Garden Gnomes花園小矮人

張恒

Garden gnomes stay in millions of gardens around the Western world. Mostpeople just keep them for decoration2. They want to make their garden a moreenjoyable place. The gnomes give the garden an element3 of surprise. There are ofcourse quite a few people who believe that gnomes bring good luck and protect theirproperty4！

在西方世界，花園小矮人待在數以百萬計的花園中。大多數人只是將它們留作裝飾。他們想讓他們的花園成為一個更令人愉快的地方。小矮人給花園增添了驚喜的元素。當然，有相當多的人相信小矮人會帶來好運和保護他們的財產！

Gnomes are spirits of the earth. People believe that garden gnomes protect yourgarden and your home at night when you are asleep. Gnomes have extensive5knowledge of stones， gems6 and minerals7. According to folklore8， gnomes couldmake beautiful silver work. The things made by the gnomes had an extra bonus9：they were magical.

小矮人是大地的精靈。人們相信花園小矮人晚上在你睡覺的時候會保護你的花園和你的家。小矮人對石頭、寶石和礦物有著廣博的知識。根據民間傳說，小矮人可以制作精美的銀制品。小矮人制作的工藝品有額外的加成：它們具有魔力。

Garden gnomes are all over Europe. Today over 35 million garden gnomes arein Germany alone. The same is true for the United States. Ken Humphreys fromBritain is famous for his private collection. This lucky man owned 1200 gardengnomes！ Helga Eidenhammer from Australia has collected garden gnomes for over25 years. Her collection has reached 4443！

花園小矮人遍布歐洲。如今，僅在德國就有3500 多萬個花園小矮人。在美國也是如此。來自英國的肯·漢弗萊斯因其私人收藏而聞名。這個幸運兒擁有1200個花園小矮人！來自澳大利亞的海爾加·艾登哈默收集花園小矮人已經超過25年了。她的藏品已經達到了4443 件！

Sir Charles Isham owned the most famous garden gnomes in England. Hebought 21 garden gnomes in Germany in 1847. Sadly， only one of them exists today.It now stays in a glass cage10. It is only allowed to travel to important gnome events.

查爾斯·艾沙姆爵士擁有英格蘭最著名的花園小矮人。1847 年，他在德國購買了21 個花園小矮人。遺憾的是，現存的只有其中一個。現在它待在一個玻璃罩子里，只能參加重要的小矮人活動。

The largest is a Howard the Gnome. It is 28 feet tall （8 meters）. It is in a farmin Victoria， Canada. It has black boots， wears green pants and a blue shirt. He has ared pointed hat.

最大的花園小矮人是一個霍華德小矮人。它身高28 英尺（8 米）。它在加拿大維多利亞的一個農場里。它穿著黑色靴子，綠色褲子和藍色襯衫。它有一頂紅尖帽。

Statues11 of gods， goddesses， fairies， and dwarfs12 have been common since theRenaissance13. In Ancient Greece some had statues of gods in the garden to protectthe garden. In Northern Europe there is a long tradition that dwarfs are spirits of theearth. They are a big part of the countriesculture and folklore.

自文藝復興以來，眾神、女神、仙女和小矮人的雕像一直很常見。在古希臘，一些人在花園里放置神的雕像來保護花園。北歐有一個悠久的傳統，即小矮人是大地的精靈。它們是這些國家的文化和民間傳說的重要組成部分。……