撿白果Ginkgo Nuts1 Picking

初冬時節的長江流域，雖然不像北方萬木凋零，但也很難再見到前些天還讓游人趨之若潮的銀杏葉金黃鋪地的勝景。金黃的葉片，讓人間平添了不少歡快的氣氛，但銀杏葉畢竟難耐初冬的寒氣，一朝風起，明黃不再，剩下幾片，若枯葉蝶2，在枝頭隨風抖動。此情此景，頗有“夕陽無限好，只是近黃昏”之惑。校園里栽著一些銀杏樹，葉黃的時候，格外的顯眼。隨著冬天的臨近，逐漸淡出了人們的視野。

The golden landscape of ginkgo trees in the early winter of the Yangtze River is very different from that of Northern China where trees wither， but the golden sight of ginkgo leaves that drew tourists just a few days ago is barely seen. These fallen gold leaves have brought to the world some cheerfulness， yet they can’t endure the cold air which deprived the leaves of their bright yellow with only a few stirrings on the branch like Kallima inachus， or leaf butterflies. At the sight of this and at this moment， a surge of bewilderment flows through my mind： “The sunset is infinitely fine; it’s just that dusk comes next.” Ginkgo trees on the school campus， whose leaves turn yellow in mid-fall， are striking to the eye， fading out of people’s sight as winter draws near.

冬寒意料峭，但在12月初這幾日，天氣卻出奇地晴好，而且暖意融融。難得霧霾被吹到了別處，輪到我們享受這久別的艷陽了。也就是在這樣的一個日子，我的研究生找我來談論文寫作，不待談話結束，我便催她去陪我“踏春”3，在遍地泛黃、地毯般的草地上搜尋著萬物復蘇、大地回春時才可能有的景象。

Winter days are freezing cold. However， the first few days of this December were surprisingly fine with warmth. There is a rare chance that smog has been blown elsewhere， which brings me a turn to enjoy the bright sun. On such a wonderful day， a student of mine came to my office for her thesis. Not until the office hour was over， did I rush her to “go on a spring outing” with me. That is what you can do as spring comes， at which time the ground gets carpeted with yellowish grass， and everything back to life.

校園一隅，有片小樹林，平時人跡罕至。此時鉆進去，或有洞天。

At a campus corner was a grove where few set foot. At this very time， into this grove， we may discover a new world.

我放眼望去，發現有杏黃色的果子，杏子一般大小，不是一枚，而是一片一片地散落在茂盛的草地之上。我驚喜異常，因為在我的理念中，校園里就該都種上果樹，既能看，也能吃，使觀賞價值和應用價值兼而有之。

Looking far into the distance， I found nuts of a pale yellowish-orange colour， each of which the size of an apricot， scattered over the lush expanse of grass. I was struck by unusually pleasant surprise， for in my mind， trees in a school campus should be agreeable to the eye and produce fruit， equipped with ornamental significance and practical value.

樹枝尚有殘葉懸掛，確信是銀杏，葉子扇狀，雖然呈現為黃褐色，但能想象水分飽滿時的靚麗。這些果子定是銀杏果，俗稱為“白果”。

Withered leaves hanging from twigs， I was convinced that they were ginkgo trees， whose leaves were fan-shaped but yellowish-brown， but could enable me to picture how lively the leaves looked when they had been at their best. These nuts were ginkgo nuts， known as “white nuts”.

杏子一般大小的“白果”，就應該是白色的，所以學名“銀杏”。“白果”是內核部分的硬殼所呈現的顏色，外面還有一層果肉，這層果肉是不能食用的。白果由外層不能食用的果肉、中層的硬殼和里層可食用的果肉三層構成，或者說可食用果肉的外面，有著軟、硬兩層保護。

Ginkgo nuts the size of the apricot are supposed to be white， which led to its being technically named yinxing， which literally means the silver-colored apricot. The ginkgo nut refers to the kernel off the coat that is inedible. It consists of three layers—the outside coat is not edible， the middle layer is the shell and the inner part is good to eat or put differently， the edible part is dually protected by the coat and the shell.

白果有很高的藥用價值，有祛痰、止咳、潤肺、定喘等功效。網上說，它在宋代被列為皇家貢品。在日本，有每日食用白果的習慣。白果也是西方人圣誕節上的必備果品。遇到了這么好的東西，哪有不撿的道理！可要撿白果，首先就遇到了盛放的難題，我們可不是有備而來的。最好有個塑料袋。我把這個念頭一告訴學生，學生便笑答：“哪會這么巧呢！4”

The ginkgo nut， a cure for eliminating phlegm， cough relief， lungs nourishment and stop of asthma， is highly valuable in medicine. According to online sources， ginkgo nuts were on the royal tribute list during the Song Dynasty. In Japan， they are consumed daily. It is also an indispensable Christmas treat for Westerners. There was no reason not to pick up this seed when you came upon it！ To collect them， the first problem was with what to hold them—I came to the grove unprepared. When I let the student know what came to my mind， “Can you be so lucky？” she smiled.

