捡白果Ginkgo Nuts1 Picking

初冬时节的长江流域，虽然不像北方万木凋零，但也很难再见到前些天还让游人趋之若潮的银杏叶金黄铺地的胜景。金黄的叶片，让人间平添了不少欢快的气氛，但银杏叶毕竟难耐初冬的寒气，一朝风起，明黄不再，剩下几片，若枯叶蝶2，在枝头随风抖动。此情此景，颇有“夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏”之惑。校园里栽着一些银杏树，叶黄的时候，格外的显眼。随着冬天的临近，逐渐淡出了人们的视野。

The golden landscape of ginkgo trees in the early winter of the Yangtze River is very different from that of Northern China where trees wither， but the golden sight of ginkgo leaves that drew tourists just a few days ago is barely seen. These fallen gold leaves have brought to the world some cheerfulness， yet they can’t endure the cold air which deprived the leaves of their bright yellow with only a few stirrings on the branch like Kallima inachus， or leaf butterflies. At the sight of this and at this moment， a surge of bewilderment flows through my mind： “The sunset is infinitely fine; it’s just that dusk comes next.” Ginkgo trees on the school campus， whose leaves turn yellow in mid-fall， are striking to the eye， fading out of people’s sight as winter draws near.

冬寒意料峭，但在12月初这几日，天气却出奇地晴好，而且暖意融融。难得雾霾被吹到了别处，轮到我们享受这久别的艳阳了。也就是在这样的一个日子，我的研究生找我来谈论文写作，不待谈话结束，我便催她去陪我“踏春”3，在遍地泛黄、地毯般的草地上搜寻着万物复苏、大地回春时才可能有的景象。

Winter days are freezing cold. However， the first few days of this December were surprisingly fine with warmth. There is a rare chance that smog has been blown elsewhere， which brings me a turn to enjoy the bright sun. On such a wonderful day， a student of mine came to my office for her thesis. Not until the office hour was over， did I rush her to “go on a spring outing” with me. That is what you can do as spring comes， at which time the ground gets carpeted with yellowish grass， and everything back to life.

校园一隅，有片小树林，平时人迹罕至。此时钻进去，或有洞天。

At a campus corner was a grove where few set foot. At this very time， into this grove， we may discover a new world.

我放眼望去，发现有杏黄色的果子，杏子一般大小，不是一枚，而是一片一片地散落在茂盛的草地之上。我惊喜异常，因为在我的理念中，校园里就该都种上果树，既能看，也能吃，使观赏价值和应用价值兼而有之。

Looking far into the distance， I found nuts of a pale yellowish-orange colour， each of which the size of an apricot， scattered over the lush expanse of grass. I was struck by unusually pleasant surprise， for in my mind， trees in a school campus should be agreeable to the eye and produce fruit， equipped with ornamental significance and practical value.

树枝尚有残叶悬挂，确信是银杏，叶子扇状，虽然呈现为黄褐色，但能想象水分饱满时的靓丽。这些果子定是银杏果，俗称为“白果”。

Withered leaves hanging from twigs， I was convinced that they were ginkgo trees， whose leaves were fan-shaped but yellowish-brown， but could enable me to picture how lively the leaves looked when they had been at their best. These nuts were ginkgo nuts， known as “white nuts”.

杏子一般大小的“白果”，就应该是白色的，所以学名“银杏”。“白果”是内核部分的硬壳所呈现的颜色，外面还有一层果肉，这层果肉是不能食用的。白果由外层不能食用的果肉、中层的硬壳和里层可食用的果肉三层构成，或者说可食用果肉的外面，有着软、硬两层保护。

Ginkgo nuts the size of the apricot are supposed to be white， which led to its being technically named yinxing， which literally means the silver-colored apricot. The ginkgo nut refers to the kernel off the coat that is inedible. It consists of three layers—the outside coat is not edible， the middle layer is the shell and the inner part is good to eat or put differently， the edible part is dually protected by the coat and the shell.

白果有很高的药用价值，有祛痰、止咳、润肺、定喘等功效。网上说，它在宋代被列为皇家贡品。在日本，有每日食用白果的习惯。白果也是西方人圣诞节上的必备果品。遇到了这么好的东西，哪有不捡的道理！可要捡白果，首先就遇到了盛放的难题，我们可不是有备而来的。最好有个塑料袋。我把这个念头一告诉学生，学生便笑答：“哪会这么巧呢！4”

The ginkgo nut， a cure for eliminating phlegm， cough relief， lungs nourishment and stop of asthma， is highly valuable in medicine. According to online sources， ginkgo nuts were on the royal tribute list during the Song Dynasty. In Japan， they are consumed daily. It is also an indispensable Christmas treat for Westerners. There was no reason not to pick up this seed when you came upon it！ To collect them， the first problem was with what to hold them—I came to the grove unprepared. When I let the student know what came to my mind， “Can you be so lucky？” she smiled.

我知道有人有随手丢弃废品的习惯，塑料袋是最常见的。想到这里，我们就在四周搜寻。果然不负我望，就有那么一只塑料袋，在不远处的一棵小树的根部绊着。捡起一看，还相当完好，而且足够大，装上个8、9公斤也不成问题。万事俱备，说捡就捡。

I know people tend to discard litter， among which plastic bags are the most common. Thinking of this， I led her on the way to seeing one. To my satisfaction， we found a bag twined around the root of a tree not far away. Picking it up， we saw it was a perfect one of good size， large enough to contain 8 or 9 kilos of ginkgo nuts. Everything ready， we went nut-picking.

果子不算太小，好捡。弯腰捡，感觉还有捡完的可能，树毕竟不算大，果子不会很多。但蹲下捡，才发现有很多藏在草丛深处，怎么越捡越多呢。不一会儿，塑料袋子就装满了。不捡了，我们抬着往回走，并特意留影纪念。这可是一份意想不到的收获。白果虽然只有便宜的几元钱一斤，但经过自己劳动捡来的天然之物，成就感可不一般。

Not too small， the nuts were easy to pick up. I bent， picked， and felt it possible to clear the ground of them. It， after all， was a small tree， which was expected of not much fruit. Much to our surprise， when crouching down， I found more hidden among the tall grass. The more we picked， the more we came by—How could that be？ In no time， my bag was filled up. That was it， and we carried it together on the way back， before which we took a photo of ourselves in memory of this little adventure. What an unexpected reward！ The ginkgo nuts cost as little as only a few bucks for each kilo， the sense of accomplishment that comes from my own toil was wonderful.