On the first Monday of spring, Class Five climbed to the flat roof above the gym. The space held nothing but cracked tiles, a water tank, and wind. Mr. Gu unrolled a long sheet of paper. “This is our map,” he said. “By June, I would like a farm here.” The students looked at the blank paper, then at the grey roof, and someone laughed.
三月的第一个星期一，五班的学生爬到了体育馆上方平坦的屋顶。那里除了开裂的瓷砖、一个水箱和风，什么都没有。顾老师展开一张长长的纸。“这是我们的地图，”他说，“到六月，我希望这里有一座农场。”学生们看看空白的纸，又看看灰色的屋顶，有人笑了出来。
Mei counted the pots from the art room and the caretaker's shed. Eleven, and three were cracked. She drew them on the map in neat rows, with a sun in the corner. “It is a start,” Mr. Gu said. Mei was not sure a start was enough, but she wrote her name at the top and began to measure the sunlight.
梅数了数从美术教室和管理员棚子里找来的花盆。一共十一个，其中三个裂了。她还是把它们整整齐齐地画在地图上，角落里画了一个太阳。“这是个开始，”顾老师说。梅不确定一个开始是否足够，但她还是在纸的顶端写下自己的名字，开始测量阳光。
By May the roof had rows of green: lettuce, beans, and twelve brave tomato plants. Then the pigeons found them. Each morning Mei found leaves torn and soil scratched into craters. The class tried a scarecrow, which the pigeons sat on. They tried shouting, which made the caretaker shout back. Then Mr. Gu brought netting and a box of wooden pegs.
到了五月，屋顶上已经有了一排排绿色：生菜、豆子，还有十二株勇敢的番茄。然后鸽子发现了它们。每天早上梅都会看到叶子被撕破，泥土被刨出一个个小坑。全班试过做一个稻草人，结果鸽子坐在了稻草人身上。他们试过大喊，结果管理员反过来朝他们喊。最后，顾老师拿来一卷网和一盒木夹子。
The netting took an afternoon and one argument about knots. When the wind rose, it lifted the net like a sail and dropped it in the stairwell. Mei stood in the doorway, close to tears. She noticed the tomato stems bent but did not break. “Build the frame lower,” she said. On Saturday, parents came with bamboo poles, and the net held.
挂网花了一个下午，还吵了一架，争论该怎么打结。起风时，网像帆一样被掀了起来，掉进了楼梯间。梅站在门口，几乎要哭出来。她注意到番茄的茎弯了，却没有断。“把架子搭低一点，”她说。星期六，家长们带着竹竿来了，网终于稳住了。
In June the roof turned into a small market. The class picked beans into paper cones and lettuce into a laundry basket borrowed from the caretaker. They set up a table by the gate and wrote a sign: FREE, BUT TELL US A RECIPE. Parents stopped, then neighbours, then the bus driver. Mei handed out tomatoes and listened to a woman describe her grandmother's soup.
六月，屋顶变成了一个小市场。同学们把豆子装进纸筒，把生菜放进从管理员那里借来的洗衣篮。他们在门口摆了一张桌子，写了一个牌子：免费，但请告诉我们一个菜谱。家长们停下来，接着是邻居，然后是公交车司机。梅把番茄递出去，听一位女士讲她祖母的汤。
At the end of the day only one tomato was left, the smallest and strangest shaped. Mr. Gu offered it to Mei. She shook her head and put it back on the table with a note. “For next year's seed,” it said. Then she climbed the stairs one last time and looked at the empty pots, already planning what to plant in September.
一天结束的时候，只剩下一个番茄，最小，形状也最奇怪。顾老师把它递给梅。她摇了摇头，又把它放回桌上，旁边留了一张纸条。“留给明年的种子，”上面写着。然后她最后一次爬上楼梯，看着那些空花盆，已经在计划九月要种什么了。