南京英孚青少兒英語於2002年成立，18年來深耕南京。專注3-18歲孩子英語教育，英語啟蒙、英文閱讀興趣、考試學習、出國留學來英孚就夠了。我們的運行及管理遵照EF全球統一模式。50年專業英語教育經驗值得信賴，關注英語，關注孩子。
今天是九月的最後一天。
September is more than a month, really; it is a season, an achievement in itself. It begins with August’s leftovers and it ends with October’s preparations, but along the way it achieves special satisfactions. After summer’s heat and haste, the year consolidates itself. Deliberate September—in its own time and tempo1)—begins to sum up another summer.
九月，真的並非僅僅是一個月份；它更代表了一個季節，一份成就。自八月之餘韻而始，以十月之孕育為終，九月承前啟後，別有一番收穫的快慰。歷經夏季的炎熱和急躁，日子變得愈發厚重。九月從容不迫——以它自己的時機和節拍翩然而至——宣告又一個夏季的結束。
With September comes a sense of autumn. It creeps in on a misty dawn and vanishes in the hot afternoon. It tiptoes through the treetops, rouging2) a few leaves, then rides a tuft3) of thistledown4) across the valley and away. It sits on a hilltop and hoots like an October owl in the dusk. It plays tag5) with the wind. September is a changeling6), busy as a squirrel in a hickory tree, idle as a languid7) brook. It is summer’s ripeness and richness fulfilled.
九月捎來了一絲秋意。這秋意隨薄霧朦朦之清晨悄然而至，又在暖陽煦煦之午後隱沒無蹤。它躡手躡腳地掠過樹梢，抹紅幾片樹葉，又輕踏一簇薊花冠毛，越過山谷飄然而去。它時而棲息山顛，如十月黃昏中貓頭鷹般啼鳴，時而又同風兒追逐嬉戲。九月就像山核桃樹上的松鼠，忙忙碌碌；又彷彿慵懶的小溪，緩緩流淌。夏日的成熟與豐饒在九月一覽無餘。
Some of the rarest days of the year come in the September season-days when it is comfortably cold but pulsing with life, when the sky is clear and clean, the air crisp, the wind free of dust. Meadows still smell of hay and the sweetness of cut grass. September flowers are less varied than those of May but so abundant that they make September another flowery month. Goldenrod8) comes by mid-August, but rises to a peak of golden abundance in early September. Late thistles make spectacular purple accents. And asters9) blossom everywhere, along the roadsides, in meadows, on the hilltops, even in city lots, raging in color from pure white through all degrees of lavender10) to the royal New England purple11).
一年中最珍貴的幾天好時光在九月裡到來。值此良辰，天地間清涼宜人，卻也生機勃勃；晴空如碧，秋高氣爽，金風徐來，纖塵不染。草地上還瀰漫著乾草的氣息和新刈綠草的清香。九月的花朵雖不及五月那般絢爛多姿，卻也繁花似錦，將九月妝扮成另一個花季。黃菊在八月中旬開始綻放，但要到得九月初才能開得熱烈恣意，金黃遍野。晚薊吐露著紫色風情，蔚為大觀。紫苑怒放，在小路旁、草場中、山頂上，甚至在市區空地裡，隨處可見，從純白色到深淺不一的淡紫色，直至高貴的新英格蘭紫，顏色各異，應有盡有。
We think of spring as the miracles time, when opening bud and new leaf proclaim the persistence of life. But September is when the abiding wonder makes itself known in a subtler way. Now growth comes to annual fruition, and preparations are completed for another year, another generation. The acorn12) ripens and the hickory nut matures. The plant commits its future to the seed and the root. The insect stows13) tomorrow in the egg and pupa14). The surge is almost over and life begins to relax.
我們覺得，春天是一個充滿奇蹟的季節，其時蓓蕾初綻，綠葉新萌，宣告著生命的綿延不息。但是九月卻以更微妙的方式，讓這種永恆的奇蹟展現於我們眼前。此時，生命的成長帶來了這一年的累累碩果, 也為來年，為下一代做好了準備。橡子熟了，山核桃黃了。植物把自己的未來寄託於種子和根莖。昆蟲則將明天蘊藏在卵蛹之中。激情澎湃的高潮將近尾聲，生命開始養精蓄銳。
The green prime is passing. The trees begin to proclaim the change. Soon the leaves will be discarded, the grass will sere15). But the miracle of life persists, the mysterious germ of growth and renewal that is the seed itself.
