19. Beautiful and Plentiful August 美好丰收的八月
There is no month in the whole year, in which nature wears a more beautiful appearance than in the month of August! Spring has many beauties, and May is a fresh and blooming month, but the charms of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the winter season. August has no such advantage. It comes when we remember nothing but clear skies, green fields and sweet-smelling flowers ---when the recollection of snow, and ice, and bleak winds, has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared from the earth ---and yet what a pleasant time it is! Orchards and corn-fields ring with the hum of labour; trees bend beneath the thick clusters of rich fruit which bow their branches to the ground; and the corn, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in every light breath that sweeps above it, as if it wooed the sickle, tinges the landscape with a golden hue. A mellow softness appears to hang over the whole earth; the influence of the season seems to extend itself to the very waggon, whose slow motion across the well-reaped field, is perceptible only to the eye, but strikes with no harsh sound upon the ear.
---Charles Dickens: The Pickwick Papers, 16.

   一年中还有哪个月份能使大自然为八月装扮得更美！春光拂媚，五月花开气象新，与冬季对比更显春色魅力。八月为另一番景色。当人们只记得天高云淡，绿野花香，当冰雪寒风的回忆淡出人们脑海时，八月来了，一个令人惬意的八月时节！果园和麦田呈现一片繁忙；树上硕果累累，压弯枝头；麦子呈一束束幽雅姿态，或随微风摆动，仿佛向镰刀求爱，田野染上一片金黄。大地上空荡漾着醇和温柔；季节的气息似乎体现在那辆马车上，只见它从容缓慢地行驶在秋收田地上。
---Translated by SDZ