by Kenneth L. Pierpont
鋮鋮 譯
Harvest Moon
收獲月下的承諾
by Kenneth L. Pierpont
鋮鋮 譯

He was a farmer, a factory laborer, and a country pastor. He worked hard, lived simply and loved his family. He could be a good neighbor, too. He farmed a small hill-farm and raised beef and some grain for feed. In the summer his grandchildren would come and they would1)balehay, fsh the pond and eat sweet corn and garden-ripe tomatoes.
When harvest-time came he would piece together his old one-row corn picker and oil it up for the season. He pulled it behind a little Ford 9-N and hooked a wagon on the back. It was a noisy2)contraption, unlike these huge modern green monsters you see shaving the grain off wide, flat felds in wide gulps these days.
他是一名農夫,是個工廠工人,也是一名鄉村牧師。他工作努力,生活簡樸,熱愛自己的家人。他也可以當個好鄰居。他耕作一個小小的山崗農場,養牛,并且種植一些飼料作物。夏天時,他的孫輩會來到這里,打草垛、池塘垂釣、吃甜玉米以及花園里成熟的西紅柿。
當收獲季節來到時,他會拼好那輛老式單排糧食收割機,給它上些潤滑油,為收莊稼做好準備。他將收割機拖在一輛小小的福特9N拖拉機后面,并且在后面掛上一個拖車。這是個噪聲很大的裝置,可不像你如今見到的那些大型綠色現代機械,在廣闊平坦的田野里一大口一大口地將糧食刷下來。
1) bale [be?l] v. 打包,捆包
2) contraption [k?n?tr?p??n] n. 精巧的設計,裝置
3) fabricate [?f?br?ke?t] v. 制作,構成
他的整套設備就是那樣的—基本。他的生活亦如此。他工作努力,樂于助人,你可以指望他信守諾言。這一點在某個秋天變得異常艱難,當時,時間、責任與困難都一下子壓到他頭上。他需要收割自己那幾畝地的莊稼,但同時也答應了收割朋友農場里繞著山邊的幾塊地的莊稼。問題來了。先是設備出了狀況。通常他可以自造一些配件或者裝配機械,那樣就可以完成收割工作,但在他收完自家的莊稼后,那小糧食收割機就咳嗽起來,接著發出咕噥聲,最后歇工了。如果不能從遙遠的地方拿來一個特殊部件,機器就無法運作,但那樣就太晚了,這年他就幫不上忙了。設備問題后面還跟著時間問題。工廠要趕訂單,已經開始要加班了。……