哈尔·勃兰德/Hal Borland

　　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 tempo-begins to sum up another summer.

　　With September comes a sense of autumn. It creeps in one misty dawn and vanishes in the hot afternoon. It tiptoes through the treetops.rouging a few leaves, then rides a tuft of thistle down across the valley and away. It sits on a hill top and hoots like an October owl in the dusk. It plays tag with the wind. September is a changeling, busy as a squirrel in a hickory tree, idle as a languid brook. It is summer's ripen and richness fulfilled.

　　Some of the rarest days of the year come in the September season-days when it is comfortably cool 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. Goldenrod comes by mid-August, but rises to a peak of golden abundance in early September. Late thistles make spectacular purple accents. And asters blossom everywhere, along the roadsides, in meadows, on the hilltops, even in city lots, ranging in color from pure white through all degrees of lavender to the royal New England purple.

　　We think of spring as the miracle 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 acorn ripens and the hickory nut matures. The plant commits its future to the seed and the root. The insect stows tomorrow in the egg and the pupa. The surge is almost over and life begins to relax.

　　The green prime is passing. The trees begin to proclaim the change. Soon the leaves will be discarded, the grass will sere. But the miracle of life persists, the mysterious germ of growth and renewal that is the seed itself.

　　This is gossamer season. Dawn shimmers with spider filaments, proof that late hatches of spiderlings have the instinct to travel. On such gossamer strands tiny spiders have traveled into the Arctic and almost to the summits of the Himalayas. Soon milkweed pods will open with their silver floss.

　　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.

　　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 thistle down, brushing the corner of a hillside garden. Dawn comes and you see its path-the glistening leaf, the gleaming stem, the limp, blackening garden vine.

　　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 anise smell is on the air, goldenrod scent. The mist swirls and September shines through, the deep-blue sky of September.

　　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 katydid diminishes. When they rash at all it is with the deliberate tempo of a fiddler drawing a worn bow across fraying strings.

　　Now come the hoarding days. Mice have been harvesting and stowing seeds for weeks. The chipmunk lines his winter bedroom, and squirrel hide the nut trees, bounty. The woodchucks, gorging on grass and clover and fruit, lay up their harvest in body fat under their own skins.

　　The flickers begin to gather for migration. All summer these big woodpeckers were resolutely individual, busy with family life and wanting no company. Now they are gregarious, with time for tribal gossip and community play. The warblers and swallow shave 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?

　　By September's end the treasure chest of autumn begins to spill over with wealth. You see it glowing in the quiet afternoon, aflame in the sunset. Woodland, roadside and dooryard will soon be jeweled beyond a rajah's richest dreams.

　　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 much, then humus 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.

　　9月，的确不仅仅是一个月份，还是一个季节，一个收获的季节。在八月离去的时候，它翩翩而来；在10月将要降临的时候，它又徐徐离去。一路上，它悠然自得。历经了夏日的酷热和躁动，一年的时光开始走向成熟，9月踏着自己的节拍，不紧不慢地为来年夏天积蓄力量。

　　秋意跟随着9月的脚步来临了，它在笼罩着薄雾的黎明中蔓延，然后渐渐地消失在炎热的午后。它拂过树梢，染红了树叶，然后随着一簇簇蓟花绒毛飘过山谷，消失不见了。它有时停留在小山顶上，就像10月薄暮中的猫头鹰；有时又与风儿追逐嬉戏，你躲我藏。9月，是一个富于变化的时节，夏日让它变得成熟而富有。忙时，它像核桃树上的松鼠，闲时则像缓缓流淌的小溪。

　　天空晴朗，凉爽怡人的空气中充满了生命的活力，吹来的风儿没有一丝尘土。牧场上依然散发着干草和刈草的味道。鲜花让9月变成了另一个花的时节，这时的鲜花虽不如5月的鲜花那样五彩斑斓，然而仍然繁盛，金菊在8月中旬就开始绽放，9月中旬便是它盛开得最茂盛的时期，晚些绽放的蓟花把9月染成了壮观的紫色。道路的两侧、草原和小山顶，甚至城市的空地上，到处都开满了紫菀，它们颜色各异，从纯白到淡紫色，再到深紫色。

　　春天是一个充满奇迹的季节，新发的蓓蕾和嫩叶展示着生命的生生不息。然而，九月是妙趣纷呈的时节。万物走进了一年中的成熟季节，完成了为迎接新的一年和新的一代所作的准备。橡树果和山核桃都已经成熟，植物把未来的任务交付给了种子和根茎，昆虫把未来装进了卵蛹。汹涌即将逝去，生命进入了放松的状态。

　　绿色正在褪去，树木开始露出变化的迹象。不久，树叶就要凋落，草叶就要干枯。然而，生命仍在持续，而生长与更新的神秘源泉就是种子。

　　在黎明的微光中，蜘蛛的细丝表明，晚生的小蜘蛛天生就有旅行的本能。这些小蜘蛛乘着纤细的蛛网，一路爬到了北极，几乎就要爬上喜马拉雅山脉的巅峰。长着银色细毛的马利筋豆荚不久也要熟得裂开了。

