The high grey—flannel fog of winter clod off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world。 On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a clod pot。 On the broad， level land floor the gang plows bit deep and left the black earth shining like metal where the shares had cut。 On the foothill ranches across the Salinas River， the yellow stubble fields emed to be bathed in pale cold sunshine, but there was no sunshine in the valley now in December。 The thick willow scrub along the river flamed with sharp and positive yellow leaves。
飘荡在半空中的冬雾呈现出灰法兰绒色，将萨利纳斯山谷严实地罩了起来；同时也把它与外界分隔开.雾气锁着山头，四面象顶盖子，而山谷则成了一口盖得严严实实的深锅。农民在宽阔平坦的土地上深耕，犁铧过处，黑色的土地闪着金属的光泽.在横卧萨利纳斯河的丘陵地上，农场里的茬地泛着黄色，象是沐浴在冷冷的苍白日光下；不过,现在时至腊月，山谷里没什么阳光.河边上密密麻麻的柳丛上的黄叶颜色鲜浓,象着了火似的。猪八戒性格
It was a time of quiet and of waiting. The air was cold and tender. A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long； but fog and rain do not go together。
这是一个安静，叫人等待的季节。空气凉凉的，柔柔的。从西南方向吹来一阵轻风,农民们隐隐地感到不久会有一场及时雨，但雨和雾是不 一起来的。
Across the river， on Henry Allen’s foothill ranch there was little work to be done， for the hay was cut and stored and the orchards were plowed up to receive the rain deeply when it should come。 The cattle on the higher slopes were becoming shaggy and rough—coated。
河对岸亨利•埃伦家位于丘陵上的农场里已经没什么活计了：干草都收割过并存放了起来,果园业已深翻过，好等到有雨的时候浇个透底墒。高处山坡上的牛变得毛皮杂乱粗糙。
无限遐想
Elisa Allen, working in her flower garden， looked down across the yard and saw Henry, her husband, talking to two men in business suits。 The three of them stood by the tractor shed, each man with one foot on the side of the little Fordson. They smoked cigarettes and studied the machine as they talked.
伊利莎•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。
共和政体
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 completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips， the trowel and scratcher, the eds 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 emed 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 hou with red geraniums clo-banked around it as high as the windows。 It was a hard-swept looking little hou 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,
跑步如何呼吸
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。
大雷雨计划
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 clo-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 come 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。
西游记插图”At it again，" he said。 ”You’ve got a strong new crop coming.” Elisa straightened her back and pulled on the gardening glove again: "Yes. They'll be strong this coming year。” In her tone and on her face there was a little smugness. "You've got a gift with things," Henry obrved。 "Some of tho yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you'd work out in the orchard and rai 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 tho men you were talking to？” ”Why, sure, that’s what I came to tell you. They were from the Western Meat Company. I sold tho thirty head of three—year-old steers. Got nearly my own price, too."