我知道有人有隨手丟棄廢品的習慣，塑料袋是最常見的。想到這里，我們就在四周搜尋。果然不負我望，就有那么一只塑料袋，在不遠處的一棵小樹的根部絆著。撿起一看，還相當完好，而且足夠大，裝上個8、9公斤也不成問題。萬事俱備，說撿就撿。

I know people tend to discard litter， among which plastic bags are the most common. Thinking of this， I led her on the way to seeing one. To my satisfaction， we found a bag twined around the root of a tree not far away. Picking it up， we saw it was a perfect one of good size， large enough to contain 8 or 9 kilos of ginkgo nuts. Everything ready， we went nut-picking.

果子不算太小，好撿。彎腰撿，感覺還有撿完的可能，樹畢竟不算大，果子不會很多。但蹲下撿，才發現有很多藏在草叢深處，怎么越撿越多呢。不一會兒，塑料袋子就裝滿了。不撿了，我們抬著往回走，并特意留影紀念。這可是一份意想不到的收獲。白果雖然只有便宜的幾元錢一斤，但經過自己勞動撿來的天然之物，成就感可不一般。

Not too small， the nuts were easy to pick up. I bent， picked， and felt it possible to clear the ground of them. It， after all， was a small tree， which was expected of not much fruit. Much to our surprise， when crouching down， I found more hidden among the tall grass. The more we picked， the more we came by—How could that be？ In no time， my bag was filled up. That was it， and we carried it together on the way back， before which we took a photo of ourselves in memory of this little adventure. What an unexpected reward！ The ginkgo nuts cost as little as only a few bucks for each kilo， the sense of accomplishment that comes from my own toil was wonderful.

要把外層的果肉去掉，卻是個技術活。外層的果肉微臭，有腐蝕性，需要戴上橡皮手套。我學著做，好不容易剝去一些，發現有些果子太小，也不想耗費過多的時間，轉念又扔掉了不少。

The removal of the outer layer requires a certain technique. The outer flesh was slightly smelly and corrosive， which suggested rubber gloves to strip the fruit of the outer coat. In this way， I took off the coat with painstaking effort， only to find that some fruit was too small to deserve some more time， throwing quite a lot away on second thought.

撿拾白果這件小事，想來有些奇妙。主觀上想散步，卻在客觀上收獲了白果；主觀上想找個盛放的塑料袋，客觀上就真的沒負我望；主觀上認為撿拾的白果是一份收獲，卻因為難拾掇而又浪費多多。人生就有很多的偶然，有的根本不在計劃之內。而在計劃中的，也未必能收獲主觀上想要的結果，也許原本都是冥冥中注定了的。不過，收獲了這篇短文，也就收獲了一份抹不掉的人生記憶吧。

Looking back， this ginkgo nuts-picking experience was quite a short yet fascinating episode. My initial intention was to take a walk， but I ended up with a bag filled with ginkgo nuts. Trying to find a plastic bag turned out to be just what I wanted and it was big enough to carry these fruits. At first， I felt that the harvest was quite good， but then due to the difficulty of picking and peeling， most of them were gone to waste. Life is comprised of many unexpected happenings， some of which don’t come on your schedule. Those out of your schedule may not advance the way you intended them to， which is predestined to happen. Nevertheless， a harvest of this essay signifies a reward of an indelible memory.

* 博士，二級教授，博導，中國英漢語比較研究會副會長，“譯者行為批評”理論創建者。

1文章標題用“銀杏果”的學名ginkgo nuts而非俗稱的“白果”，英語中甚至沒有white nuts 這樣的表達，為避免歧解，在標題中使用正式的稱謂，也在文中對俗稱做了說明。除了特別說明“白果”之“白”外，為方便閱讀，一律使用學名。 2“枯葉蝶”學名為印度尖翅蛺蝶（又稱橙尖蛺蝶），以其翅膀上的鮮艷色彩和獨特的尖翅形狀而著名。

3文中的“踏春”指的是在秋日里所作的類似春季出游的活動，也就是下文所說的“散步”，故譯為似春日出游的活動。

4此句作者想要表現出意外的幸運之感，所以在翻譯時處理成 “Can you be so lucky？”。雖是“巧合”，但作者并不側重表達coincidence之意，而是想表達“我們能有那么好的運氣嗎？”，發出一個充滿不確定的疑問。