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Chapter 2 你知道万物生长的规律吗？
Chapter 2 Do you know the laws of nature concerning growth?
崇明的小年让家家户户的孩子最盼望的就是那顿廿四夜饭。每户原始的烹饪灶头均为双灶制，当晚就用一口灶炉蒸上满满一铁锅的赤豆饭，再盖上十几张豆腐皮；另一只灶炉就煮上咸淡适中的青菜慈菇老豆腐汤。陆生的青菜和水生的慈菇此时鲜肥正佳，又因为熬过了大寒的霜冻，内储的淀粉含量更高，所以爽口且回甘。
The Little Year attracts the children with its special meal called lunar December 24th supper, which is served by double stoves in each household. In the very evening, while one stove is used to steam the red bean rice covered with tofu skins, the other stove is cooking the green cabbage and old tofu soup. The mixed taste is amazingly delicious due to the matureness of green vegetables and swamp potatoes, particularly after the Major Cold frost, which instills refreshing sweetness into both ingredients.
廿四夜饭的吃法是将蒸暖后的豆腐皮切成和饭碗直径差不多的正方形，随后将汤里的慈菇、青菜、和老豆腐掺杂着舀出，用豆腐皮包裹后直接送入口，浓素的汤汁顺着舌直接流入喉中，香味沁入鼻腔，慈菇和青菜的纤维此时也极为柔嫩，上下齿一碾便可无渣下咽。整个过程既有手作步骤，又有时令鲜蔬的大快朵颐，显然是动手又动口的架势来迎接春光驾到。
The recipe for the Little Year meal is consisted of three steps. Firstly, split the tofu skin after steaming into square shape with width similar to the diameter of the rice bowl. Secondly, take the swamp potatoes, the green vegetables, and the old tofu out of the soup. Finally, wrap all the content into the tofu skin. One bite of the wrapped dumpling will ensue the soup flowing directly into the throat along the tongue, and thus the fragrance is poured into nose. Moreover, the fibers of the vegetables are currently so soft and delicate that one can swallow them without any difficulty. Hence, the whole process contains handmade steps and healthy ingredients, which can be deemed as a proper ritual to welcome Spring.
转瞬立春将至，预示着早春的耕耘也就此开始，招摇的东风开始解冻清早冰封的池塘，早春游望里那句“晴光转绿萍”在此处形容崇明的小河再合适不过。梅柳也就此舒眼，厚重的冬衣在这时的春日正午，若逢着无风，就可以搭在梅花树枝上暂别。穿着毛衣就立马灵活不少的孩子们在梅花丛里晒着暖阳、穿梭嬉耍。无奈在父母的叫唤声里，才依依不舍地沾着一身的梅香抵家。
The Start of spring is approaching, implying that the early spring cultivation will soon begin. The East wind begins to unfreeze the frozen pond in the early morning, reminding one of the poetry written by Du Shen Yan saying "duckweed gets deep green with the warming sun lights". How suitable it is to describe the current river in Chongming! The plum trees and willows become lively gradually. Therefore, children can take off their heavy winter clothes in windless days so as to be more nimble when playing with each other under the plum trees. However, upon the call of the parents for supper, all of them, no matter how unwillingly, have to walk home with the plum scent.
腊梅的手工在这段应景时期也颇得人气，先将粉色或白色的蜡烛乘在铁盘中烧融，再用手指沾上肥皂水避免烫伤，继而伸入蜡烛水中停留片刻后，返回空气时就凝结成了一个小指套，随后立即摁在一根小树枝上，直至蜡凝固冷却，最终缓缓地将手指从蜡指套中抽出，一朵人造的腊梅便傲立于枝头了。立春就这样伴着梅枝的成长、孩子们乐此不疲的欢闹中悄然而至。
The handcraft of plum making is very popular during this period. The game includes six steps. Firstly, put the pink or white candle in the iron plate and burn it to liquid wax. Then use the soap water on your fingers in case of burn bruise and duck into the wax and stay for a while before return to the air. The wax on the finger condenses into a small finger sleeve afterwards, thus one shall immediately sticks to a small branch until the wax cools and molds there, and finally slowly pulls the finger out of the wax finger sleeve, by now, a man-made wax plum stands proudly on the branch. The Start of Spring, therefore, comes quietly with the joys of the children.
