You tip out the sand from the suitcases and stash(把……收起来存放) them in the attic. The days are shortening; children trudge(拖着沉重的脚步走) unwillingly back to school. Gloaty out-of-office emails(自动回复的休假邮件) no longer dominate your inbox. In the northern hemisphere, summer is ending—and, it increasingly seems, not just this year's summer.(在北半球，夏天正在结束——而且越来越明显的是，结束的不只是今年的夏天。)
你把沙子从行李箱里倒出来，再把箱子塞进阁楼。白昼渐短，孩子们不情愿地拖着脚步回到学校。那些带着炫耀意味的“不在办公室”自动回复邮件，也不再霸占你的收件箱。在北半球，夏天正在结束——而且越来越明显的是，结束的不只是今年的夏天。
For the idea of summer cherish(珍视、珍爱)ed in the West, and immortalise(使不朽、使永存)d in songs and films, may be moribund(垂死的、行将消亡的) too. The crackle of possibility on the season's first warm day; the hazy sense, in lush midsummer, of getting away with something; the storing up of memories to revisit in bleaker times, like power in a solar battery: as the past few broiling months demonstrate, this version of summer—precious, fleeting and electric—is gravely imperilled by climate change.(季节里第一个温暖日子带来的那种噼啪作响的可能性；在草木繁茂的盛夏里，那种朦胧的、仿佛偷得了什么便宜的感觉；把记忆储存起来，留待更黯淡的时光里重温，就像太阳能电池里蓄着的电：过去这几个酷热的月份已经表明，这个版本的夏天——珍贵、短暂、令人心颤——正受到气候变化的严重威胁。)
西方人所珍视、并被歌曲和电影永久铭记的那个夏天，或许也正走向消亡。季节里第一个温暖日子带来的那种噼啪作响的可能性；在草木繁茂的盛夏里，那种朦胧的、仿佛偷得了什么便宜的感觉；把记忆储存起来，留待更黯淡的时光里重温，就像太阳能电池里蓄着的电：过去这几个酷热的月份已经表明，这个版本的夏天——珍贵、短暂、令人心颤——正受到气候变化的严重威胁。
The Platonic summer(柏拉图式的夏天，即理想化的夏天) is a carefree interlude(插曲、间歇) between responsibilities, stretching out languorously(慵懒地、懒洋洋地) like Dustin Hoffman on his lilo in “The Graduate”(《毕业生》中达斯汀·霍夫曼躺在充气筏上的经典画面). Nothing happens, then everything does. You meet new people or become someone new yourself, saying goodbye to old schools, jobs and friends and diving into the future. Life changes when you carry a watermelon to a party in the Catskills(《辣身舞》中扛西瓜参加派对的经典桥段). The days seem to last for ever, as Bryan Adams crooned(布莱恩·亚当斯低吟《Summer of '69》)—and oh, those summer nights—yet the season passes in a flash(转瞬间、一闪而过).
理想中的夏天，是责任与责任之间一段无忧无虑的插曲，慵懒地舒展着，就像《毕业生》里达斯汀·霍夫曼躺在他的充气筏上那样。什么都不会发生，然后一切又都发生了。你遇见新的人，或者自己变成一个新的人，告别旧学校、旧工作和老朋友，一头扎进未来。当你扛着一个西瓜去卡茨基尔山参加派对时，生活就变了。日子仿佛永远过不完，正如布莱恩·亚当斯低吟的那样——哦，那些夏夜——可这个季节又一闪而过。