Harvest Moon

by Kenneth L. Pierpont

铖铖 译

Harvest Moon

收获月下的承诺

by Kenneth L. Pierpont

铖铖 译

He was a farmer, a factory laborer, and a country pastor. He worked hard, lived simply and loved his family. He could be a good neighbor, too. He farmed a small hill-farm and raised beef and some grain for feed. In the summer his grandchildren would come and they would1)balehay, fsh the pond and eat sweet corn and garden-ripe tomatoes.

When harvest-time came he would piece together his old one-row corn picker and oil it up for the season. He pulled it behind a little Ford 9-N and hooked a wagon on the back. It was a noisy2)contraption, unlike these huge modern green monsters you see shaving the grain off wide, flat felds in wide gulps these days.

他是一名农夫，是个工厂工人，也是一名乡村牧师。他工作努力，生活简朴，热爱自己的家人。他也可以当个好邻居。他耕作一个小小的山岗农场，养牛，并且种植一些饲料作物。夏天时，他的孙辈会来到这里，打草垛、池塘垂钓、吃甜玉米以及花园里成熟的西红柿。

当收获季节来到时，他会拼好那辆老式单排粮食收割机，给它上些润滑油，为收庄稼做好准备。他将收割机拖在一辆小小的福特9N拖拉机后面，并且在后面挂上一个拖车。这是个噪声很大的装置，可不像你如今见到的那些大型绿色现代机械，在广阔平坦的田野里一大口一大口地将粮食刷下来。

1) bale [beɪl] v. 打包，捆包

2) contraption [kənˑtræpʃən] n. 精巧的设计，装置

3) fabricate [ˑfæbrɪkeɪt] v. 制作，构成

他的整套设备就是那样的—基本。他的生活亦如此。他工作努力，乐于助人，你可以指望他信守诺言。这一点在某个秋天变得异常艰难，当时，时间、责任与困难都一下子压到他头上。他需要收割自己那几亩地的庄稼，但同时也答应了收割朋友农场里绕着山边的几块地的庄稼。问题来了。先是设备出了状况。通常他可以自造一些配件或者装配机械，那样就可以完成收割工作，但在他收完自家的庄稼后，那小粮食收割机就咳嗽起来，接着发出咕哝声，最后歇工了。如果不能从遥远的地方拿来一个特殊部件，机器就无法运作，但那样就太晚了，这年他就帮不上忙了。设备问题后面还跟着时间问题。工厂要赶订单，已经开始要加班了。他得在日出前离开农场，在日落后回家。

His whole operation was like that; basic. His life was like that, too. He worked hard, helped others and you could count on him to keep his promises. That’s what made it so hard one autumn when time and responsibilities and diffcult circumstances closed in on him. He needed to harvest a few acres of his own corn. He also promised to harvest a few ribbons of corn that wound around the hills on a friend’s farm, too. Problems came. First was equipment trouble. Usually he was able to3)fabricatesomething or rig the equipment so the job could be done, but after he had harvested his own corn his little corn pickercoughed,4)sputteredand quit. It was out of use until a special part came from distant lands, and that would be too late to help his year. Then the equipment problem was followed by a time problem. The factory had orders to fill and began to require overtime. He was leaving the farm before light and arrivin g home after dark.

He sat at the kitchen table and nursed a cup of awful coffee while he wondered aloud what to do. His wife said that there was simply nothing he could do. He would have to tell his friend that he couldn’t help with his corn. He thought long and the idea didn’t sit well with him. His friend was depending on him. “If you don’t have the equipment, you just can’t do it,” his wife said. “Well, I could do it the way we used to do it. I could harvest it by hand.” “You don’t have time to do that with the overtime, besides, it would be dark.”

He consulted the Farmer’s Almanac. Late in October there would be another full moon. It is called the harvest moon because it gives farmers more light and increases their harvest time. “If the Lord gives us clear weather, I think I can do it.”

And he did. The weather was cold and clear and the moon was brilliant. After work he made his way to the feld and his wife met him in the truck with dinner and a5)thermosof more of the awful, strong, black coffee. Then he worked through the night to keep his word.

Late one autumn in 1958 he had a grandson. He and his wife got in their car and drove across the state to see him. They would share the same name.

I know this story well, because the farmer was my grandfather. I’m proud to have the same name as he did. I’ve spent hours on the6)fenderof the tractor with my grandpa. I’ve even suffered through some of that same awful coffee. But I had never heard about this incident until I was having a talk with my grandmother one day about values she and grandpa believed very deeply in; hard work, and keeping your promises.

他坐在厨房的桌子旁，慢慢地喝着一杯苦涩难喝的咖啡，自言自语着该怎么做。他的妻子说他根本就是什么也做不了。他得跟朋友说自己无法帮忙收庄稼。他想了很久，这个主意他并不接受。他的朋友一心指望他。“要是你没有机器，你就是干不来，”他的妻子说道。“噢，我可以用我们以前的方法来做。我可以用手来收割。”“你要加班没时间这么干，而且，光线太暗了。”

他查了查农历。十月下旬还将会有另一次满月。那被称为收获月，因为它为农夫们提供光线，增加收割时间。“要是上天给我们好天气，我觉得我做得来。”

他就这么干了。天冷气清，月色明亮。下班后，他走到田里去，而他的妻子就在卡车里为他备饭和一壶更可怕更浓更黑的咖啡。接着他就通宵达旦地干活以兑现自己的承诺。

在1958年的秋季下旬，他的一个孙子出生了。他和妻子开车穿州过省来看他。两人拥有相同的名字。

我很了解这个故事，因为这个农夫就是我的祖父。我很自豪能与他拥有相同的名字。我曾与祖父在拖拉机的挡板上待上过许多时光。我甚至受过那些同样可怕的咖啡之苦。但我从未听说过这件事，直到某天我与祖母聊起一个话题，关于她与祖父深深信奉的价值观：努力工作，信守承诺。

My grandpa did work hard and keep his promises. He also loved his family. Sometimes, when I am tempted to7)cut cornersor defer responsibilities, I think of my grandfather out under the harvest moon bending low and swinging his sharp corn-knife in a wide arch. I can hear the thump of ears of corn hitting the foor of the wagon and the music of geese honking their way across the cold October sky, against the brilliance of the harvest moon.

In the dark early hours of the morning, when his work was done he crawled his tired body up into the seat of the old tractor and made his way home. Behind him in the pale moonlight, I can see row after row of corn shocks8)standing at attentionin respect for a man who keeps his word.

我的祖父的确努力工作，信守承诺。他也爱自己的家人。有时候，当我试图走捷径，推迟责任时，我会想起我的祖父，在收获月下低低地弯着腰，以大大的弧线挥动他那锋利的镰刀。我能听到谷穗敲打拖车底部的声音，还有大雁在明亮的收获月下一路飞过十月寒冷的天空时发出的优美叫声。

在昏暗的清晨，当他工作完毕，他将疲惫的身躯塞进冰冷的拖拉机后座，开车回家。在他身后浅淡的月色中，我能看到一排排禾束堆以立正的姿态向一个信守诺言的男子致敬。

4) sputter [ˑspʌtə] v. 发劈啪声，咕哝

5) thermos [ˑθзːmɒs] n. 热水瓶

6) fender [ˑfendə] n. 防卫物，挡泥板

7) cut corners 抄近路

8) stand at attention 立正