(单词翻译:单击)
英文原文
It is not only pleasure sending me back to stare at that plot of soil, it is really conflict. The question is the same each year—what method should we use? The last few years we put 36-inch-wide black plastic between the rows, and it worked perfectly, keeping the soil moist in dry times and weed-free.
But black plastic looks so industrial, so unromantic, that I have gradually moved over to hay mulch. We cut a lot of hay and, as it rots, it does improve the soil's Composition. Besides, it looks lovely, and comes to us free.
Keeping a garden makes you aware of how delicate, bountiful, and easily ruined the surface of this little planet is. In that 50-by-70-foot patch there must be a dozen different types of soil. Tomato won't grow in one part but loves another, and the same goes for the other crops. I suppose if you loaded the soil with chemical fertilizer these differences would be less noticeable, but I use it sparingly and only in rows right where seeds are planted rather than broadcast over the whole area. I'm not sure why I do this beyond the saving in fertilizer and my unwillingness to aid the weeds.
The attractions of gardening, I think, at least for a certain number of gardeners, are neurotic and moral. Whenever life seems pointless and difficult to grasp, you can always get out in the garden and get something done. Also, your paternal or maternal instincts come into play because helpless living things are depending on you, require training and encouragement and protection from enemies. In some cases, as with beans and cucumbers, your children—as it were—begin to turn upon you in massive numbers, growing more and more each morning and threatening to follow you into the house to strangle you in their vines.
参考译文
我欣喜地看着这块土地，但是心里也充满了矛盾。每年的难题都一样—用什么方式种呢？前几年我用的是36寸宽的黑色塑料膜，成效不错，干旱的时候土壤仍能保持水分，不生杂草。
但是黑色塑料膜看起来太工业化、太不浪漫了，我开始慢慢用杂草来覆盖。我们收割了很多干草，干草腐烂后确实能改良土壤成分，而且看上去也很可爱，而且不用花钱。
照顾菜园可以让人意识到如何精巧、慷慨、容易地糟踏这个小星球的表面。这块50英寸宽、70英寸长的田地必须得有十几种不同的土壤。西红柿不能在只有一种土壤的田地生长，也需要别的土壤，别的作物也是这样。如果施以化肥，我想这种区别就不那么明显了，但是我用化肥很节俭，只是在播种种子的那些行列，而不是播撒在整片地里。我这样不是为了节省化肥，也不是不愿意帮助杂草，我不明白自己为什么这么做。
我觉得，至少对于一定的园艺者来说，园艺的乐趣是神经和精神方面的。不管什么时候，当你感到生活没有意义，很难把握，你就可以走进菜园做些什么；无助的生命依赖你，需要你的调理和鼓励，需要你的保护以免受敌人的攻击，这时你心中的父爱或母爱的本能就会自然流露。有时候，菜豆和黄瓜会像孩子一样，大量地出现在你面前，每天早上都会结出越来越多的果实来，跟着你、威胁着用它们的藤蔓勒着你。
