经济学人下载:一个理想之地的建立 二战期间妇女协会的故事

Building Jerusalem
一个理想之地的建立

A very British story
一个发生在英国的故事

Jambusters: The Story of the Women's Institute in the Second World War. By Julie Summers.
《果酱大师：二战期间妇女协会的故事》。作者：Julie Summers。

NO STORY says more about Britain's Women's Institute in the second world war than that of the jam-makers of Hawkinge in east Kent. In the bountiful summer of 1940, Women's Institutes around the country were to produce a total of 1,000 tonnes, or over 1m kilos of jam, to improve the nation's diet and raise its spirits. Many Hawkinge members had moved inland for security, but the five who stayed made 350 kilos of jam that summer. As the Battle of Britain raged overhead, the youngest member told the others to go to the bomb shelter. “I'll stay and watch this boiling.” Afterwards she said, “You see, they had children and I haven't.”
除了在肯特郡东部的Hawkinge地区生产果酱的故事以外，有关二战期间英国妇女协会的事迹鲜少流传。1940年夏季英国粮食丰收，为了改善国民饮食，振奋国民精神，妇女协会的成员打算制造总计1000公吨，约合一百多万公斤的果酱。在那个夏天，不少Hawkinge地区的成员为了安全都已搬往内陆，但是5位留守者做出了350公斤的果酱。当不列颠空战的炮火在头顶肆虐之时，5个人中年纪最小的一位说道“我要留下来看着煮果子”，却让其他人躲到防空洞里。等她们走后，她坦言“看，她们是有孩子的人，而我没有”。

That image of defiant jam-making sums up the way many see the wartime contribution of the Women's Institute. But Julie Summers uses the diaries of women and the institute's records to show its much wider contribution. The WI was predominantly a village organisation, and in the opening months of the war, evacuation of children and the establishment of military camps meant that the population of the countryside almost doubled. The institute's own membership declined, as women went into war work, but for those who remained, it provided a focus and a comfort in the face of huge disruption and growing deprivation.
无视战火，制造果酱，这样勇敢无畏的事迹被人们看做是妇女协会在战时的贡献。而Julie Summers利用一些妇女日记和协会的档案进行研究，展现了这群人更广泛的贡献。这所“妇女协会”其实是一个乡村组织，在开战的头几个月内，撤离的儿童来到这个村子，军营也在此建立起来，全村人口数量约增加了一倍。由于很多女性从事战争相关工作，这个协会原先的会员人数下降，但是留下来的人却关注了并试图缓解其所面临的巨大破坏和不断加剧的匮乏问题。

Country women already led difficult lives: as Ms Summers points out, two-thirds of rural homes at the outbreak of war had no access to electricity or main drainage. Many WI sessions taught how to make do and mend, whether it was competing to create the best article of child's clothing from a flour bag or turning stockings into mittens or learning to knit with dog wool.
Summers女士在书中指出：农村妇女的生活已属不易，在战争爆发之时，三分之二的农村家庭要么没有通电， 要么没有通水。很多次妇女协会的会议内容都是培训妇女怎么修补旧的物品，将就着使用，包括比赛着用面粉袋给孩子做一身“好衣服”，袜子改做手套，以及学习用狗毛织毛衣。

The institute, which benefited from the leadership of formidable and well-connected women, got them through. Instruction was mixed with community singing, mutual support with cake-making—and jam, of course.
得益于一些受人尊敬，人脉颇广的妇女的领导，这个协会安然渡过难关。除了教导活动外，协会的活动还伴有团队合唱，制作蛋糕的互助项目，当然了，还有制作果酱。