“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” is the first line of The Christmas Song, one of my favorite holiday tunes growing up in America. Yet as a child, I never once roasted chestnuts at Christmas, let alone any other time of the year. Before I was born, a blight had devastated the vast majority of American chestnut trees, leaving me and most of my fellow countrymen strangers to the nut, apart from its mention in that timeless song.
“明火上烤著栗子”是《圣誕頌歌》的第一句詞。這首興起于美國(guó)的假日小曲是我最愛(ài)的歌曲之一?？墒呛⑼瘯r(shí)，我從未在圣誕節(jié)烤過(guò)栗子，更別提其他時(shí)間了。我出生之前，一場(chǎng)枯萎病摧毀了美國(guó)大部分的栗子樹，致使我和大多數(shù)美國(guó)同胞對(duì)栗子感到陌生，更別提那首經(jīng)典歌曲中所提及的烤栗子場(chǎng)景了。

In fact, it wasn’t until I came to China that I truly understood the wonders of a freshly roasted chestnut, especially those gathered in the wild.
事實(shí)上，來(lái)到中國(guó)后我才真正體會(huì)到新鮮出爐的烤栗子的美妙之處，尤其是那些從野外采來(lái)的栗子。

Years ago in September, I discovered that wild chestnut trees, a variety native to China, thrived in the hills of my husband’s rural Zhejiang village, and were as close to us as the backyard of the family home. “See, there’s a chestnut tree,” he said, pointing out the window from his old bedroom to its trunk and branches just a few meters away from us. I couldn’t believe this tree, a rare sight in the US, actually grew beside the family garden.
多年前的一個(gè)九月，我發(fā)現(xiàn)在我丈夫的老家，浙江偏遠(yuǎn)農(nóng)村的山丘上就生長(zhǎng)著野生栗子樹（一種原產(chǎn)于中國(guó)的品種），距離近得就和長(zhǎng)在自家后院似的?！澳憧矗莾河锌美踝訕?，”他從老臥室里指著窗外離我們不過(guò)幾米遠(yuǎn)的栗子樹的軀干和枝條。我不敢相信這棵樹竟然就長(zhǎng)在家里的小園子旁，因?yàn)檫@在美國(guó)很少見(jiàn)。

So imagine my astonishment when, while hiking some remote hills near the village, I couldn’t walk a few steps without stumbling over chestnuts that littered the ground. It was as if the heavens had decided to rain chestnuts upon the land, instead of water. My husband Jun had the foresight to suggest carrying along a few bags with us, and we began collecting these fall treasures as we meandered up and down the hills. Even though the sky was a melancholy gray, it felt like the sun had shined upon us that afternoon, thanks to the bounty of chestnuts we found and brought home with us.
所以，當(dāng)我在村子附近的偏僻小山徒步行走時(shí)，沒(méi)走幾步就會(huì)不可避免地踩到散落一地的栗子，你可以想象我的震驚。就好像老天爺決意要將雨水替換成“栗子”落在地上似的。我的先生軍（音譯）很有先見(jiàn)之明，他建議帶些袋子在身邊。我們?cè)谏介g漫步的時(shí)候開始撿拾這些秋天的珍寶。我們撿了一大堆栗子帶回家。多虧如此，盡管那個(gè)午后天空是陰郁的灰色，但卻感覺(jué)陽(yáng)光一直照耀著我們。

The real magic, however, came from my mother-in-law, who helped me experience something close to that iconic line from The Christmas Song in her kitchen. Her wood-burning stove, with a wok on top, was the next best thing to an open fire. She roasted the chestnuts in the wok along with sweet osmanthus blossoms from the front yard, and filled the house with the intoxicating fragrance of flowers mingled with the caramel aroma of the nuts. I’ll never forget the first time I inhaled it -- it was like being all wrapped up in the warmth and coziness of the holidays, even though Dec 25 was still months away.
然而，真正令我感到神奇的是我的婆婆。她讓我在廚房中體驗(yàn)到類似于《圣誕頌歌》中那句標(biāo)志性歌詞所描述的場(chǎng)景。她那燒柴火的爐子上架著一口鍋，那是僅次于明火的好東西。婆婆把栗子放在鍋?zhàn)永锟?，還加了些前院里香甜的桂花，屋子里充斥著桂花醉人的芬芳，其中還夾雜著栗子的焦糖香。我斷不會(huì)忘了第一次吸入這芬芳的感受——就好像整個(gè)人都被假日的溫暖和舒適包裹著，盡管距離圣誕節(jié)還有好幾個(gè)月。

That Christmassy feeling was only reinforced by the generous portion my mother-in-law sent up to our room, a huge silver bowl piled high with more roasted chestnuts than anyone could have consumed in one sitting. And even though lunch had finished a few hours ago, we couldn’t resist the natural, sugary goodness of the snack.
那種圣誕的氣氛在婆婆給我們的房里送來(lái)一大份烤栗子時(shí)更加濃烈。一只銀色大碗中烤栗子堆得高高的，多得沒(méi)有誰(shuí)能坐在那兒一口氣吃完。雖然剛吃完午飯不久，我們卻抵擋不了這天然、甜蜜的營(yíng)養(yǎng)小食。

Nowadays, whenever I imagine chestnuts, it’s no longer Christmas that first comes to mind. Instead, my thoughts will turn to my husband’s hometown -- the hills scattered with wild chestnuts, the smell of them roasting in my mother-in-law’s fire-powered wok, and the ambrosial flavor when eating them fresh from the stove. These memories have so completely saturated my brain that it’s fall, not winter, that has become the season I most associate with chestnuts. So as much as I love that first line of The Christmas Song, perhaps it’s time for someone -- maybe me -- to write the lyrics to an autumn melody that sings the praises of freshly roasted chestnuts in China.
如今，無(wú)論何時(shí)想起烤栗子，首先浮現(xiàn)在我腦海中都的不再是圣誕節(jié)。反之，我的思緒會(huì)飄向我丈夫的家鄉(xiāng)——遍地散落著野栗子的小山丘，婆婆燒火的炒鍋里烤著的栗子的香氣，以及品嘗剛出爐的栗子時(shí)的美味。這些記憶完完全全融入我的腦海中，以至于栗子讓我最容易聯(lián)想到的季節(jié)變成了秋天，而非冬天。既然我如此喜愛(ài)《圣誕頌歌》的第一句詞，是時(shí)候有個(gè)人將這句詞填進(jìn)一首秋天的旋律里，以歌頌中國(guó)的新鮮的烤栗子了，也許這個(gè)人就是我。

翻譯：袁青霞（實(shí)習(xí)）
編審：董靜 丹妮
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About the author & broadcaster

Jocelyn Eikenburg is a copy editor for China Daily. She has written extensively about cross-cultural topics, including for The Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post. A US native, she has called China home for over nine years and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.