Have You Seen the Tree
你见过那棵树吗
My neighbor Mrs. Gargan first told me about it."Have you seen the tree?" she asked as I was sitting in the backyard enjoying the Octobertwilight.
关于那棵树，最初是我的邻居加根太太告诉我的。“你见过那棵树吗？”她问道，当时我正坐在后院欣赏十月的暮色。
"The one down at the corner," she explained. "It's a beautiful tree-all kinds of colors.Cars are stopping to look. You ought to see it."
“就是下去拐角处的那棵”她解释说，“漂亮极了—五颜六色的。好多车路过都停下来看，你该去看看。”
I told her I would, but I soon forgot about the tree. Three days later, I wasjogging down the street, my mind swimming withpettyworries, when asplashof bright orange caught my eye. For an instant, I thought someone's house had caught fire. Then I remembered the tree.
我对她说我会去看的，可转眼就忘记了关于树的事。三天后，我顺着街道慢跑，脑子里充斥着恼人的小事，忽然，一片耀眼的橘红色映入眼帘，有一会儿，我还以为是谁家的房子着火了呢，但我马上想到了那棵树。
As Iapproached it, I slowed to a walk. There was nothing remarkable about the shape of the tree. a medium-sizedmaple. But Mrs. Gargan had been right about its colors.Like themessywhirlof an artist'spalette, the treeblazed a bright crimson on its lower branches, burned with vivid yellows and oranges in its center. and simmered to deep red at its top. Through thesefierycolors cascaded thinrivulets of pale-green leaves andblotches of deep-green leaves, as yet untouched by autumn.
我慢慢走近它.就像朝圣者缓缓步向神殿，我发现靠近树梢的地方有几根光秃秃的枝丫，上面黑乎乎的小枝像鹰爪一般伸向天空。枯枝上落下的叶子一片猩红，像地毯似的铺在树干周围。
Edging closer-like apilgrimapproaching ashrine-I noticed several bare branches near the top, their blacktwigsscratching the air likeclaws.The leaves they had shed lay like a scarlet carpet around the trunk.
当我靠近树时，禁不住放慢了脚步。树的形状并没有什么非凡之处，是一棵中等大小的枫树。但加根太太说得不错，它的色彩确实奇特，像画家调色板中斑斓的颇料，令人眼花缭乱。树底部的枝丫好似一片鲜红的火海，树的中部燃烧着明快的黄色和橘色，顶部的树梢又爆发着深红色。在这火一样的色彩中，流淌着浅绿的叶子汇成的小溪，深绿的叶子斑驳点缀其间，似乎至今末曾受到过秋天的侵袭。