落花生
Peanuts
许地山
Xu Dishan
我们家的后园有半亩空地。
There are half an acre of unused ground in our family’s back garden.
母亲说：“让它荒着怪可惜的，你们那么爱吃花生，就开辟出来种花生吧。”我们姐弟几个都很高兴，买种、翻地、播种、浇水，没过几个月，居然收获了。
Mother said, “It is such a pity to leave the ground uncultivated. You all like eating peanuts, so why don’t we plant peanuts on it.” We brothers and sisters all felt very happy. We bought seeds, plowed the field, sowed the seeds and watered it. After several months, we got peanuts!
母亲说：“今晚我们过一个收获节，请你们的父亲也来尝尝我们的新花生，好不好？”母亲把花生做成了好几样食品，还咐附就在后园的茅亭里过这个节。
Mother said, “Tonight, let’s have a party to celebrate our harvest and ask your dad to taste our newly harvested peanuts, shall we?” Mother made several kinds of peanut food and held the party right in the thatched pavilion of the back garden.
那晚上天色不大好。
The weather that night was rainy.
可父亲也来了，实在很难得。
But father did come came nevertheless. It was not an easy job.
父亲说：“你们爱吃花生吗？”
Father asked, “Do you like eating peanuts?”
我们争着答应：“爱！”
We vied to answer answered in a hurry, “We like!”
“谁能把花生的好处说出来？”
“Who can tell the goodness of peanut?”
姐姐说：“花生的味儿美。”
My elder sister said, “It tastes good.”
哥哥说：“花生可以榨油。”
My elder brother said, “We can extract oil from peanuts.”
我说：“花生的价钱便宜，谁都可以买来吃，都喜欢吃。
I said, “Peanut is not expensive. Everyone can buy it and everyone likes eating it.
这就是它的好处。”
This is its goodness.”
父亲说：“花生的好处很多，有一样最可贵：它的果实埋在地里，不像桃子、石榴、苹果那样，把鲜红嫩绿的果实高高地挂在枝头上，使人一见就生爱慕之心。
Father said, “Peanut has many goodnesses. There is one goodness the most precious. It buries its fruits in the ground. It’s not like peach, pomegranate or apple, which hang their colorful fruits high on the sticks and people like them at the very first sight.”
你们看它矮矮地长在地上，等到成熟了，也不能立刻分辨出来它有没有果实，也必须挖起来才知道。”
It grows on the ground, very short. You can not tell whether it has had fruits until it is dug up.
我们都说是，母亲也点点头。
We all said yes and mother nodded.
父亲接下去说：“所以你们要像花生，它虽然不好看，可是很有用。”
Father continued to say,”So you should be like peanuts. It does not look good, but it is very useful.”<片段 0072>
我说：“那么，人要做有用的人，不要做只讲体面，而对人没有好处的人。”
I said, “So, people should be useful people and should not be rather than the people who only care about face good-looking and do no good for others.”
父亲说：“对。
Father said, “Yes.
这是我对你们的希望。”
It’s my hope for you.
我们谈到深夜才散。
We kept talking until late night.
花生做的食品都吃完了，父亲的话深深地印在我的心上。
The peanut food was all eaten up and father’s words left a deep impression on my heart.