Valley of Heart’s Delight 心灵的快乐之谷
Pretty much everyone knows that Silicon Valley used to be called the Valley of Heart's Delight，used to be full of orchards，and that the farmers all slowly vanished once the computers came in.There are still vestiges of the old Valley left，though，still a few old family farms left here and there in amongst the office buildings the billboards and the freeways.It hasn't all disappeared.
I used to buy strawberries and cherries from an orchard in Saratoga.Actually，it wasn't really an orchard，it was just an older gentleman with a few cherry trees who，as I understood it，used to have a much larger farm but sold off most of the land over the years as land values went up and farming became less profitable.He kept the acre or so around his house because he just really liked being a farmer.In May he would sell strawberries from Gilroy，and in June he sold cherries from his own trees，all from a little roadside stand.I would drive by，park along the white fence alongside his property，chat for a bit and buy a quart or two of berries for eating or for jam，or cherries for snacking.The prices were good，and the fruit was incredibly fresh and flavorful（far more than it ever got at the grocery store）。
I read in the local paper late last year that my friend the old farmer had died，and his family was trying to decide what to do with the orchard.I hoped they would find a way to keep it open，but I knew that with housing prices what they were in the Valley，and especially in Saratoga，that the little cherry orchard would be sold.And sure enough，I drove by there just a little while ago，and there was a FOR SALE sign up on the white fence next to the roadside stand where I used to park my car.
I was very quiet for the next mile down the road.
Saratoga is a very rich neighborhood，a town of sweeping driveways paved in brick leading up to enormous faux-Tudor and faux-Tuscan mansions.You could fit at least three or four of those houses on a sad little worn out cherry orchard once you scraped all the trees off of it，sell those houses for a couple mil apiece，make quite a profit on your investment.And that's what the Valley is all about，right？Return on Investment？
I was thinking of my friend and his cherry orchard when I heard recently that Mariani，the last dried fruit packer in Santa Clara County，is shutting down and moving to the Central Valley.Last year Del Monte closed its last fruit cannery here.A couple of years back Olson Cherries，who had huge orchards out in Sunnyvale and a big roadside stand on El Camino Real，sold most of its land to a developer.There are apartments there now.They're called the Cherry Orchard Apartments.Ha ha ha.
All we've got left now as far as actual commercial fruit production in the Valley is a tomato packer owned by a company in New York，and a small maraschino cherry manufacturer.Both are planning to leave the Valley in the next few years.Soon all the fruit will be gone.
Does it really matter？Computers are more profitable.The economy in the area is certainly better with high tech than it would be in farming.The jump in land values is great if you own land.And you could argue that a lot of these farmers have been here for long enough that they can sell out for a lot of money，retire altogether or just buy more land in a cheaper area and keep farming.They don't have to farm in this particular neighborhood.We don't need farming here.
But I don't know.In San Francisco they complain that when the dotcommers came in they drove out all the artists and the musicians and the people who make San Francisco interesting-that all that high tech money turned the city into a town of loft condos and cell phones and SUVs.In the Valley we've been over-teched for a long time and the change been much more gradual，much less dramatic.But the problem is the same：it's good to have diversity.It's good to have industry in an area that is not all chips and networks and software.It's good to be able to talk to people who have different interests，different backgrounds，different ways of looking at the very neighborhood you live in and the streets you walk and drive every day.When an industry dies，particularly an industry that was once so important to this area，you lose all of that.I think it's hard to understand how much that will be missed until it's gone……and until it is far too late to get it back.But then，for the Valley of Heart's Delight，it probably already is.
