：二戰期間婦女協會的故事》。作者：Julie Summers。
NO STORY says more about Britain's Women's Institute in the second world war than that of the jam-makers of Hawkinge in east Kent. In the bountiful summer of 1940, Women's Institutes around the country were to produce a total of 1,000 tonnes, or over 1m kilos of jam, to improve the nation's diet and raise its spirits. Many Hawkinge members had moved inland for security, but the five who stayed made 350 kilos of jam that summer. As the Battle of Britain raged overhead, the youngest member told the others to go to the bomb shelter. “I'll stay and watch this boiling.” Afterwards she said, “You see, they had children and I haven't.”
除了在肯特郡東部的Hawkinge地區生產果醬的故事以外，有關二戰期間英國婦女協會的事跡鮮少流傳。1940年夏季英國糧食豐收，為了改善國民飲食，振奮國民精神，婦女協會的成員打算制造總計1000公噸，約合一百多萬公斤的果醬。在那個夏天，不少Hawkinge地區的成員為了安全都已搬往內陸，但是5位留守者做出了350公斤的果醬。當不列顛空戰的炮火在頭頂肆虐之時，5個人中年紀最小的一位說道“我要留下來看著煮果子”，卻讓其他人躲到防空洞里。等她們走后，她坦言“看，她們是有孩子的人，而我沒有”。
That image of defiant jam-making sums up the way many see the wartime contribution of the Women's Institute. But Julie Summers uses the diaries of women and the institute's records to show its much wider contribution. The WI was predominantly a village organisation, and in the opening months of the war, evacuation of children and the establishment of military camps meant that the population of the countryside almost doubled. The institute's own membership declined, as women went into war work, but for those who remained, it provided a focus and a comfort in the face of huge disruption and growing deprivation.
無視戰火，制造果醬，這樣勇敢無畏的事跡被人們看做是婦女協會在戰時的貢獻。而Julie Summers利用一些婦女日記和協會的檔案進行研究，展現了這群人更廣泛的貢獻。這所“婦女協會”其實是一個鄉村組織，在開戰的頭幾個月內，撤離的兒童來到這個村子，軍營也在此建立起來，全村人口數量約增加了一倍。由于很多女性從事戰爭相關工作，這個協會原先的會員人數下降，但是留下來的人卻關注了并試圖緩解其所面臨的巨大破壞和不斷加劇的匱乏問題。
Country women already led difficult lives: as Ms Summers points out, two-thirds of rural homes at the outbreak of war had no access to electricity or main drainage. Many WI sessions taught how to make do and mend, whether it was competing to create the best article of child's clothing from a flour bag or turning stockings into mittens or learning to knit with dog wool.
Summers女士在書中指出：農村婦女的生活已屬不易，在戰爭爆發之時，三分之二的農村家庭要么沒有通電， 要么沒有通水。很多次婦女協會的會議內容都是培訓婦女怎么修補舊的物品，將就著使用，包括比賽著用面粉袋給孩子做一身“好衣服”，襪子改做手套，以及學習用狗毛織毛衣。
The institute, which benefited from the leadership of formidable and well-connected women, got them through. Instruction was mixed with community singing, mutual support with cake-making—and jam, of course.
得益于一些受人尊敬，人脈頗廣的婦女的領導，這個協會安然渡過難關。除了教導活動外，協會的活動還伴有團隊合唱，制作蛋糕的互助項目，當然了，還有制作果醬。
