美国国家公共电台 NPR By Returning To Farming's Roots, He Found His American Dream

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Over the next few months, we're going to hear from people who are in pursuit of the American Dream through the most basic part of life - food. Sometimes, the American Dream involves getting ahead in the world. Today's story isn't like that but, it's still a traditional American Dream. Think of the Puritans or the Shakers or the Amish - the uncompromising pursuit of a high ideal. Dan Charles has the story.

DAN CHARLES, BYLINE¹: On this day 18 years ago, David Fisher was in western Massachusetts, near the small town of Conway, visiting an old farm there. But nobody was farming that land.

DAVID FISHER: And I remember walking out at some point on New Year's Eve and in the moonlight, and it was all snowy and, you know, it was kind of like a blank canvas, right?

CHARLES: On that blank canvas, his mind painted a picture of what could be there alongside the South River.

FISHER: And I could just see horses working the fields and children, you know, running around.

CHARLES: Today, it's all there - Natural Roots Farm. To get to the farm, you have to leave the motorized world behind, cross the South River on a swinging footbridge. And there in front of you are acres of growing vegetables, neatly² laid out in rows. It's early in the fall on this day. The hillside beyond the field is glowing with red and yellow leaves. It's idyllic³, almost magical. There's a woman checking on the fields, Anna Maclay.

ANNA MACLAY: I came originally as an apprentice⁴ in 2002 and totally fell in love with the land. I just thought, I want to live here.

CHARLES: Her wish came true in a way she hadn't expected. She and David Fisher fell in love, got married. They now have two school-aged children, Leora and Gabriel. It's a harvest day on the farm today. David and Anna and a neighbor and two apprentices⁵ who are living and working on the farm for a year are filling a wagon⁶ with spinach⁷ and beets⁸ and cauliflower. About 200 customers have bought shares in this farm's harvest, like Maggie Potter. She arrives with her children to pick up her produce.

MAGGIE POTTER: It's not only just having the vegetables and the good nourishment⁹ for our own bodies, but it's creating a really great community, meeting friends along the way.

CHARLES: But it's not all peace and happiness here at Natural Roots Farm. The more I talk to David Fisher, the more I realize he is a very driven man. He's driven in part by a desperate need to find some hope in the world. He grew up in the suburbs north of New York City, in Westchester County. He spent summers at a rustic¹⁰ camp in the Adirondacks.

FISHER: You could only get there by boat. You couldn't drive there, no electricity, you know, bathe in the lake, live-all-summer-in-a-tent kind of thing.

CHARLES: And then, at the end of every summer, he'd get on a train back to Grand Central Station. And it would hit him.

FISHER: Noise and, you know, steel and concrete and lights everywhere.

CHARLES: The year when he was 15, that end-of-summer paradigm¹¹ shift was more than he could take.

FISHER: And I was just like, this is craziness, you know, just the whole thing. You know, civilization, as I'm seeing it, is absurd. You know, the way that human beings are living on, consuming and destroying the Earth is absurd. And basically the only thing I could see to do is to pack up and flee.

CHARLES: He tried to drop out of high school. His parents forced him to get a diploma. But then, Fisher got as far as he possibly could from houses and highways and smokestacks. He hung out in the West, went skiing, backpacking. And then, one day when he was 20 years old, he was back on the East Coast, visiting a friend at Hampshire College here in western Massachusetts. And he wandered into the college's small organic farm.

FISHER: Autumn leaves raining down and the lush fields of vegetables and cover crops. You know, open the barn door and the tables are lined with this abundance of earthy, healthy, you know, vital produce. And I was like, wow.

CHARLES: He felt like he was seeing for the first time a way to live immersed in the natural world and also be productive, make a living. He started to learn to farm from other farmers. And then, he found this land near the town of Conway. You could call this farm utopian, if utopia's a place where you work extra hard and live very frugally¹² so you can grow food in harmony with nature. For instance, Fisher devotes half of the land every year to crops that he won't sell. They're just there to protect and nourish the soil. Also, there are no tractors at Natural Roots Farm. Fisher farms with horses. Two of them, Pat and Lady, are pulling the wagon of vegetables. Kyle Farr, one of the apprentices, is holding the reins¹³.

KYLE FARR: Whoa, over, G. Over, over.

CHARLES: David Fisher is committed to horses, partly because it makes the farm more self-sufficient.

FISHER: It's so direct, you know? The fuel is right there. It's growing in the form of grass. And the power is right there in the form of these live animals.

CHARLES: But also, he says, horses force you to work at a more natural rhythm. Horses take care and feeding every day, though. It's time-consuming. Fisher learned this past year that two of his former apprentices who had been using horses on their own farms have gone back to using tractors. It bothers him. He's not changing, though. Over breakfast that day, I had asked David, are you a perfectionist? He started to deny it, but Anna cut in. Yes, she said. He and Anna both tell me David's driving ambition to build a better farm has led to conflict between them.

MACLAY: This is the longstanding disagreement because I always think we need to take on less, you know?

CHARLES: But she seems at peace about what they have taken on.

MACLAY: There's not a lot that's easy about living this way, but most of it feels pretty right. And I guess that's turned out to be more important for me.

CHARLES: Those are the words they often use talking about their choices. This small, alternative American Dream just feels right. Dan Charles, NPR News.

SIMON: And you can see photos of what life is like on Anna and David's farm on NPR's food blog, The Salt.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

3 idyllic   

adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的

参考例句：

• These scenes had an idyllic air.这种情景多少有点田园气氛。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

4 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

5 apprentices   

学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were mere apprentices to piracy. 他们干海盗仅仅是嫩角儿。
• He has two good apprentices working with him. 他身边有两个好徒弟。

6 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

7 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

8 beets   

甜菜( beet的名词复数 )； 甜菜根； （因愤怒、难堪或觉得热而）脸红

参考例句：

• Beets are Hank's favorite vegetable. 甜菜根是汉克最爱吃的蔬菜。
• In this enlargement, barley, alfalfa, and sugar beets can be differentiated. 在这张放大的照片上，大麦，苜蓿和甜菜都能被区分开。

9 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

10 rustic   

adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬

参考例句：

• It was nearly seven months of leisurely rustic living before Michael felt real boredom.这种悠闲的乡村生活过了差不多七个月之后,迈克尔开始感到烦闷。
• We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.我们希望新鲜的空气和乡村的氛围能帮他调整自己。

11 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

12 frugally   

adv. 节约地, 节省地

参考例句：

• They lived frugally off a diet of porridge and lentils. 他们生活节俭，只吃燕麦粥和小扁豆。
• The enterprise is in live frugally, common people criterion enclasp pocket. 企业在节衣缩食，老百姓则握紧了口袋。

13 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。