母亲的中草药和种菜
Mother's herbs and vegetables
原创：斧子 中译英：斧子的二当家
作为家族秘密的，是中草药口诀，共有四十九种，决不准许外传的。
外公认识很多种草药，心中装满了无数的民间偏方。记得我很小的时候，我生了病，外公就用艾灸我。那种痛楚，至今还记忆犹新。
Grandpa knew a lot of herbs, and his heart was full of countless folk remedies. I remember when I was little, I got sick, and grandpa used acupuncture to cure me. The pain is still fresh in my memory.
所以，母亲懂中草药，是有家学渊源的。
Therefore, my mother knew Chinese herbal medicine because of a home-learning source.
母亲在父亲当兵后，担任了大队（现在的村）的赤脚医生，家里的二楼就堆满各色各样的中草药，大门前的走廊上也吊满了形形色色的中草药。年纪渐长，我也开始在母亲的教导下，逐渐认识了一些中草药。
After my father joined the army, my mother served as the barefoot doctor in the brigade (now village) , and then the second floor of her house was filled with various Chinese herbs, and the hallway in front of the gate was full of Chinese herbs of all kinds as well. As I grew older, I also began to learn some herbal medicine under my mother's guidance.
作为家族秘密的，是中草药口诀，共有四十九种，决不准许外传的。听说这是养生长寿的秘诀。我可以在这里公开，就是短短几句话：三补血：龙当熟。三补虚：栆人西。五补气：黄太甘山党。七补阴：黄女麦枸天桑楮。八补阳：续胡巴补，肉益沙菟。九补肾：列黑酸木覆盆子，芡山枸骨金樱子。十四强筋骨：狗骨牛何杜淫五，石千蛇桑槲韭乌。
As a family secret, there are 49 kinds of Chinese herbal recipe, which are never allowed to be passed out.I heard that this is the secret of longevity. I can make it public here, just a few words: "there're three things nourish blood, longan meat, Chinese angelica and prepared rehmannia root; Three things tonify deficiency, jujube, ginseng and American ginseng; Five things invigorate qi, astragalus, radix pseudostellariae, licorice, yam, dangshen; Seven things nourish yin, sealwort, ligustrum, japonicus, barbary wolfberry fruit, asparagus fern, mulberry and fructus broussonetiae; Eight things tonify yang, teasel root, trigonella foenum-graecum, morinda officinalis, scurfy pea, Cistanche salsa, bitter cardamon, semen astragali complanati, dodder. Nine things reinforce kidney, orobanche coerulescens, black sesame, wild jujube kernel, papaya, raspberries, gorgon fruit, dogwood, holly leaf, golden cherry; Fourteen things strong bones, rhizoma cibotii, drynaria rhizome, the root of bidentate achyranthes, polygonum multiflorum, eucommia, epimedium, fructus myrica, dendrobe, homalomena, fructus cnidii, parasitic loranthus, mistletoe, Chinese chive seed, Cynanchum bungei Decne."
长大了，我一一查找药书，才知道这四十九种中草药，也不过如此。翻过医书的人，大家都会知道，但不一定会去专门总结和应用而已。其实，这只能算是中草药的普及版知识，浅显易懂，简单易记。但在过去那缺医少药的年代，口耳相传，不立文字，倒也算得上珍贵难得。
When I grew up, I looked up the medicine books one by one to find out that these forty-nine herbs were nothing more than that. Anyone who has been through a medical book will know, but it doesn't have to be summed up and applied. In fact, this can only be a popular version of Chinese herbal medicine knowledge, easy to understand, easy to remember. But in the past when people were short of medicine and doctor, those words passed on without written text, It was also precious and rare.
据专家说，目前我国大约有12000种药用植物，这是一个十分吓人的数字。四十九和一万二，这个比例让我叹为观止。
According to experts, there are about 12,000 medicinal plants in China at present, which is a very frightening number. Forty-nine and twelve thousand, what an amazing ratio to me.
