The Secrets of Frost霜之密语

In rural Suffolk， where I live， frost most commonly arrives in December. In Aviemore， October. In Penzance it might not happen at all. For gardeners and agriculturalists the phenomenon is a blessing and a curse： it breaks up heavy soils， kills weeds， reduces pest populations， and turns parsnips， carrots， kale and leeks so much sweeter. But at the other end of winter， unseasonably late frosts can wreak havoc1， leaving new plant-growth limp and blackened and dead.

我住在萨福克郡的乡下。一般而言，那儿一到十二月就开始起霜。在阿维莫尔是十月，在彭赞斯可能根本就不会有霜。对园丁和农夫而言，霜既是福音也是诅咒：它让硬土松软，杀死野草，减少害虫，萝卜、胡萝卜、甘蓝菜、韭葱因为它变得愈发甘甜。可如果霜在冬天将尽之时光顾，那迟到得可真不是时候。它会引发一场浩劫，打蔫新长出的嫩牙，让他们变黑，而后死去。

With the earlier springs of a warming world， late frosts are increasingly destructive and can devastate industries. Desperate not to lose entire vintages， French winemakers light bonfires and candles among the vines to keep the ice at bay2.

全球变暖，春天越来越早，晚霜的破坏性也越来越大，甚至会给相关产业酿成灾难。法国酿酒商为了不让葡萄园颗粒无收，只好在葡萄园中点起篝火和蜡烛防止霜冻。

Frost occurs because warm air is able to carry more moisture than cold air. When temperatures dip， water is lost from it. Should temperatures remain above freezing， this water is deposited as dew. If temperatures continue to fall， dew may freeze to a clear， glassy coat called rime ice. But with sufficient cold， water vapour lost from the air skips the liquid stage entirely and turns directly to crystalline ice： frost.

之所以会产生霜，是因为比起冷空气，暖空气携带的水分更多。温度下降，空气中的水分也随之流失。如果温度维持在冰点以上，析出的水分沉积在物体表面成为露水。而如果温度持续下降，露水会在物体表面形成清澈透明的雾凇。但如果足够冷，空气中析出的水蒸气就会完全跳过液态阶段，直接变为冰晶，也就是霜。

Like clouds， frosts have their own taxonomy. Wind frost occurs when a bitter wind blows over surfaces， forming tiny spikes that cluster along the edges of leaves， twigs or poles. The branching， feathered patterns on windscreens and the interior of windows in unheated rooms are known as fern frost or window frost， each curling frond3 seeded from an imperfection， a scratch or grain of dust or dirt that allows ice crystals their first purchase4 on an otherwise smooth surface.

霜和云一样，也分门别类。寒风吹过，沿叶面边缘、树枝或树干表面形成的细小尖刺状物叫做风霜。在挡风玻璃和没有暖气的房间窗户内侧形成的发散性羽毛状花纹叫做蕨纹霜或霜花。光滑的玻璃表面只要有瑕疵，一粒灰尘又或是灰尘留下的划痕，都会最先让冰晶紧紧附着在玻璃表面，形成一片片卷曲的蕨叶状花纹。

Hoar frost—spines and needles of white ice growing from frozen sur-faces—is often a consequence of freezing fog. And rarest of all is an exquisitely beautiful phenomenon called hair ice. Rotting wood of deciduous trees infected by the fungus Exidiopsis effusa5 can， under the right conditions， extrude a tangled， thick mop of long strands of white ice possessing the soft sheen of animal fur. The presence of the fungus and the chemicals it releases allow ice to grow in a form unlike any other manifestation： it looks like a tiny silver toupee or a patch of polar bear pelt discarded on the darkness of a forest floor.

白霜是形成于结冰物体表面的白色冰针和冰锥，往往是冻雾的产物。其中，最罕见的是一种名为发丝冰的精美绝伦的现象。当阔叶树朽木感染一种名为拟黑耳的真菌时，在适宜的条件下，表面就会长出一堆乱蓬蓬的白色冰丝，厚厚长长的，拥有动物毛发一般温润的光泽。真菌及其释放的化学物质让冰形成与众不同的形态。发丝冰看上去就像遗弃在森林黑色大地上的一小顶银色假发，或是一块北极熊皮。

In their resemblance to biological growths， fern ice and hair ice conjure life. But in their fragility and transience， all forms of frost intimate death. It’s not something we can interact with： the merest touch of human warmth destroys it. It can only be observed. Furthermore， its mysterious appearances feel unanchored from any tangible cause. We see snow and rain fall from the sky， but frost appears from thin air， apparently grown from the things it decorates， as if they themselves had produced it.

和万物生长相仿，蕨叶状和发丝状冰变戏法一般绽放生命的活力。而各种各样的霜都易碎又易逝，因而预示着死亡。我们无法和霜互动，哪怕稍一接触，体温也足以把它融化。霜，仅供观赏。它神秘的外观让人觉得它凭空产生。我们看见雨雪从天而降，但霜是突然出现的，貌似是自它所点缀之物中生成，仿佛这些东西自己产生了霜一样。

Frost’s transformative power isn’t limited to its physical effects on soil structure or living tissue. It has the capacity to alter the kind of attention we pay to the world and the meanings we take from it. Under its secret ministrations， straight lines become furred， baroque. Hoar frost turns soft， near-invisible spiders’ webs into heavy opalescent6 necklaces slung between branches. Things you would pass without a second glance on any other day become rich， fascinating and deserving of minute attention： the newly feathered lattices of a chain-link fence， the tiny stars and spears of ice growing from a discarded soda can. All things touched by frost are rendered the same， whether roadside litter or the rarest late rose.