綠色蔥蘢的全盛時期正離我們而去。樹木開始宣告季節的更迭交替。很快，樹葉就會凋零，小草也將枯萎。但生命的奇蹟仍將持續，這生命成長和再生的神奇力量就在種子中孕育。
This is the season of the harvest moon. With reasonably clear skies it will be a moonlit week, for the harvest moon is not hasty; it comes early and stays late. There was a time when the busy farmer could return to the fields after supper and continue his harvest by moonlight. There’s still harvesting to be done, but much of it now centers on the kitchen rather than the barns. The last bountiful yield comes from the garden, the late sweet corn, the tomatoes, the root vegetables. The canning, the preserving, the freezing, the kitchen harvest in all its variety, reaches its peak.
這是一個秋分前後滿月照臨的季節。只要天空晴朗少雲，那皓月當空的美景將持續一週，因為秋分時節的滿月總是那麼不慌不忙，來得早，去得遲。在前幾天，忙碌的農夫還可以在晚飯後返回田間，趁著月色繼續勞作。而現在，雖然還有些莊稼需要收割，但活兒大多已經從穀倉轉到了廚房。最後的豐收來自菜園：晚熟的甜玉米、西紅柿，還有塊根類蔬菜。或罐裝，或醃製，或冷凍，廚房裡的活兒多種多樣，人們忙得不可開交。
First frost comes in the night, a clear, scant-starred night when the moon is near its fullness. It comes without a whisper, quiet as thistledown, brushing the corner of a hillside garden. Dawn comes and you see its path—the glistening leaf, the gloaming stem, the limp, blackening garden vine.
在一個月圓星稀的夜裡，第一場霜悄然而至。它來得無聲無息，靜如薊花冠毛，掠過山坡上菜園的一角。待到拂曉時分，便隨處可見它的蹤跡——在晶瑩閃亮的葉子上，在影影綽綽的根莖上，在彎曲黝黑的藤蔓上。
Another night or two the frost walks the valleys in the moonlight. Then it goes back beyond the northern hills to wait a little longer, and the golden mildness of early autumn comforts the land. A faint anise16) smell is on the air, goldenrod scent. The mist swirls and September sun shines through the deep-blue sky of September.
再過一兩個晚上，霜花就會沐著月色，在山谷中穿行。然後，繞回到北面的山岡後面，稍作停歇。金色的初秋溫情脈脈，撫慰著大地。空氣中瀰漫著一絲淡淡的茴香味，那是黃菊的清香。薄霧嫋嫋，九月的陽光照徹湛藍的天空。
Now come the hoarding20) days. Mice have been harvesting and stowing seeds for weeks. The chipmunk21) lines22) his winter bedroom, and squirrels hide the nut trees’ bounty. The woodchucks, gorging on grass and clover and fruit, lay up23) their harvest in body fat under their own skins.
現在是該為冬日囤積食物的時候了。一連好幾個星期，老鼠們都在忙著收集和儲藏種子。花栗鼠正在往它的臥室中填塞過冬物什，而松鼠們已經把堅果樹的果實貯藏了起來。土拔鼠盡情地吞吃雜草、苜蓿和果子，將收穫的食物都貯存在皮下脂肪裡。
To warm-blooded creatures, the crisp, cool nights of September are invigorating. But cold-blooded insects are at the mercy of the sun and now their clocks run down. The cicada is stilled. The chorus of the cricket and katydid17) diminishes. When they rasp18) at all it is with the deliberate tempo of a fiddler19) drawing a worn bow across fraying strings.