　　这是一个收获的季节，天空是那么清澈，这将是月光照耀的七天。它不慌不忙，早早地来临，迟迟地归去。曾经有那么一些日子，农民们吃过晚饭，又回到田地，然后在月光下继续收割。现在，仍然有许多农活等着农民们去做，但大多不是在谷仓，而是集中在厨房里。菜园是农民获得丰厚收获的最后一个地方，那里有晚收的甜玉米、西红柿和块根菜。这时候也是一年中厨房最为繁忙的时节，在那里，农民们要把收获的各种果实装罐、保存以及冷冻。

　　在一个月朗星稀的夜晚，第一次霜降来临了。它如飞絮般悄无声息地拂过山坡上菜园的一角。破晓之际，从发亮的叶片、闪光的树干和柔软发黑的藤蔓上，人们仍旧看到它留下的痕迹。

　　此后的另一个夜晚，也许是两个夜晚，月光洒向大地，寒霜越过山谷，返回北山以外的地方，将在那里做稍长时间的逗留。金色温暖的阳光爱抚着初秋的大地，空气中散发出淡淡的茴香味和金**的香气，9月令人眩晕的阳光穿透了湛蓝的天空。

　　九月的夜晚，空气清爽，温血动物变得非常活跃。然而，冷血动物的生物钟越走越慢，因为对它们来说，失去阳光就意味着失去生气。蝉、蟋蟀和纺织娘都不再鸣叫，如果它们同时鼓噪起来，就好像小提琴演奏家用一根破损的弓，以慢悠悠的节奏划过残留下的几根旧弦。

　　储存食物的时间到了。几个星期以来，老鼠一直在忙着搬运果实，它们的收获颇丰。花栗鼠把自己冬眠的居所填满，松鼠把树上的坚果都摘了下来，土拨鼠为了在体内囤积厚厚的脂肪，吃下了大量的草叶、苜蓿和果子。

　　金翼啄木鸟开始聚集起来，它们要准备迁徙了。整个夏天，这些大型飞禽都坚持单独活动，也不结交伙伴，只是忙于家庭生活。现在，它们在部落里走家串户，游戏玩耍，过着群居的生活。莺燕已经聚集起来准备迁徙，知更鸟不久也要碰头了，鸟巢已经修筑好了，并储存了大量食物，幼鸟将要独立生活。九月是鸟类度假的月份，谁知道它们之前是如何把迁徙旅行商定下来的呢？

　　9月即将结束，秋天的宝库被装得满满的，几乎要溢出来了。在安静的午后，它们熠熠生辉，到了黄昏，它们又变得像燃烧的火焰一般。树林里、道路旁及庭院中，都好像镶嵌着珠宝，这是一个连帝王做梦都想不到的事情。

　　在阳光下，9月沿着自己的路途继续前进着，大自然准备迎接冬季的来临。林木的颜色已经褪去，落叶给大地铺上了一层地毯，整个大地披上了秋装，根茎和柔弱的种子汲取着赠与的营养。生命将自己放进了根茎、籽卵之中，它们停止了生长的渴望，等待下一年的来临。

　　心灵小语

　　金色的9月，没有冬季的干燥寒冷，没有春天的黄沙漫天，更没有夏日的酷暑难耐，有的是繁忙的身影和丰厚的收获。这是一个收获的季节，处处充满了生命的活力，它代表着繁盛、成熟和优雅。愿我们都能拥有人生的9月。

　　词汇笔记

　　leftover['left,??v?]n.剩余物；残羹剩菜

　　The food I ever got was the family's leftovers.

　　我的食物就是这家人的残羹剩饭。

　　languid['l??gw?d]adj.倦怠的；呆滞的；软弱无力的

　　The illness made the woman feel languid.

　　疾病使这个女人感到倦怠乏力。

　　fruition[fru:'???n]n.完成，成就；结果实

　　All our plans are coming to fruition.

　　我们所有的计划都要实现了。

　　gregarious[gr?'ge?ri:?s]adj.社交的；群居的

　　She is a gregarious person.

　　她是一个合群的人。

　　小试身手

　　9月踏着自己的节拍，不紧不慢地为来年夏天积蓄力量。

　　译______________________________

　　生命仍在持续，而生长与更新的神秘源泉就是种子。

　　译______________________________

　　9月即将结束，秋天的宝库被装得满满的，几乎要溢出来了。

　　译______________________________

　　短语家族

　　Deliberate September-in its own time and tempo-begins to sum up another summer.

　　sum up：总结；合计；归纳；集中

　　造______________________________

　　This is the season of the harvest moon.

　　harvest moon：秋分前后的满月；收获月

　　造______________________________