English Original
Long before I was born, my grandparents moved into the house on Beechwood Avenue with their four young daughters. The girls slept in the cold attic, warmed in winter by hot bricks Grandma placed at the foot of their feather bed.
During the Great Depression, work was scarce. Grandpa dug ditches during the week, and on weekends, he and Grandma started a garden to grow their own food. Their large front yard had shade and fruit trees, with a water pump in the center. On one side, they planted vegetables and strawberries; on the other, flowers surrounded a statue.
The whole family worked to tend the garden. All summer, they enjoyed its bounty, and Grandma preserved the harvest for winter. As years passed and grandchildren arrived, the garden remained a source of joy and sustenance, even as it grew smaller with my grandparents' age.
One summer, when Grandpa was eighty-nine, he could only watch from his chair as the garden flourished. He passed away before the harvest. The following winter was lonely for Grandma. Come spring, she planted only a small garden, doubting she could manage more alone.
Early that summer, a gigantic swarm of bees descended into a hole in a tall tree in her yard. The sight and sound were frightening. Grandma considered hiring someone to remove them but decided to wait. The bees busied themselves, coming and going from their new hive, and soon she decided they were harmless and went about her life.
That summer, her little garden produced an astonishingly huge crop, puzzling the neighbors whose gardens struggled. When her brother Frank visited from Arizona, she served him food from her garden and told him about the bees. Frank explained that farmers in Arizona often hired beekeepers because bees pollinate crops and help them grow.
Grandma then realized the bees had pollinated her garden all summer. "So that's why my little garden had such a big crop!" she exclaimed. From then on, she believed that since Grandpa couldn't be there to help her that summer, he had sent the bees to take his place.
中文翻译
在我出生很久以前，我的祖父母带着四个年幼的女儿搬进了山毛榉大道上的房子。女孩们睡在寒冷的阁楼里，冬天靠祖母放在羽毛床脚的热砖取暖。
大萧条时期，工作难找。祖父平日挖沟渠，周末则和祖母开辟了一个菜园自己种食物。他们的大前院有遮荫树和果树，中间有一台水泵。院子的一边，他们种了蔬菜和草莓；另一边，鲜花环绕着一座雕像。
全家人都帮忙照料花园。整个夏天，他们享用着园中的收获，祖母还将食物储存起来以备冬天。随着岁月流逝，孙辈们到来，花园一直是欢乐和食物的来源，即使随着祖父母年事已高，花园逐渐变小。
有一年夏天，祖父八十九岁了，他只能坐在椅子上看着花园欣欣向荣。他在收获季节前去世了。接下来的冬天对祖母来说很孤独。春天来临时，她只种了一小块地，怀疑自己无法独自打理更多。
那年夏初，一大群蜜蜂飞进了她院子里一棵高树的树洞里。那景象和声音令人害怕。祖母考虑过雇人清除它们，但决定先等等。蜜蜂们忙于自己的事，在新蜂巢进进出出，很快她就断定它们无害，继续自己的生活。
那个夏天，她的小菜园获得了惊人的大丰收，这让邻居们感到困惑，因为他们自己的园子收成不好。当她的兄弟弗兰克从亚利桑那州来访时，她用园子里的食物招待他，并讲述了蜜蜂的故事。弗兰克解释说，亚利桑那州的农民经常雇佣养蜂人，因为蜜蜂能为作物授粉，帮助它们生长。
祖母这才意识到，是蜜蜂在整个夏天为她的花园授了粉。"原来我的小菜园收成这么好是因为这个！"她惊叹道。从那时起，她相信，因为祖父那个夏天不能在她身边帮忙，所以他派来了蜜蜂代替他。