九月的夜晚，空氣涼爽清新，讓溫血動物倍感暢快。但是冷血昆蟲的命運卻要由太陽決定，現在，它們剩下的時日也不多了。知了已經沉寂無聲。蟋蟀和紡織娘的吟唱也日漸稀少。即使鳴叫，也像琴師手持老舊的琴弓彈奏磨損的琴絃一般，沉鬱凝滯。
The flickers24) begin to gather for migration. All summer these big wood-peckers were resolutely individual, busy with family life and wanting no company. Now they are gregarious25), with time for tribal gossip and community play. The warblers26) and swallows have already formed in premigration flocks; soon the robins will be gathering too. Nesting is completed, fledglings are on their own, and there is food in plenty. September is vacation time for birds. Who knows but that they are discussing the trip ahead?
撲動鴷開始聚集，準備遷徙。整個夏天，這些大個兒的啄木鳥都執意獨來獨往，忙於家務，無心交友。現在有時間群聊、嬉戲了，所以也就開始集體交際了。黃鶯和燕子已經在遷徙之前集合成群；不久，知更鳥也要開始聚集。巢穴已經築好，雛鳥可以獨立生活了，食物也已非常充裕。九月是這些鳥兒度假的時節。誰又知道它們有沒有討論即將開始的旅行呢？
By September’s end the treasure chest of autumn begins to “spillover” with wealth. You see it glowing in the quiet afternoon, aflame in the sunset. Woodland, roadside and dooryard will soon be jeweled beyond arajah27)’s richest dreams.
九月末，秋季豐收的寶庫如此充盈，財富都開始“滿溢”了。你能看到它們在靜謐的午後熠熠生輝，在夕陽的映照下灼灼欲燃。林地、路旁和庭院很快就好似珠鑲玉飾般流光溢彩，這樣的財富即使是最富有的王公貴族也想像不出。
The year’s season in the sun has run its course. Nature begins to prepare for winter. After the color in the woodlands, the leaves will blanket the soil. The litter of autumn will become mulch28), then humus29) for root and tender seed. The urgency of growth is ended for another year, but life itself is hoarded in root and bulb and seed and egg.
一年之盛季已經結束。大自然開始為冬季的到來作準備。在林地顏色變換過後，凋落的樹葉將覆蓋在土壤之上。秋季的枯草落葉將化作植物根莖和嬌嫩種子的覆蓋層和腐殖質。如火如荼的生長期就這樣告一段落，等待著來年，但是生命本身並沒結束，它蘊藏在根莖、鱗莖、種子和幼卵中。
1. tempo [5tempEu] n. 發展速度
2. rouge [ru:V] vt. 擦口紅
3. tuft [tQft] n. 一叢，一蔟
4. thistledown[5WIs(E)ldaJn] n. 薊花的冠毛
5. tag [tA^] n. 追人遊戲
6. changeling[5tFeindVliN] n. 〈古〉善變的人
7. languid [5lAN^wid] adj. 疲倦的，無力的，沒精打采的
8. goldenrod [5^EuldEnrCd] n. [植]秋麒麟草屬植物
9. aster [5AstE] n. [植]紫苑
10. lavender [5lAvindE] n. 淡紫色
11. New England purple：新英格蘭紫色，即新英格蘭紫苑(New England aster)的顏色，新英格蘭紫苑為北美東部多年生紫花菊科植物
12. acorn [5eIkC:n] n. [植]橡樹果，橡子
13. stow [stEu] v. 裝載
14. pupa [5pju:pE] n. [昆]蛹
15. sere [siE] adj. 乾枯的
16. anise [5Anis] n. [植]茴芹，茴香
17. katydid [5keitidid] n. 紡織娘
18. rasp [rB:sp] vi. 發出刺耳聲
19. fiddler [5fidlE] n. 拉提琴的人，小提琴家
20. hoarding [5hC:diN] n. 貯藏，積蓄，囤積
21. chipmunk [5tFIpmQNk] n. [動]花栗鼠
22. line [lain] vt. 填充
23. lay up：儲備，儲存
24. flicker [5flikE] n. 撲動鴷，啄木鳥的一種
25. gregarious [^re5^ZEriEs]adj. 社交的，群居的
26. warbler [5wC:blE] n. 鶯，鳴鳥
27. rajah [5rB:dVE] n. 〈印〉王侯
28. mulch [mQltF] n. 覆蓋物
29. humus [5hju:mEs] n. 腐殖質
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