wordChrysanthemums··埃伦正在花园里干活儿，穿过院子朝远处望时，她看见丈夫亨利正在与两个身着工作服的人交谈三个人都站在拖拉机棚边上，一只脚蹬在那辆小型福特牌拖拉机的一侧说话的时候，他们边抽着烟，边打量拖拉机Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work. She was thirty-five. Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost pletely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips, the trowel and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she worked with. She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked.伊利莎看了他们一会儿，又继续忙自己的活儿。
她今年三十五岁，脸庞瘦俏并透着坚毅，一双眼睛清澈如水由于穿着园艺工作服，她显得鼓囊囊的、有点儿笨拙她头上戴着一顶男式的黑帽子，拉得很低，直到她的眼睛脚上是一双粗笨的鞋子下面穿的印花裙子几乎全给那个大号的灯心绒围裙遮盖了起来围裙上有四个大口袋，用来放她干活时用的剪刀、泥铲、刮管器、种子和刀干活时她戴着厚厚的皮手套，免得弄伤手She was cutting down the old year's chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors. She looked down toward the men by the tractor shed now and then. Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.她这会儿正用一把锋利的小剪子把去年的菊花枝剪短，还不时朝站在拖拉机棚边上的三个男人望一望。
她的脸上充满着渴望，看起来成熟漂亮——甚至连她拿着剪刀干活的样子都显得那么有力，饱含期待，以至于那些菊花的枯杆相比之下都显得纤细柔弱，容易收拾了She brushed a cloud of hair out of her eyes with the back of her glove, and left a smudge of earth on her cheek in doing it. Behind her stood the neat white farm house with red geraniums close-banked around it as high as the windows. It was a hard-swept looking little house with hard-polished windows, and a clean mud-mat on the front steps.她用手套的背部将眼前的一绺乌发抹开，一点污渍就留在了她的脸颊上她身后是整洁的白色农舍，红色的天竺葵紧紧地簇拥着，直到窗户附近看得出这座不大的屋子好好打扫过，窗户也曾细心地擦拭过，就连前面台阶上的擦鞋垫都收拾得干干净净。
Elisa cast another glance toward the tractor shed. The strangers were getting into their Ford coupe. She took off a glove and put her strong fingers down into the forest of new green chrysanthemum sprouts that were growing around the old roots. She spread the leaves and looked down among the close-growing stems. No aphids were there, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms. Her terrier fingers destroyed such pests before they could get started.伊利莎又朝拖拉机棚的方向看了一眼，那些陌生人正钻进他们的福特牌小客车里她脱掉一只手套，将自己有力的手指伸到从老的菊花根部新生的一丛幼苗里，然后分开叶子，在长得郁郁葱葱的幼苗里查看。
里面蚜虫、潮虫、蜗牛、毛虫什么的都没有如果真有的话，她那犀利无比的手指也会在这些害虫逃跑之前就将它们消灭Elisa started at the sound of her husband's voice. He had e near quietly, and he leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens.听到丈夫的声音，伊利莎吃了一惊原来他已经悄悄地走到了她的旁边，从铁丝栅栏那边俯过身来铁丝栅栏把她的花园圈了起来，免得牛呀，狗呀，鸡呀这些家畜糟蹋"At it again," he said. "You've got a strong new crop ing." Elisa straightened her back and pulled on the gardening glove again: "Yes. They'll be strong this ing year." In her tone and on her face there was a little smugness. "You've got a gift with things," Henry observed. "Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big." Her eyes sharpened. "Maybe I could do it, too. I've a gift with things, all right. My mother had it. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow. She said it was having planters' hands that knew how to do it." "Well, it sure works with flowers," he said. "Henry, who were those men you were talking to?" "Why, sure, that's what I came to tell you. They were from the Western Meat pany. I sold those thirty head of three-year-old steers. Got nearly my own price, too."“又侍弄你的花儿啦，〞他说，“它们今年长势好啊。
〞听到丈夫搭话，伊利莎直起身，顺手把那只手套又戴上：“对，今年长势会很好〞不管是言语中还是脸上都洋溢着得意 “你干活儿很有一手，〞亨利说，“你今年种的黄菊花中有的有十英寸那么大，真希望你去侍弄果园，也结出那么大的苹果来〞她的眼睛一亮或许我也能我确实在种植方面有一手，我妈妈也是那样她随便把什么东西往地下一插，就能活她说是因为有了庄稼人的手才知道怎么去种植〞“嗯，种花也是这样的，〞他说亨利，刚刚同你说话的那些人是谁呀？〞“啊，对了，我正要跟你说呢他们是西部肉制品公司的我把那三十头三岁的菜牛卖给他们，差不多是我要的价格〞"Good," she said. "Good for you." "And I thought," he continued, "I thought how it's Saturday afternoon, and we might go into Salinas for dinner at a restaurant, and then to a picture show － to celebrate, you see." "Good," she repeated. "Oh, yes. That will be good." Henry put on his joking tone. "There's fights tonight. How'd you like to go to the fights?" "Oh, no," she said breathlessly. "No, I wouldn't like fights." "Just fooling, Elisa. We'll go to a movie. Let's see. It's two now. I'm going to take Scotty and bring down those steers from the hill. It'll take us maybe two hours. We'll go in town about five and have dinner at the inos Hotel. Like that?" "Of course I'll like it. It's good to eat away from home." "All right, then. I'll go get up a couple of horses." She said, "I'll have plenty of time to transplant some of these sets, I guess."“太好了，〞她说，“真有你的。
〞“我想，〞他接着说，“现在是周六下午，我们可以去萨利纳斯的一家饭店吃顿饭，再去看场电影，庆祝一下，你看怎么样〞“太好了，〞她重复道真是好极了〞亨利接着开玩笑说，“今天晚上有拳击赛，你愿意看吗？〞“不，〞她紧X地说，“我可不喜欢拳击赛〞“骗你哪，伊利莎我们去看电影让我想一下，现在是下午两点，我去叫斯哥迪，把牛赶下山这大概要两个钟头我们会在五点钟到城里，去克民诺斯酒店吃晚饭你觉得怎么样？〞“当然可以，在外面吃饭好〞“那好，我去准备几匹马〞“我想我会有充裕的时间把这些苗儿种上的〞伊利莎说She heard her husband calling Scotty down by the barn. And a little later she saw the 。