Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 John was just steps from the soddy when the sky broke open and snow started to pour from the sky. Ma and Pa were standing at the front door, waving him in. "I was about to come looking for you!" Pa said, pulling John inside and slamming the door. Ma grabbed a quilt and wrapped it around him.

约翰刚走到离酒馆几步远的地方，天空突然裂开，雪开始从天上倾盆而下。 妈妈和爸爸站在前门，挥手让他进去。 “我正要来找你呢！”爸爸说着，把约翰拉进屋里，砰地关上了门。 妈妈抓起一条被子，裹在他身上。

"I saw the cloud coming," John said, breathing hard and pulling the blanket tight. "I ran the whole way back." "Who ever heard of a blizzard in September?" Ma fretted. John told them what Rex had said, that the birds had all flown south early. Pa frowned. "Those birds could have warned us," he said. "Daddy, birds don't talk," Franny said, barely looking up from her storybook. Franny was still too young to understand what a disaster it could be to have a snowstorm so early. When they'd lived in Chicago, there were stores where they could buy food, no matter what the weather. But here almost everything they ate came from the land. Ma grew their vegetables. They got their milk from Princess the cow and their eggs from their chickens. The creek was loaded with fish. If Ma wanted rabbit or squirrel or goose for her stew, she'd send John or Pa out to shoot one.

“我看到云要来了，”约翰说，用力呼吸，把毯子拉紧。 “我一路跑回来的。” “谁听说过九月有暴风雪？”妈妈担心。 约翰把雷克斯的话告诉了他们，说鸟儿都早早地往南飞了。 爸爸皱起了眉头。“那些鸟本可以警告我们的，”他说。 “爸爸，鸟儿是不会说话的，”弗兰妮说，头也不抬地看着她的故事书。 弗兰妮还太小，不明白这么早下暴风雪会是一场多么大的灾难。 他们住在芝加哥的时候，那里有商店，不管天气如何，他们都可以买到食物。 但在这里，他们吃的几乎都来自陆地。 妈妈帮他们种菜。他们从奶牛公主那里得到牛奶，从小鸡那里得到鸡蛋。 小溪里满是鱼。 如果妈妈想要兔子、松鼠或鹅做炖菜，她就会派约翰或爸爸去打一只。

But nothing grew when the prairie was covered with ice and snow. The animals disappeared underground. The chickens wouldn't lay eggs, and Princess's milk would dry up. It wasn't until late April that the prairie started to sprout back to life. And so if they wanted to eat during the frozen months, they had to fill their cellar with food before the first big snows. Ma had been making pickles and jams all summer, and lining up the jars in their little cellar. She had dozens of eggs tucked away in their salty beds. But they still had to harvest the potatoes and turnips, which grew underground. If this blizzard kept up and the ground froze, those potatoes and turnips would rot. So would the pumpkins and squash still ripening on their vines. They wouldn't have enough to eat this winter. John stood nervously at the window with Ma and Pa, watching as the snow turned the prairie white. Suddenly Pa pointed into the distance.

但当草原被冰雪覆盖时，什么也长不出来。 这些动物消失在地下。 鸡不下蛋了，公主的牛奶也就干了。 直到四月底，草原才开始恢复生机。 因此，如果他们想在寒冷的月份里吃东西，他们必须在第一场大雪到来之前把地窖装满食物。 妈妈整个夏天都在做泡菜和果酱，把罐子放在他们的小地窖里。 她把几十个蛋藏在咸床里。 但是他们仍然需要收获地下生长的土豆和芜菁。 如果暴风雪持续下去，地面结冰，那些土豆和萝卜就会腐烂。 葡萄藤上还在成熟的南瓜和南瓜也是如此。 今年冬天他们将没有足够的食物。 约翰和爸爸妈妈紧张地站在窗前，看着雪花把草原染成了白色。 突然，爸爸指着远处。

"Look!" he exclaimed. "Those clouds are breaking up." John and Ma followed Pa's finger into the distance. Sure enough, the sky was brightening. The snow slowed, and then finally stopped. By supper the snow had melted, and the wet prairie grasses sparkled like glass in the setting sun. "I guess winter changed its mind," Ma said. "I think it was sending us a message," said Pa. "We'd better get to work." They started before dawn the next morning. John got out of bed and put on his patched overalls, not his school trousers. He knew he and Franny would be staying home for weeks, and wouldn't go back to school until the work was finished. Franny helped Ma dig up the potatoes and turnips. John and Pa plowed over the soil in the wheat field so it would ready for planting in the

“看！”他叫道。“那些云正在散开。” 约翰和妈妈跟着爸爸的手指向远处望去。 果然，天空变亮了。 雪下得慢了，最后停了下来。 晚饭时，雪已经融化了，湿润的草原草地在夕阳的照耀下像玻璃一样闪闪发光。 “我猜冬天改变了它的想法，”马说。 “我想它是在给我们传递一个信息，”爸爸说。 “我们最好开始工作了。” 第二天天还没亮他们就出发了。 约翰下了床，穿上打了补丁的工装裤，而不是学校的裤子。 他知道他和弗兰妮要在家里呆上几个星期，直到作业完成才会回学校。 弗兰妮帮妈妈挖土豆和萝卜。 约翰和爸爸把麦田里的土翻了一遍，这样就可以播种了

spring. They patched up the soddy roof and filled in the cracks in the dirt walls. The hardest job was making haystacks. They had to be built just right — tall and tightly packed and rounded at the top — or the hay would rot. That hay would keep Shadow's and Princess's bellies full over the winter, when there was no grass to munch on. They worked for weeks. It wasn't until the end of October that the cellar was packed full. The soddy was finally snug. The fields were plowed. They were ready for winter — as ready as they could ever be.

春天。他们修补了满是灰尘的屋顶，填上了土墙上的裂缝。 最困难的工作是堆干草堆。 它们必须建得恰到好处——又高又紧，顶部是圆形的——否则干草就会腐烂。 当冬天没有草吃的时候，这些干草可以让影子和公主吃饱肚子。 他们工作了几个星期。直到十月底，酒窖才被塞满。 茅屋终于暖和起来了。 田地被犁过了。他们已经为冬天做好了准备——准备得再好不过了。