【赫临译笔】为饥饿的人种一行菜

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ヮ成熟、羙°

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发表于 2013-10-13 08:06:32 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

本帖最后由ヮ成熟、羙° 于 2013-10-13 08:12 编辑

为饥饿的人种一行菜

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那是一个寒冷的夜里，我正朝华盛顿特区的一个旅馆里走，一个男子走近我。他请求我给他点钱买口吃的。我看到过请勿给乞丐钱的指示牌，因此，我摇了摇头，继续向前走。

我没准备等答复，但很无奈，只听他说：“我真的无家可归，我真的很饿！你可以跟着我，看着我吃！”但是我继续朝前走去。

接下来的一周时间，这件事都在困扰我。我兜里有钱，即使是撒谎，给他一两个美元也要不了我的命。在那样一个严寒的夜里，我居然把一个同胞往最坏的方面想。

飞回阿卡里奇，我不禁又想起了他。我在给自己袖手旁观找借口，设想着政府机构，教会和慈善部门会给他饭吃。此外，我是不应该给乞丐钱的。

在西雅图的一个地方，我为阿卡里奇每日新闻的园艺专栏撰稿，每周一篇。我突然想到，阿卡里奇的舍粥棚——Bean's 小餐馆，每天都在为几百名饥饿的阿尔卑斯人提供食物。为什么不呼吁我的读者在他们的园子里种上一行菜，摘下来贡献给Bean's餐馆，这非常简单。

我们那时没有保留记录，但这个点子非常成功。当大家理解一件事时，他们给我发传真，打电话。那些园子里只种花的人都来捐花。这是精神的食粮，良心的安慰。

一九九五年，全美园艺作家协会在阿卡里奇召开年会，得知这一规划后，为Bean's餐馆种一行菜变成了为饥饿的人种一行菜。最初的观点是让协会里的每一个成员在四月份都要撰文或评论这一行动。

随着越来越多的人参与到种菜理念中来，新的变体出现了。许多公司免费给顾客提供种子，并陈列徽标，这些徽标出现在全国的园艺出版物上。

佩戴徽标的标识人员会被派到各个园子里去把给饥饿的人的那一行菜区分出来。

在圣何塞和加州信使报的联合支持下，园艺版主编琼.杰克逊只用了一个收获季节，就募集到三万磅水果和蔬菜，并向美国高尔夫作家协会展示这项规划如何操作。

德克萨斯的果农受这一规划的鼓舞，开始向本地粮库捐粮。今天，这一规划还在继续发扬光大。

我很震惊地得知美国有几百万人受到饥饿危胁。如果七千万的阵容的每个园主为他们种上一行菜，我们邻居挨饿的数字就会大大减少。也许到那时我对无视一个本可帮助的饥饿者的负疚感才会消失。

附：原文

Plant a Row for the Hungry

It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I'd read the signs: "Don't give money to panhandlers." So I shook my head and kept walking.

I wasn't prepared for a reply, but with resignation, he said, "I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!" But I kept on walking.

The incident bothered me for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have killed me to hand over a buck or two even if he had been lying. On a frigid, cold night, no less, I assumed the worst of a fellow human being.

Flying back to Anchorage, I couldn't help thinking of him. I tried to rationalize my failure to help by assuming government agencies, churches and charities were there to feed him. Besides, you're not supposed to give money to panhandlers.

Somewhere over Seattle, I started to write my weekly garden column for The Anchorage Daily News. Out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean's Cafe, the soup kitchen in Anchorage, feeds hundreds of hungry Alaskans every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their gardens dedicated to Bean's? Dedicate a row and take it down to Bean's. Clean and simple.

We didn't keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. Folks would fax me or call when they took something in. Those who only grew flowers donated them. Food for the spirit. And salve for my conscience.

In 1995, the Garden Writers Association of America held their annual convention in Anchorage and after learning of Anchorage's program, Plant a Row for Bean's became Plant a Row For The Hungry. The original idea was to have every member of the Garden Writers Association of America write or talk about planting a row for the hungry sometime during the month of April.

As more and more people started working with the Plant a Row concept, new variations cropped up, if you will pardon the pun. Many companies gave free seed to customers and displayed the logo, which also appeared in national gardening publications.

Row markers with the Plant a Row logo were distributed to gardeners to set apart their "Row for the Hungry."

Garden editor Joan Jackson, backed by The San Jose Mercury News and California's nearly year-round growing season, raised more than 30,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables her first year, and showed GWAA how the program could really work.

Texas fruit farms donated food to their local food bank after being inspired by Plant a Row. Today the program continues to thrive and grow.

I am stunned that millions of Americans are threatened by hunger. If every gardener in America - and we're seventy million strong - plants one row for the hungry, we can make quite a dent in the number of neighbors who don't have enough to eat. Maybe then I will stop feeling guilty about abandoning a hungry man I could have helped.