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Her life exemplified the adage, "We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden." I miss her still, although she died six years ago, in her 70s, after living here nearly 50 years. I was almost glad she didn't live to see the night a young man was shot to death right in front of our houses.
她的一生说明了这一格言，"我们来自泥土，我们归于泥土，在此期间我们在园中耕耘。"现在我依旧思念她，虽然她在六年前去世了，当时七十多岁，在这儿已住了近五十年。令我感到近乎高兴的是，她没有活着看到那天晚上一个年轻人就在我们寓所前被枪杀。
A map of the neighborhood 15 years ago, when my family came, would show community places that are gone now: bank, pharmacy, hardware and small, black-owned corner stores. There are alot of vacancies now, jobs are gone, and people travel to malls to shop. Many families run out of food the last days of the month.
十五年前我家搬到这儿来时的一张地图会告诉你现已不复存在的一些社区场所：银行、药房、五金店以及黑人的街头小店。现在这儿许多房屋空着，活计没了，人们得去购物中心买东西。许多家庭一到月底就没吃的了。
On my map I can plot some of what killed this community's safety: the too-many liquor outlets — nine within four blocks of my house; the drug dealers who came with crack about 1985. Clustered near the drugs and alcohol are the 16 murder sites: the 15 men, the one woman.
我可以在我的地图上标出一些使我们社区失去安全的因素：太多太多的酒铺——我家周围的四个街区里就有九家;约于1985年携带强效纯可卡因来到这儿的毒贩。在这些贩毒品卖烈酒的地方附近是十六个谋杀现场：被杀害者中有十五名男子和一名女子。
"I want to get away from all this," I think often. But really getting away would mean selling our home and leaving, and so far, my husband and I have been unwilling to give up, either on our neighbors or on our hopes for helping make things better.
我常想:"我要逃避生活中这种种烦恼。"但真的离开就意味着卖房走人，到目前为止我和丈夫都不愿离开，既不愿放弃邻居，也不愿放弃帮助改善这儿情况的希望。
But we do get away, to the mountains. We've been walking the John Muir Trail in sections the last few summers. I've never liked the way it feels good to go to the mountains and bad to come home. That's like only enjoying the weekends of your whole life.
但我们有时也真的会离开，到山里去。这几年夏天我们一个路段一个路段地走遍了约翰·缪尔小路。我从不喜欢到山里去觉得高兴、回家来就感到败兴这种思维方式。那样的话，就像人活一世却只有周末过得愉快似的。