除夕临近是崇明女人最忙碌的一段日子，一大家子的年夜饭要荤素齐备，还要菜式体面，挨家挨户看菜色是难逃的烹饪竞赛，哪家媳妇持家手巧，哪个婆婆吝啬严苛都能从这顿宴席里推导揣摩出来。灶上蒸出的崇明糕是这段时间的重头戏，糕分为白糖糕和红糖糕，前者偶尔会掺入红枣或者葡萄干、核桃仁，后者则以蜜枣为兑入的食材，孩子们多半爱红糖糕，除了颜色呈出巧克力和朱古力的洋气，甜味也总觉得比白糕要浓稠些。由于制糕的米粒十分紧实，所以蒸熟的耗时甚久，于是，不管是立于草枯花败的田埂边，还是穿行在黄绿斑驳的毛竹林间，甚至洗碗水桥边的台阶上，都能闻得泠冽的空气中弥漫的炊烟，常道“人间烟火”，只有感受过这炊烟里富含的人情世故、四时之诗，才对这个词所蕴含的嚣嚣红尘有所理解。
New Year's Eve is the busiest day for Chongming women, because the dinner for the Evemeans not only a decent meal, but a tough cooking competition in the countryside. Therefore, the banquet will tell whether the wife is diligent, and if the mother-in-law is harsh on cost in this family. The highlight of the meal, however, will be the Chongming cake which has two categories, white sugar and brown sugar. The former incorporates red dates or raisins and walnuts, while the latter uses candied dates as ingredients. Most of the children prefer to the latter whose chocolate color looks more modern with sweetness thicker than the white one. Because the rice grains of the cake are so tight that they requirelong time to steam, one can smell the chimney smoke everywhere in the countryside. It's on this occasion that you can fully understand the richness implied in "worldly human life" and the obviously changing seasons in Chongming.
灶炉里的干柴有时是秋收后存在柴房里的毛豆梗，而更多时候是秋日割完稻后在日光里晒干的稻梗，它们保存着一年来土地上雨露金风的滋养，所以燃烧时不仅能在灶炉里绽放绚丽雄壮的火束，升腾到烟囱里的也是股促人吐故纳新的柴火馨香。崇明糕就在这薪火的温暖中热腾腾地上桌了。
The favorite kindlers for the stove are the rice stalks collected in autumn harvest. The reason may be that they preserve the nourishment of the rain and the golden wind on the land in the past year. Therefore, when burning, it not only present beautiful and powerful fire beams, but the smoke they give out to the chimney contain the firewood fragrance, warming the Chongming cake for banquet.
除夕之夜一定要通宵的，再怎么平日里嗜睡的孩子这一天都要兴奋地等到各家各户的烟火全部放完，迎春的炮仗登天散花后才肯上床。一则所有表堂兄妹，姑婶叔伯在这一天才能真正地团聚起来认认脸和辈分，再则这一天中，大人对孩子是基本放任的，男人们围在一起把酒谈天说地，摸牌议古论今；女人们围坐着道家长里短、忙碌着备正月饕餮。孩子们必然是清点各自晚上的“军火战备”，企图从亮度、响度、持续时间三个纬度一争高下：鞭炮爆竹太暴力，划炮才是男生的战备首选，曼妙的冷烟花毋庸置疑是晚间举家上下围观的仪式，遇上特别绚烂壮美的，就连隔壁家的都会被浓烈的硫磺气味引来驻足。
New Year's Eve is an overnight event.Even the sleepiest child will persist to wait until all the fireworks and the spring cannons finished after mid night. Moreover, it's a rare gathering which enables children to recognize his or her kinship as it's the most important union of the whole family of all the generations. On this very day, men are surrounded by the wine and discussion when playing cards, while women are sitting tête-à-tête talking domestic issues before they start the busy preparations for the banquet. What interests children in the Spring Festival is no doubt the firecracker competition in terms of brightness, loudness and duration. As for fireworks that produce gorgeous and magnificent effect, even all the adults will attend together for a close and amusing look.
