Be a Gardener               請你做個園丁

  Dig a ditch. Toil and sweat.      挖土掘溝，揮汗如雨。

And turn the earth upsidedown.        把大地翻個轉！

       And seek the deepness.         直至地下深處。 

詩中"Dig a ditch. Toil and sweat."可以和醫生在下面第五段對自己的描寫作一對比。由於他是如此認真的一位園丁，才會有以下所描述的趣事。

原文第五段

One summer's day found me hard digging in my garden, sweating honest sweat and enjoying every bit of it. I was dressed in soiled shorts and T-shirt, a clapped-out straw hat completing my get-up. Since my garden is just by the roadside, passers-by have a full view of what is going on within. Whilst I was getting myself dirty, there was a lady on the pavement watching me. I was not aware of her presence until she called out to me: Are you the gardener here? Looking up, I answered: Yes, I am the gardener. She continued: I live close by, just up the road. I have a large garden that needs a part-time gardener to care for it. Would you...And here she began to offer a job description and terms...

Aiyahh! Aiyahh!!（I recognized her at once.） She turned a colour of deepest red: Aiyahh! You are my husband's doctor!! Indeed, I had operated on her husband, one of the richest men in Hong Kong. I didn't get the job.

譯文

有個夏日，我穿了髒兮兮的短褲T恤、戴着破舊草帽，在園子中奮力掘地，汗流浹背，卻其樂無窮！由於園子就在路旁，過路的人可以把園中情景看得一清二楚。其時路邊有位女士看着我勞動得衣衫盡濕，我倒並沒有留意她，直到她揚聲說：「你是這兒的園丁嗎？」我抬頭回答：「是啊！我就是園丁。」她續說「我住在附近，就在路那頭。我的園子很大，需要一位兼職園丁。你可願意……。接着她就開始述說工作職責、條件等等。

啊唷！啊唷！！（至此我立即就把她認出來了！）她也把臉脹得通紅：「啊唷！你原來是我先生的醫生！！」真的，我曾為他做過手術。他是香港富豪之一。

我終於沒有得到這份工作。

感悟

一、原文的whilst I was getting myself dirty讓我思考良久，總不能說「當我把自己弄髒」，終於用了「勞動得衣衫盡濕」，不過還是不滿意，仍需再想想。

二、原文的 a part-time gardener to care for it，我決定不把 to care for it譯出來，因為如果譯成「來照料它」，似乎有點累贅，而且請一個園丁意思當然是去照料園子，所以大可省略了。

三、另有一個段落問題。最後一句我把它放在另一行，讓讀者喘口氣，然後好好欣賞這份幽默。

最後我想引用醫生的名句作結。以下是關寶源醫生在序中的話：他在書中提及他在六十年中見過的極不尋常而值得警惕的醫療事故。他的名言就是：

A good surgeon knows how to operate.

A better surgeon knows when to operate.

The best surgeon knows when not to operate.

好的外科醫生知道如何把手術做好。

更好的外科醫生知道何時須做手術。

最好的外科醫生知道何時不必做手術。

關醫生說這名句甚有深意。所有的醫生都應引此為鑑。

（作者為前教育局質素保證分部DOLACEE&ILLIPS 計劃總監。）