英国学生科学读本 第52期:苹果和苹果树(1)

 　　Lesson 52 Apples, And The Apple-tree

　　第52课 苹果和苹果树

　　Apples, sweet apples! There never was a child who did not enjoy eating a sweet ripe apple. Did you ever see apples growing wild? If you walk through the country lanes in the month of May, you may see the pretty pink and white flowers of the small wild apple, which is called the "crab," or the crab-apple.

　　苹果，甜甜的苹果！从没有哪个孩子不喜欢吃熟透的甜苹果吧？小朋友，你见过野生的苹果吗？在五月份走过乡间的小路，就可能看见小小的野生苹果树上，开着漂亮的粉白花。这种苹果树叫做crab，结出的苹果就叫crab–apple。

　　Later on, in summer, you can gather these wild crab-apples; but they are small, and very sour to the taste, and I do not think that you will like to eat them.

　　然后，到了夏天，你就可以摘到这些野生的苹果了。这些苹果很小，吃起来也很酸，我觉得你应该不会喜欢吃的。

　　Let us go into the orchards¹ in May, and look at the fine apple-trees growing there. They are covered with pretty pink and white flowers. Each flower has five little green leaves, which wrapped it round and protected it while it was a bud. But when the bud opened, these green leaves bent² back out of the way.

　　咱们在五月份进一趟果园，看看那里生长的漂亮的苹果树吧！苹果树都开满了漂亮的粉白花，每朵花周围都环绕着五片小小的绿色萼片，在花朵还是花蕾的时候，这些萼片可以保护花蕾。但是，花蕾开放的时候，绿色的萼片就向后卷起来，给花蕾让开了位置。

　　Next come five white and pink leaves, which are called petals³. Inside these there is a number of little yellow dust-spikes, like small pins with yellow heads. In the middle of the flower is the green seed-vessel, made up of five parts grown together.

　　然后是五片粉白的花瓣，花瓣里面有很多小小的黄色雄蕊，就像小小的大头针，长着黄色的头。花朵的中间是绿色的子房，是五个部分长在一起形成的。

　　As the summer passes, all the other parts of the flower wither⁴ and fall off; but the seed-vessel grows and thickens, until it becomes a round fleshy apple.

　　夏天过去的时候，花朵的其他部分就都枯萎凋谢了，但是子房却一直长大、变粗，最后变成了圆圆的、多肉的苹果。

1 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

2 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

3 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 wither   

vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡

参考例句：

• She grows as a flower does-she will wither without sun.她象鲜花一样成长--没有太阳就会凋谢。
• In autumn the leaves wither and fall off the trees.秋天，树叶枯萎并从树上落下来。