经典散文 《落花生》Peanuts

 

原文：

    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。”我们几姐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！

     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。母亲把花生做成好几样的食品，还 吩咐这节要在园里的茅亭举行。

    那晚上底天色不好，可是爹爹也到来，实在很难得！爹爹说：“你们爱吃花生么？”

    我们都争着答应：“爱！”

   “谁能把花生底好处说出来？”

    姊姊说：“花生的气味很美。”

    哥哥说：“花生可以制油。”

    我说：“无论何等人都可以用贱价买它来吃；都喜欢吃它，这就是它的用处。”

    爹爹说：“花生底用处固然很多；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，把它们底果实悬在枝上，鲜红嫩绿 的颜色，令人一望而发生羡慕的心。它只把果子埋在地底，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。”

    我们都说：“是的。”母亲也点点头。爹爹接下去说：“所以你们要像花生因为它是可用的，不是伟大、好看的东西。”我说：“那么， 人要做有用的人，不要做伟大、体面的人了。”爹爹说：“这是我对于你们的希望。”

    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。
译文：

    Behind our house there was a patch of vacant land. "It would be a pity to let it go wild," said Mother, "Since you like peanuts so much, why not grow some there?" We children and our servant girls were all delighted, and soon we started buying seeds, ploughing the land and watering the plants. In just a few months, we actually had a harvest! Mother said, "How about having a harvest festival tonight and invite your Dad to taste our fresh peanuts?" We all agreed. Mother prepared a variety of dishes using our peanuts and instructed that the festival would be held at the thatched pavilion in the garden.

    It was a gloomy night, and yet, to our pleasant surprise, Dad came. He asked us, "Are you fond of eating peanuts?"

    We all cried "Yes!"

    "Then who can tell me what's good about it?"

    "Peanuts taste good," answered my sister.

    "Peanuts can be made into oil," my brother responded.

    I said, "Everybody can afford to buy it and everyone likes it—that is what's good about it."

    "It's true that peanuts have many uses," said Dad. "Yet, it has one valuable quality. Unlike the nice-looking apples, peaches and pomegranates, which hang their fruit on branches and invite people's admiration with their brilliant colors, these tiny little nuts lie buried in the soil, remains unearthed until they're ripe. When you come upon a peanut plant standing shyly on the ground, you cannot immediately tell whether it bears fruit or not. You have to find and touch them for sure."

    "That's true," we all said. Mother nodded her head too. "So, you should try to be like peanuts," Dad continued, “because they're neither grand nor beautiful, but useful." "Then a person should be helpful and not just seemingly grand or decent?" I followed."That's what I expect of you all," Dad concluded.We talked late into the night.

    Though none of those peanut dishes remains today, Father's words are still imprinted on my mind