差不多每个人都知道，硅谷以前叫做心灵的快乐之谷，曾经遍地果园，但计算机涌入后，农夫们都慢慢消失不见了。尽管如此，这里还保留着旧有谷地的些许痕迹，一些老式的家族牧场散落于纷繁的办公楼、广告牌和高速路之间，还没有全部消失。
我过去常常从萨拉托加的一座果园里买草莓和樱桃。实际上，那称不上一座果园，只是一位老人和他种的几棵樱桃树。那位老人，我想，过去应该拥有一座大的多的农场，但是随着几年间地价攀升，农牧生意逐渐萎缩暗淡，就变卖了农场的大部分土地，可由于实在难以割舍那份农夫情愫，他在自己住房的周围保留了这一亩三分地。五月，他会卖从吉尔罗伊过来的草莓，六月，他卖自家产的樱桃，就在路旁摆个小摊位。我开车经过时，把车停在他园子周边的白色栅栏外，和他聊上几句，然后买上一、两品脱的草莓，或吃或做成果酱，抑或是买樱桃，作为闲来的消遣。价钱划算，而且果实非常的新鲜，有滋味（比在杂货店买的不知道好多少）。
去年晚些时候，我从当地报纸上得知，我的朋友，那位年老的农夫去世了，他的家人正商讨着怎么处理果园。我希望他们能想办法继续经营，但是我知道，硅谷里的地价，特别是萨拉托加一带的地价非常诱人，小樱桃园肯定会被卖掉的。果不其然，不久前我驱车经过，在我过去泊车的路边摊位的旁边，白色的栅栏上竖起了一块“地皮出售”的牌子。
在下面的一段路程中，我出奇的安静。
萨拉托加异常富有，大面积的车道砖块铺砌，车道两边簇拥着不计其数的都铎式、托斯卡纳式的建筑群。在一块可怜的濒于贫瘠的小樱桃园里，一旦你铲平所有的树，至少可以容下三、四座那样的房子，每座只卖出一小部分，你就可以大赚一笔。这就是谷中之道，不是吗？投资收益？
我正回忆着我的朋友和他的樱桃园，这时我听说，最近，圣克莱拉郡最后一个水果干生产厂，玛利安妮，将停产关闭，迁往中央山谷。去年德尔蒙特也关闭了它在这里的水果罐头加工厂。再往前几年，曾经在桑尼维尔拥有大片果园，在皇家路上设有一个大卖场的奥尔森樱桃，把它名下的大部分土地都卖给了地产开发商。那里现在是住宅区，叫做樱桃园公寓。哈哈哈。
谷中剩下的，当然这里所说的是现实的商业水果生产，只有纽约一家公司门下的一个番茄加工厂，和另外一家小规模的醉樱桃制造厂。它们都计划几年后迁出硅谷。很快，所有的水果就都会离谷而去了。
这有什么紧要的吗？计算机更加有利可图嘛。比起农业，高科技更能带动这一地区经济的发展。如果你拥有土地，会感到地价猛增。而且你可能还会辩解说很多农场主在这儿呆得时间都够长了，他们可以卖掉土地，赚取大笔钱财，干脆退休安享晚年，或者在其他价格便宜的地区另置土地，继续耕作。不一定非要在这里经营农场。在这儿，我们不需要农业。
但是，我并不确定。在旧金山，人们抱怨说IT人来了之后，把所有的艺术家、音乐家和其他让旧金山多姿多彩的人都赶走了――高科技带来的滚滚钱源使这座城市充斥着高耸的写字楼、手机和高档越野车。在硅谷，很长时间以来，高科技似乎变得过于尖端和繁荣了，这种变迁倒是相对缓慢，没有那么突然、戏剧化。但是，问题都一样：我们需要的是多样的生活。我们需要的是在这里除了芯片、网络和软件外，还发展有其他工业形式。我们需要的是能够跟具有不同兴趣、不同背景的人交谈，让我们感到对于我们天天居住的社区，行走、驾车的街道还存在着不同的理解和看法。当一个行业衰退、死亡，特别是对这一地区曾经那么重要的行业，你会失去与这一行业有关的一切。我想，直到真正消失，直到再也无法挽回，人们很难意识到那些东西是多么的让人怀念。但是，现在，对于心灵的快乐之谷来说，情况可能已然如此了。
译者感言
看到原本空无一物的土地上拔地而起了高楼大厦，摩登、质感、流彩、耸入云霄，我们怎不会为人类的能力啧啧称奇；原本神话般难如登天的事情，现今自己几分钟内就能完成和实现，我们怎不会跳起来惊叹和感谢这个时代。可是，心是会怀念的，特别是美好的事物。原本空无一物的土地上是自然，有草、野花、小溪、树林……原本蘸满墨水的笔尖下移动的是写信人浓浓的深情……当环境惨遭蹂躏，唾手可得的方便、快捷是否能让我们的心透亮、安宁？当人们的行事，举止变得大同小异，钞票和名誉是否能让我们的心丰富、充实？真是怀念原始的自然，怀念春秋的百家争鸣，怀念从前的美好啊。经济和环境，经济和人文，是我们永远需要认真掂量思索的主题。怎样让三者均衡向前发展呢？这么大的问题似乎不是我们这些芸芸众生的脑袋可以思考出来的，但这可不能作为我们回避它的借口。读到作者“出奇的安静”，你的心没有跟着动容吗？还有“多样的生活”，你的心不向往吗？所以，为自己，为大家，尽量思考，增强意识，从我做起吧。也许很小，但人生原本不就是一点一滴的小事积累起来的吗？让阳光穿过城市森林照进我们的心里去，让地球变成我们心灵的快乐之谷！
