Golden Fruit翻译

 Golden Fruit （A. A. Milne ）

Of the fruits of the year I give my vote to the orange. In the first place it is a perennial--if not in actual fact, at least in the greengrocer's shop. On the days when dessert is a name given to a handful of chocolates and a little preserved ginger, when macédoine de fruits is the title bestowed on two prunes and a piece of rhubarb, then the orange, however sour, comes nobly to the rescue; and on those other days of plenty when cherries and strawberries and raspberries and gooseberries riot together upon the table, the orange, sweeter than ever, is still there to hold its own. Bread and butter, beef and mutton, eggs and bacon, are not more necessary to an ordered existence than the orange.

It is well that the commonest fruit should be also the best. Of the virtues of the orange I have not room fully to speak. It has properties of health-giving, as that it cures influenza and establishes the complexion. It is clean, for whoever handles it on its way to your table but handles its outer covering, its top coat, which is left in the hall. It is round, and forms an excellent substitute with the young for a cricket ball. The pips can be flicked at your enemies, and quite a small piece of peel makes a slide for an old gentleman.

But all this would count nothing had not the orange such delightful qualities of taste. I dare not let myself go upon this subject. I am a slave to its sweetness. I grudge every marriage in that it means a fresh supply of orange blossom, the promise of so much golden fruit cut short. However, the world must go on.

Next to the orange I place the cherry. The cherry is a companionable fruit. You can eat it while you are reading or talking, and you can go on and on, absent-mindedly as it were, though you must mind not to swallow the stone. The trouble of disengaging this from the fruit is just sufficient to make the fruit taste sweeter for the labour. The stalk keeps you from soiling your fingers; it enables you also to play bob cherry. Lastly, it is by means of cherries that one penetrates the great mysteries of life--when and whom you will marry, and whether she really loves you or is taking you for your worldly prospects. (I may add here that I know a girl who can tie a knot in the stalk of a cherry with her tongue. It is a tricky business, and I am doubtful whether to add it to the virtues of the cherry or not.)

There are only two ways of eating strawberries. One is neat in the strawberry bed, and the other is mashed on the plate. The first method generally requires us to take up a bent position under a net--in a hot sun very uncomfortable, and at any time fatal to the hair. The second method takes us into the privacy of the home, for it demands a dressing-gown and no spectators. For these reasons I think the strawberry an overrated fruit. Yet I must say that I like to see one floating in cider cup. It gives a note of richness to the affair, and excuses any shortcomings in the lunch itself.

Raspberries are a good fruit gone wrong. A raspberry by itself might indeed be the best fruit of all; but it is almost impossible to find it alone. I do not refer to its attachment to the red currant; rather to the attachment to it of so many of our dumb little friends. The instinct of the lower creatures for the best is well shown in the case of the raspberry. If it is to be eaten it must be picked by the hand, well shaken, and then taken.

When you engage a gardener the first thing to do is to come to a clear understanding with him about the peaches. The best way of settling the matter is to give him the carrots and the black currants and the rhubarb for himself, to allow him a free hand 放手处理with the groundsel （千里光）and the walnut trees核桃树, and to insist in return for this that you should pick the peaches when and how you like. If he is a gentleman he will consent. Supposing that some satisfactory arrangement were come to, and supposing also that you had a silver-bladed pocket-knife with which you could peel them in the open air, then peaches would come very high in the list of fruits. But the conditions are difficult.

Gooseberries burst at the wrong end and smother you; melons--as the nigger boy discovered--make your ears sticky; currants, when you have removed the skin and extracted the seeds, are unsatisfying; blackberries have the faults of raspberries without their virtues; plums are never ripe. Yet all these fruits are excellent in their season. Their faults are faults which we can forgive during a slight acquaintance, which indeed seem but pleasant little idiosyncrasies in the stranger. But we could not live with them.

Yet with the orange we do live year in and year out. That speaks well for the orange. The fact is that there is an honesty about the orange which appeals to all of us. If it is going to be bad-- for even the best of us are bad sometimes --it begins to be bad from the outside, not from the inside. How many a pear which presents a blooming face to the world is rotten at the core. How many an innocent-looking apple is harbouring a worm in the bud. But the orange has no secret faults. Its outside is a mirror of its inside, and if you are quick you can tell the shopman so before he slips it into the bag.

