Every April I am beset（困扰） by the same concern-that spring might not occur this year. The landscape looks forsaken（孤独凄凉的）, with hills, sky and forest forming a single graymeld, like the wash an artist paints on a canvas before the masterwork. My spirits ebb, as they did during an April snowfall when I first came to Maine 15 years ago. "Just wait," a neithbor counseled. "You'll wake up one morning and spring will just be here."
Andlo, on May 3 that year I awoke to a green so startling as to be almost electric, as if spring were simply a matter of flipping a switch. Hills, sky and forest revealed their purples, blues and green. Leaves had unfurled, goldfinches had arrived at the feeder and daffodils（水仙花） were fighting their way heavenward.
Then there was the old apple tree. It sits on an undeveloped lot in my neighborhood. It belongs to no one and therefore to everyone. The tree's dark twisted branches sprawl in unpruned abandon. Each spring it blossoms so profusely that the air becomes saturated with the aroma of apple. When I drive by with my windows rolled down, it gives me the feeling of moving in another element, like a kid on a water slide.
Until last year, I thought I was the only one aware of this tree. And then one day, in a fit of spring madness, I set out with pruner and lopper to remove a few errant（不定的） branches. No sooner had I arrived under its boughs than neighbors opened their windows and stepped onto their porches. These were people I barely knew and seldom spoke to, but it was as if I had come unbidden into their personal gardens.
My mobile-home neighbor was the first to speak."You're not cutting it down, are you?" Another neighbor winced as I lopped off a branch. "Don't kill it, now," he cautioned. Soon half the neighborhood had joined me under the apple arbor. It struck me that I had lived there for five years and only now was learning these people's names, what they did for a living and how they passed the winter. It was as if the old apple tree gathering us under its boughs for the dual purpose of acquaintanceship and shared wonder. I couldn't help recalling Robert Frost's* words:
The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods
One thaw led to another. Just the other day I saw one of my neighbors at the local store. He remarked how this recent winter had been especially long and lamented not having seen or spoken at length to anyone in our neighborhood. And then, recouping his thoughts, he looked at me and said, "We need to prune（修剪） that apple treeagain."
相关单词：beset
beset解释：v.镶嵌；困扰，包围
beset例句：
She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。
相关单词：Forsaken
Forsaken解释：adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词
Forsaken例句：
He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。
相关单词：ebb
ebb解释：vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态
ebb例句：
The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。
相关单词：flipping
flipping解释：讨厌之极的
flipping例句：
I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。
相关单词：blues
blues解释：n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐
blues例句：
She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。
相关单词：sprawl
sprawl解释：vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延
sprawl例句：
In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。
相关单词：prune
prune解释：n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除
prune例句：
Will you prune away the unnecessary adjectives in the passage?把这段文字中不必要的形容词删去好吗？
It is our job to prune the side branches of these trees.我们的工作就是修剪这些树的侧枝。
相关单词：profusely
profusely解释：ad.abundantly
profusely例句：
We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture. 我们搬动家具大费气力，累得大汗淋漓。
He had been working hard and was perspiring profusely. 他一直在努力干活，身上大汗淋漓的。
相关单词：saturated
saturated解释：a.饱和的，充满的
saturated例句：
The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液
相关单词：aroma
aroma解释：n.香气，芬芳，芳香
aroma例句：
The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。
相关单词：pruner
pruner解释：修枝剪
pruner例句：
相关单词：boughs
boughs解释：大树枝( bough的名词复数 )
boughs例句：
The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。
相关单词：spoke
spoke解释：n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
spoke例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
相关单词：winced
winced解释：赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )
winced例句：
He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。
相关单词：arbor
arbor解释：n.凉亭；树木
arbor例句：
They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。
相关单词：gathering
gathering解释：n.集会，聚会，聚集
gathering例句：
He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
相关单词：dual
dual解释：adj.双的；二重的，二元的
dual例句：
The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。
相关单词：thaw
thaw解释：v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和
thaw例句：
The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。
相关单词：lamented
lamented解释：adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )
lamented例句：
her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
