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The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky. The courtyard had been constructed over a garbage dump, and in order to start my garden, I had to remove a great many rocks to allow the plants room to grow. At the time, some of my comrades joked that I was a miner at heart, for I spent my days in a wasteland and my free time digging in the courtyard.
院子里的土壌很干，而且石头很多。这个院子在建起来之前是个垃圾场，因此为了开辟园子，我得清除掉大量的石头，给植物留出生长的空间。当时，一些狱友开玩笑说我骨子里是个矿工，整天待在一片荒地里，把自己的空闲时间都花费在挖院子里的土上了。
The authorities supplied me with seeds. I at first planted tomatoes, chilies, and onions—hardy plants that did not require rich earth or constant care. The early harvests were poor, but they soon improved. The authorities did not regret giving permission, for once the garden began to flourish, I often provided the warders with some of my best tomatoes and onions.
狱方给我提供了种子。开始时，我种了番茄、辣椒和洋葱——都是些不需要肥沃的土壤或经常照料的生命力很强的植物。早期的收成不好，但很快状况就有了改善。狱方不会后悔允许我开辟菜园种菜的，因为菜园里的蔬菜长得好起来后，我就经常给看守们一些最好的番茄和洋葱。
While I have always enjoyed gardening, it was not until I was behind bars that I was able to tend my own garden. My first experience in the garden was at Fort Hare, where, as part of the university's manual labor requirement, I worked in one of my professors' gardens and enjoyed the contact with the soil as an alternative to my intellectual labors. Once I was in Johannesburg studying and then working, I had neither the time nor the space to start a garden.
虽然我一直喜爱园艺，但直到入狱后我才得以照料一片属于自己的莱园。在园艺方面的第一次经历是在福特哈尔，那是大学时作为体力劳动要求的一部分，我在一位教授家的园子里干活，在那里我享受着脑力劳动之余和土地之间的接触。但自从我到约翰内斯堡学习并工作以后，就没有时间也没有地方开辟一个菜园了。
I began to order books on gardening. I studied different gardening techniques and learned through trial and error. For a time, I attempted to grow peanuts, and used different soils and fertilizers, but finally I gave up. It was one of my few failures.
我开始订阅一些关于园艺的书籍，学习了不同的园艺技术，经历了尝试和失败之后，我学到了很多东西。我曾用不同的土壌和化肥来试着种花生，但最终我放弃了。这是我很少的几次失败中的一次。
A garden was one of the few things in prison that one could control. To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction.
菜园是一个人在监狱中所能控制的仅有的几件事情之一。播下种子，看着它生长，照料它，然后收获果实，这一过程使人得到一种简单却持久的满足感。
