那个重大的种植日过去1个星期后，每个盆里都长出了小芽。孩子们都欣喜若狂。我们每天早上都测量芽儿的高度，每天晚上都给它们浇水。香豌豆长出了小小的卷须，那些卷须沿着我们为它们搭建的棚架伸展、缠绕。青豆茎上开始长出了小叶子。可是胡萝卜似乎只长了5天就不再生长，彷佛它们最初生长的那股劲儿也就是它们最后的力气了。
Weeks passed. The beans and peas were overcrowded, but they still managed to produce a few flowers. The carrots did nothing. We waited and watered. While miniature 20)pods formed on the pea 21)vines and tiny beans 22)sprang from their stalks, the carrots remained frozen in time.
几周过去了，青豆苗和豌豆苗挤满了盆子，但它们还是设法开出了一些花。而胡萝卜苗没有任何变化。我们一边等待一边给它们浇水。当香豌豆的藤蔓上结出了小豆荚，青豆茎上长出了一些小青豆时，胡萝卜苗还是老样子，彷佛在时间里冻结了一般。
Madeline’s faith never 23)wavered. “I can’ wait until my carrots grow big,” she said, 24)munching on one of Brandon’s green beans. “We can put them all in some soup and eat it up!”
玛德琳的信念从未动摇过。“我等不及要看我的胡萝卜长大。” 她一边说，一边大声咀嚼着布兰登的一颗青豆。“我们可以把它们全都放进某种汤里，然后统统吃光！”
A month went by. Madeline remained diligent. She watered every night, hopeful there’d be carrots in the morning. Every morning she would check their progress.
一个月过去了。玛德琳依然很勤奋。她每天晚上浇水，希望第二天早上能看到长出的胡萝卜。每天早上她都会检查它们的生长进度。
“No, not yet,” she would say, smiling.
“不，还没有呢。”她会微笑着说。
The magical thing about four-year-olds is their ability to remain optimistic, even when reality is staring them in the face and looking rather black—or, as in this case, brown and 25)wilted. Optimistic, even when their elder brother tried to 26)dash her hopes.
4岁的孩子身上最不可思议的东西便是他们保持乐观的能力，即使当现实正摆在他们的面前，而且看起来相当黑暗——或者，像这次的事情那样，只见褐色的泥土和枯萎的苗。（编者注：文中的brown and wilted既有本意也有比喻义，译文采用的是其本意，其比喻意义为“让人沮丧、泄气”。）即使当哥哥试图挫伤她的希望时，她仍然很乐观。
“Get real, your carrots are dead,” Brandon said. “Why water dead carrots every night?”
“No, they’re not!” she would scream. “And I’m not going to share with you, either.”
It was this kind of optimism that made me send my husband to the grocery store in search of carrots with stems. The next morning, when Madeline checked her garden, over a dozen enormous carrots were 27)poking up from her pot. Madeline 28)gleefully pulled out an abundant harvest.
Madeline was so pleased with herself that I couldn’t help being pleased with myself, too. Not bad, I thought. It took some work and, 29)true, maybe a little trickery, but I’ve grown something this summer myself—30)a little crop of gardeners, children who now know the joy of growing plants, who have seen what a little faith and persistence can do, who—
Madeline interrupted my 31)reverie.
“Next year,” she said proudly, “I’m growing watermelons!”
“真的，你的胡萝卜死了。”布兰登说，“你为什么每天晚上都给死了的胡萝卜浇水呢？”
“不，它们没有死！”她会尖叫着回答，“到时候我也不会和你分享它们的。”
正是这种乐观促使我让丈夫到食品杂货店去找一些带茎的胡萝卜。第二天早上，当玛德琳检查她的菜园时，十几个巨大的胡萝卜正从她的盆里探出头来。玛德琳欢喜地拔出一颗她的硕果。
玛德琳对自己很满意，以至于我也忍不住为自己开心起来。我想，一切还不赖。付出了一些劳动，而且确切地说，或许还有一点小小的欺骗，但这个夏天，我自己已经培养出了一些东西—— 一小队园丁。他们现在是知道了种植植物的乐趣的孩子，他们看到了一点信念和一份坚持的力量，他们——
玛德琳打断了我的冥想。
“明年,”她骄傲地说，“我准备种西瓜!”
