The tree was just a baby, one of the donated saplings our neighborhood association planted with help from the children on our block. Men from the public-works department had come and cut squares in the sidewalk for us, reaming out holes with a machine that looked like a big screw. The kids planted the trees, proudly wielding shovels, loving their hands in the dirt.
这棵树还十分幼嫩,是捐赠的树苗,那批树苗是由我们的邻里协会在我们街区孩子的帮助下种的。公共工程部的员工来过这儿,为我们在人行道上划好方块,用看上去像一只大螺丝钉的机器在地上打洞。孩子们自豪地挥动铁锹把树苗种下,非常喜欢手放在泥土里的感觉。
I had made name tags for each tree, with a poem printed on each one, and we asked the kidsto give each tree a name. "Hi,my name's Greenie , I'm new and neat, just like the children on our street." If we made the trees seem more like people, I thought, the kids would let them live.
我给每棵树都做了块牌子,在每个牌子上都印上一首诗。我们让孩子们给每棵树起个名字。"喂,我的名字叫绿树秧,全身整洁披新装,就像咱们街上的小儿郎。"我想我们把树人性化,孩子们会让它们活下来。
Both trees and people around here are at risk of dying young. After our neighborhood was flooded with crack cocaine and cheap, strong alcohol, things got very rough. In the last five years, 16 people have been murdered in our small police beat. Most of them were young black men, and most of them died on the sidewalks, where the trees witness everything: the children, the squealing tires and gunshots, the blood and sirens.
这儿的树和人都有夭折的危险。强效纯可卡因和廉价烈性酒充斥我们的住宅区后,情况变得十分糟糕。过去五年中,在我们这个小小的警察巡区里就有十六个人被谋杀。他们中大多数是黑人青年男子,大多数都死在人行道上,那儿的树木目睹了一切:孩子们、发出嘎吱声的轮胎、枪击、鲜血和警报器。
My neighbors and I did all we could think of to turn things around, including planting the trees.
为了使我们住宅区的情况有所好转,我和邻居们做了我们所能想到的一切事情,包括植树。