除了外公传授给母亲的中草药知识，母亲还参加了西医药培训班，所以，母亲在老家的行医生涯，口碑非常好。就算现在已经过去了四十多年，母亲在1978年带着我们兄妹三人全家随军，离开了老家，只要有人一提起赫赫有名的“王医师”，那绝对就是指我的老娘。我对这一点很得意，经常为老娘感到骄傲和自豪。
In addition to the knowledge of Chinese herbs taught by my grandpa, my mother also attended a western medicine training course, so her reputation as a doctor in my hometown was very good. Even now, more than 40 years have passed, my mother left her home in 1978 with the three brother of us and the family to the army, as long as someone mentioned the famous "Doctor Wang" , that's definitely my mother. I'm proud of it and i'm always proud of my mother.
老娘的性格有时候很暴躁，打起人来，下手狠。在我的记忆里，挨过的打，那是一次一次又一次的。用荆条扑，用竹枝条抽，用羊角刺打，那种残暴和凶狠，现在想起来还后怕。所以，我被老娘打怕了，从来不敢打自己的孩子。老娘在孙女孙子出生后，也改了脾气，最多就是打个嘴巴，拍几下屁股，算得上改恶从善了。说句实在话，我们家里最有煞气的，最威严的，永远都是我的老娘。
My mother can be a little cranky sometimes. She hit people and hit really hard. In my memory, i was beaten again and again. Using the wattle to pounce, the bamboo branches to pump, the horns to prick, that kind of brutality and ferocity was horrible, i would cringe even thinking about it now. So i never dared to beat my own children. After the birth of granddaughter and grandson, my mother also changed her temper. At most, she would like to slap mouth and ass. To be honest, the damnedest and most dignified woman in our family is always my mother.
老娘也像外婆一样信佛，喜欢到庙宇烧香拜佛。但老娘从医院退休后，最喜欢做的事情，变成了种菜。她跟父亲回到老家，父亲整天找人打牌喝茶，母亲却一天到晚守在菜地里，种满了一片又一片菜地。
My mother also believe in Buddhism like my grandmother, who likes to go to temples to burn incense and worship Buddha. But when she retired from the hospital, growing vegetables became her favorite. She went home with my father, who spent the day playing cards and drinking tea, while my mother spent all her time in the vegetable fields, and planted patches of vegetable fields.
菜种的太多了，母亲的退休工资足够她花销，所以她也不需要去靠卖菜过日子，也就从不卖菜。隔三差五的，老娘的钱花不完，经常给孙子们发零用钱。母亲把菜送人，送出了很大的瘾。给左邻右舍送，给亲朋戚友送，给认识的人或不认识的人送。反正她种的菜，自己吃不完，就找人帮忙吃。最夸张的是，她有时候天远地远，坐长途公共汽车给亲戚们送菜，车费远远超过买菜的钱。这就让人很莫名其妙，也蛮感动的，不知道怎么说话了。
My mother had grown too much vegetables that we can't eat them up ourselves, as her retirement pay was enough she didn't have to sell vegetables to earn a living, she never sold vegetables. Every two or three day, she would give her grandchildren pocket money as the retirement pay was too much for her usage. Mother used to send the vegetables to others, and gradually giving itself became a huge addiction for her. She sent vegetables to neighbors, to relatives and friends, to people she knew or didn't know. Anyway, she's got more food than she can eat, so she needed help. Most exaggerated, she sometimes traveled a long distance to deliver food to her relatives, which cost far more than the cost of groceries. It's confusing and also emotional, and I don't know how to talk.
老娘到底是个怎样的人？其实就是个中医药应用的高手和种菜的发烧友。这就是我的评价。前者悬壶济世，治病救人，功德无量；后者自得其乐，逍遥快活，爽啊！
What kind of a woman is she? Actually, she's an expert in Chinese medicine application and an avid vegetable grower.This is my comment. The former curing the disease, saving the people, the latter self-satisfaction, fun, Fun!
斧子简介：
斧子，衡阳本土著名作家，湖南省作家协会会员，中国人民公安大学研究生，红网小说版特约评论员，出版发行著作有：散文诗集《等你归来》、《欠债校长》，中短篇小说集《月下天鹅和祝塘的绝版爱情》、《财哥的第一次婚姻》、《隐身保镖》等。