霜具有改变的力量，它不仅实实在在地改变了土壤结构、活性组织，还让我们对世界的关注有所不同，领悟出不一样的意义。因为雾的秘密相助，直线上细毛丛生，精美而华丽。柔软的蜘蛛丝肉眼几乎不可见，白霜却让它变成了悬挂于树枝间散发着乳白色光芒的沉甸甸的项链。那些你平日里不会多看一眼的东西，因为霜的存在变得丰富而有趣，值得我们细细观察。比如一个铁丝网篱笆，上面的菱形格刚刚披上了一层羽毛状的白霜。又如一个被人扔在一边的汽水罐，上面结的霜宛如小小的星星、短短的尖矛。不管是路边的垃圾，还是最最罕见的、迟开的玫瑰，只要结上白霜，就都变美了。

To me， the changes wrought by heavy frost recall J.G. Ballard7’s The Crystal World， a deeply eerie novel that relates the effects of a distant cosmic event that causes areas of the world inexplicably to crystallise8. Across swathes of tropical jungle， flesh and wood and light and water become conjoined and refracted in glittering， final solidity， as if time and space and life and death had become one and the same. And it’s that intimation9 of crystalline10， collapsing time that sits inside my memories of hoar frost.

对我而言，严重霜冻引发的变化让我想到《结晶的世界》，这部极其诡异的小说出自J. G.巴拉德之手。书中写到，遥远的宇宙事件导致世界各地莫名其妙地结晶。在热带丛林的沼泽地，有灵万物、阳光雨露，通通连了起来，最终成为一个闪闪发光的固态世界，时间、空间、生命、死亡仿佛已然合为一体，不分彼此，毫无差别。在我记忆中，我对白霜的印象便是这仿佛坍缩在结晶里的时间。

One day in particular stays with me. It began with freezing fog， and it was a weekday in winter. I’d set out at dawn for a walk in Chippenham Fen， and as the light increased I saw that over the short hours of darkness， long spines of white ice had grown from every surface exposed to air. Hoar frost isn’t rare， but the size and thickness of these lapidary encrustations11 were： the fogbound landscape I walked in was other-worldly and entirely bewitching.

有那么一天，我的印象尤为深刻。时值冬季，工作日，一早起来，漫天冻雾。天刚破晓，我便出发去奇彭纳姆湿地散步。天色渐亮，我这才发现，夜晚短短的几个小时之间，暴露在空气中的每一件物体的表面都长出了长长的白色冰锥。白霜并非稀罕物，罕见的是这些宝石一般的凝结物的尺寸和厚度，再加上这漫天的浓雾，一切都变得超然于世，令人无尽陶醉，而我，则正漫步其中。

Frost， silence， stillness. The only soul I met on that walk was a man escorting his small border terrier12 back to the car park. It was an elderly dog with a halting gait that bespoke age and frozen paws. As we passed I expected the usual wordless nod of greeting. But the man stopped. Looked at me. Rubbed his gloved hands， then gestured at everything around us. When he spoke， his voice was deep and full of feeling.

霜的世界，寂静无声，静如止水。一路上，我没见着什么人，只有一个男人带着一只小边境㹴往停车场的方向走去。那只边境㹴走走停停，看起来上了年纪，爪子也冻僵了。碰面的时候，我以为我和那个男人会照例点点头，不说话，就当是打招呼了。没想到，他却停住脚步，看向我。他搓了搓戴着手套的双手，指了指周围的一切，说话时嗓音低沉，感情充沛。

“I’ve never seen it like this and I’m 73. Never. Never like this in all my life.” He paused. “You can get this old， as old as me，” he said， his voice breaking mid-sentence， “but you can still see something new.”

“这样的景象，我还是头一次见，活了73年，头一次见。这辈子头一次。”他顿了顿，说：“没想到活到我这把年纪，这么大岁数，”话说到一半，他又停了下来，“还能看见让我大开眼界的东西。”

We’d been privy to a miracle， a shared secret. Less than ten minutes later the frost started to decay. Each frozen twig and branch of the willows around and above me began shedding ice， soft splinters13 falling slowly through the air， glittering here and there with the first touch of winter sun through mist.

我们俩共同见证了一场奇迹，拥有了同一个秘密。不出十分钟，霜开始慢慢消退。我头顶和周围被冻住的每一根柳树枝条都开始下起了冰粒雨，轻柔的霜屑从空中缓缓降落，冬日的第一缕阳光穿过薄雾，照在霜屑上，熠熠生辉。

As I walked， the frost tickled my face and nape as it melted， glittering spines coating my sleeves. The sky had grown bright as I reached my car， that foggy silence replaced by the patter of dripping water， and by the time I found myself home， the whole new world I’d been given had gone.

我走在路上，霜融化在面颊和后脖颈，痒痒的。袖子上落满亮晶晶的霜针。等我走到车跟前，天已大亮，霜雾的寂静消失了，取而代之的是水滴的啪嗒声。等我回到家，那个属于我的全新世界已然消失了。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 wreak havoc严重危害。 2 keep… at bay阻止……发生。

3 frond窄长的叶子。 4 purchase紧握；抓住。 5一种属于木耳科的真菌。

6 opalescent发乳光的；像蛋白石的。

7英国著名科幻作家，代表作包括《淹没的世界》《撞车》等。 8 crystallise形成晶体。 9 intimation暗示。 10 crystalline晶莹剔透的。

11 encrustation（积垢、化学物等）表层沉积物，凝结物。 12 border terrier 边境㹴。英国犬种，主要用于猎狐和獾。

13 splinter（木头、玻璃、塑料等的）尖细条，尖碎片。