黄金水果

一年四季的水果中，我最爱橘子。首先，它在一年四季都可以寻的到，虽然现实并不是这样，但至少在果蔬店可以。有时候，点心只有一些巧克力和一点腌制姜片，水果什锦也只有两片干梅和一片大黄，这时，再酸的橘子都可以挽救整个情况；也有些时候，饭桌上放满了各种各样的水果：樱桃、草莓、山莓以及醋栗，而这时候也更甜的橘子，依然可以在桌子上占有一席之地。橘子甚至比黄油面包、牛羊肉以及鸡蛋咸肉更必不可少。

妙的是，这种最普通的水果正好也是最好的。橘子的好处，数不甚数。它有益健康，不但可以治愈感冒，还可以美容养颜。此外，它非常干净，不管是谁把他端到桌子上，都只能碰到他的表皮，也就是它的外衣，吃完以后，橘子皮留在了餐厅。橘子很圆，给那些喜欢板球的孩子们当板球玩正好。它的籽儿还可以攻击敌人，很小的一小块橘子皮也可以使一位老人滑倒。

但是，若不是橘子的味道甜美可口，上述的一切都无足重要。我不敢谈及它的美味，因为我已在它甜美的味道中彻底沦陷。我讨厌所有的婚礼，因为婚礼需要大量的鲜橙花，也就意味着未来又少了一大批黄金水果。然而，生命还得继续啊。

除了橘子，我最喜欢的要算樱桃。而且它最适合做朋友了。在读书或者说话的时候可以吃它，就这样边读书或者边说话边吃它，完全不用留神它，但是，你还是得小心别吞下了樱桃胡。而我们也正是把樱桃胡和樱桃肉分开的过程中，觉得樱桃更加甘甜。樱桃梗可以避免弄脏手，也可以用来玩耍。最后，透过樱桃人们可以洞察生活的秘密，比如你将会和谁结婚，什么时候结婚，以及她是真的爱你，异或只是为了你的财产。（在这儿，我补充一下，我认识一个女孩，她可以用舌头把樱桃梗打个结。这并不容易，这算不算也是樱桃的好处之一呢。）

吃草莓只有两种方法。一种是吃草莓田里完整的草莓，另一种则是吃盘子里捣碎的草莓。第一种吃法，我们必须在火辣辣的太阳下弯着腰，非常的不舒服，并且阳光对头发的伤害也非常大；而第二种吃法，我们则在隐秘的家里，没有他人，穿着晨衣好好的享受。由于这些原因，我认为人们对草莓的评价过高了。但是我依然喜欢一杯苹果汁中能漂着一颗草莓来增添色彩，并使我们忘却午餐本身的不快。

山莓是一种良好的水果。山莓本身可能是所有水果中最好的水果，但是要找到单个山莓几乎是不可能的。我并不是指它总是依附于红醋栗，而是指寄生于它身上如此多无声的小朋友们。最好的低等生物的本能在山莓身上得到了很好的体现。想要吃山莓，必须亲手采摘，仔细清洗，然后才能吃。

雇佣一个园丁时，你首先要做的就是借助桃子来了解他。最好的办法就是给他一些胡萝卜、黑醋栗以及大黄，并且让他放手修剪千里光和核桃树，然后坚持作为回报，你可以在喜欢的时候摘桃子吃。如果他是绅士，他一定会同意。假象一些即将发生的完美的安排，比如你正好有一把银色的袖珍刀，那么你在户外就可以削桃皮了，这时桃子在水果中的地位将会提高。但事实是，这种情况很少见。

醋栗若在对着你的那头崩裂了，将会使你窒息；瓜类-正如黑人男孩儿发现的-会使你的耳朵非常粘；当你刨开红醋栗的皮，挖出籽后，你又会十分失望；黑莓涵盖山莓的所有缺点，却没有它的一点优点；李子就没有熟的；但是所有这些水果在它们各自适合的季节仍然是不错的。如果不太熟悉的话，这些缺点是可以接受的，似乎也令人愉快。但是它们却不能长期陪伴我们。

橘子可以一年到头陪伴着我们。这证明橘子真的很好。事实上，是橘子诚实的品质吸引着我们。如果它快坏了——我们中最优秀的人有时也会犯错——它一定是先从外边，而不是从里面开始坏的。有多少外表光鲜的梨，果肉早已腐烂；又有多少外表健康的苹果，果肉里却藏匿着蛀虫。但是橘子却坦诚相待。它的外表就是它果肉的一面镜子，如果你反应够快，那么你就可以在水果店老板把坏橘子扔进袋子之前阻止他了。

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