即便身处异域,许多中国人也都依然放不下“采菊东篱下,悠然见南山”的田园生活梦想。这不,据美国媒体报道,在耶鲁大学“中国村”,一些上了年纪的中国留学生父母们,在疏于管理的校园荒地上找到了实现“梦想”的机会。他们从当地华人市场购买种子,开垦菜园,耕耘收获,其乐融融。耶鲁的师生和校友们也纷纷赞叹,就连美国网友也称中国的大爷大妈给耶鲁增色。中国大妈终于被点了一回赞。出国留学网(m.liuxue86.com)邀您一起来看看是怎么报道的.
A once-vacant city block at the northern edge of Yale University now teems with exotic herbs and vegetables, tended carefully by a community of graying people from China who are here to look after grandchildren as their own children cultivate careers at the Ivy League school.
耶鲁大学北部一片曾经杂草丛生的荒地如今长满了美国百姓闻所未闻的蔬菜,而使这里绿意盎然的竟是中国的大爷大妈。他们的孩子在常青藤名校读书,这些“陪读家长”特意来此照料孩子们的生活起居。
In the trellis-filled garden, a patchwork of small lots that are passed from family to family, they find friends, a routine for daily life in new surroundings and familiar vegetables that are fresher than anything they find in local markets.
种菜成了这些家长们每天的习惯,虽然身处异国他乡,但是还能吃到熟悉的蔬菜,还能在这些满是篱笆的菜园里结识朋友,在这种“家家相传”的菜园里收获里的蔬菜可比当地市场上买的要新鲜多了。
"The sun is shining. I'm sweating. It's good," said 63-year-old Zhang Zaixian, of Beijing, who was watering chives one day as her grandson attended preschool. "I am happy."
今年63岁的张再贤(音译)来自北京,她的孙子在上幼儿园,她每天替地里的香葱浇水,她说:“阳光好,出出汗,很好很开心。”
The urban garden began taking shape a decade ago, a product of the expatriate community that has sprouted along with soaring numbers of students from China.
这座城市菜园10多年前开始成型,随着中国留学生的激增,移民社区渐渐萌芽发展,曾经的空地也变成了繁茂的菜园。
About a quarter of all international students at Yale come from China, which has become the biggest source country by far for international students in the United States. Yale had 680 international scholars, 516 graduate students and 58 undergraduates from China last year.
耶鲁大学约1/4的国际学生来自中国,是全美留学生中的主力军。去年耶鲁大学就有来自中国的680名学者,516名研究生和博士生,以及58名本科生。
The gardeners come from a mix of urban and rural areas and abide by a few unwritten rules. Fertilizer is allowed, but pesticides are forbidden. Remove watering cans and clean up in the fall. Find another family to work your patch when you leave New Haven.
这些种菜者来自城乡交界处,他们信守着一些不成文的规定:可以自由施肥,但是禁用农药。秋天的时候要拆下洒水罐清理。离开纽黑文的时候,要找下家来接手菜园。
Zhang, whose daughter earned a Ph.D. in China before coming to do research at the Yale School of Medicine, said she had never done any gardening at home in China's capital, where she had a career keeping statistics for industry and the navy. Zhang's health had been waning before she first came to Connecticut, in 2009, but she said tending to plants each day under smog-free skies has made her feel renewed.
张女士的女儿国内博士毕业,如今在耶鲁大学医学院做研究。她家在北京,当时的工作是统计工业和海军的数据,之前从没做过农活儿。2009年的时候她的健康出现了一些问题,但是来了康涅狄格州之后,每天在没有雾霾的蓝天下种地让她感觉像变了一个人似的身心舒畅。
The garden succeeds, she said, because the gardeners belong to an older generation that has patience. "Young people don't want to do the labor," she said.
菜园在她看来是成功的,因为园丁都是很有耐心的老一辈人——年轻人可不愿意干这种活儿。
All the plants are edible. They include varieties of beans, scallions, tomatoes and cilantro that they eat or use to season dumplings and other dishes.
菜园里的蔬菜都是能吃的,包括各种可以放在饺子和其他应季菜肴里的豆类、葱、西红柿和香菜等。
The produce, grown from seeds found in New York City's Chinatown and some local Asian markets, is shared with other Chinese families that live in the complex of two-story apartment buildings across the street from the garden — even if they choose not to do gardening themselves.
蔬菜的种子是从纽约城的唐人街或者当地卖亚洲货的市场买来的。种菜的家庭也会把收获的蔬菜分给其他中国家庭。有些人虽然自己家里不种菜,但是他们就住在和菜园“一街之隔”的二层复式公寓里,所以也会分到这些蔬菜。
"I wasn't farming anymore in China. Why should I do farming here?" said Wang Lunji, 65, from Anhui province in eastern China, where the land he once worked was plowed under for development. Wang, whose son studies biology at Yale, said he nevertheless appreciates the vegetables shared by his neighbors.
65岁的王先生来自中国东部的安徽省,他儿子在耶鲁学生物,他家原来的地因为发展需要而弃耕了。他说:“我在中国都不做这样的农活了,我为什么反而要在美国耕地干农活?”但是他还是很喜欢邻居分享的蔬菜。
Yale owns the land, which had been overgrown before a few families started the planting, and Yale grounds crews have provided compost to help the gardeners. The only issues, they say, have been occasional theft or vandalism.
菜园的土地归耶鲁大学所有,在个别家庭开始种菜之前是杂草丛生的荒地,校方为他们提供化肥。不过,学校工作人员表示,目前唯一的问题是成熟的蔬果会招来窃贼,有些还时不时的被破坏。
In at least some cases, gardeners have suspected each other when plants have gone missing. Veteran gardener Guo Zhirong said one plant that disappeared would not have appealed to Americans.
有时,种菜者之间会互相怀疑。颇有经验的种菜老手郭志荣(音译)就说,有一种被偷的蔬菜对美国人根本没有吸引力。
"Some people are from cities and don't know how to grow plants," he said. "Maybe they just said, 'Wow, so beautiful,' and they took it away."
郭大爷说:“有些城里人不会种菜,他们可能就是觉得很好看,然后就拿走了。
Guo, 71, was a farmer himself in Sichuan province and has taught many, including Zhang, how to water, fertilize and harvest the plants. "It's easy. They just watch and learn," he said. "Some are not doing excellent, but they are doing OK."
71岁的郭大爷本来就是四川的农民,他教会了好多人怎么浇水、施肥、收割,张女士就是他教出来的。其实这挺简单的,看看就学会了。不必苛求完美,能凑合过就行。”
没有农药、没有雾霾,双语君也恨不得扛起锄头“守拙归田园”了~~只是,首先,你得先有一个在耶鲁上学的孩子……
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