正月初一的水仙是家家阳台的争宠对象，经过了秋初的一番精心雕刻，整个冬季望着翠绿的叶子一片片舒展，盼着一根根含着花苞的茎叶不断滋长，终于在正月里得见一朵朵怒放的嫩黄水仙，正应了英国诗人Wordsworth在他的《I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud》诗中对摇曳生姿的水仙一派动人畅想，兴许岛民对于这花是天生的情有独钟。
The narcissus on the first day of the lunar New Year will be beloved by all the family balconies. After the careful carving at the beginning of the autumn, the whole winter witnesses the green leaves stretching, roots growing, and buds booming. On the festival day, the yellow daffodilswill show off their petals, which resembles what English poet Wordsworth wrote in his "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud". Perhaps all the island people are born to favor the flower.
正月结束在开学后的一两周，似乎是让人再对除夕的狂欢做一个文静的收尾。元宵在崇明远不如崇明糕来得隆重和普遍，正月里尚未吃完的糕，会日晒风干以便储存，随后放在早餐的米粥或者泡饭里当作辅食。至于元宵，除了耳熟能详的“卖汤圆”歌曲外，再也提不起太强的食欲来，倒是酒酿圆子为元宵提供了一种受欢迎的可能。崇明的孩子乘起酒酿米粒空口就能吃，也通常不相信酒酿会醉人，连老白酒往往都会被一视同仁。
The Lantern festival serves as the quiet ending of Spring festival. The typical dishes are still the Chongming cakes, different of North China that regard dumpling as the major food for the day. The cakes are so favored that they can even be the complementary food for rice porridge for breakfast. In spite of the well-known "dumpling selling" songs, Chongming people choose to replace the dumpling with the glutinous rice balls in fermented rice wine, whichare popular and children enjoy drinking the fermented rice so much that they may be unaware of its intoxicating elements, thus even the Chongming white wine will treated equallyby kids.
学校规定的元宵灯又是孩子们竞相斗艳的话题，才艺过人的爸爸此时会是被无数孩子拥戴的对象，柔软的竹子拗成骨骼，半透明的油纸绘上俏丽的图案，一只只亮闪闪的羊羔，奶兔，雏猫、笨狗就此呈现在街头每个孩子的手里。圆月悬空的正月十五，已经逐日见暖，父母常常会带着孩子在农场的小店门口、路灯底下、石桥两边提灯信步游走，若是遇着了学校老师，孩子还要战战兢兢地亲耳听取老师的开学评语，提心吊胆地望着父母的脸色。
Lantern making surely will be assigned to children in the school. As a result, the talented fatherswho can createhand made lanterns will be embraced by all the children. Hence, one surprisingly finds soft bamboo and the translucent oil paper with pretty patterns give birth to numerous animal lights, such as lambs, rabbits, kitties and dogs in the street that night. The fifteenth of lunar New Year is not that chilly, thus parents, after lunch, often take their children for a walk around the farm under the streetlights. However, once a schoolteacher is met by coincidence by parents, the children will nervously listen to their talk for fear of negative comments.
二月就是这样，河心炸开的划炮把寒假作业遗忘在书桌上，袅袅炊烟味敌不过浓郁的水仙随夕阳黯然逝去，崇明糕和酒酿在下个月依旧准备大放异彩，灯笼选美结束后就开始等待着下一年的元宵节。
This is February. Children playing firecrackers drive the winter homework into oblivion. The smoke in chimney is defeated by the perfume of Daffodils. Chongming cakes and rice wines are ready for the ceremonies in next month. The lanterns are waiting for the next festival after the show of this year.
