第52課 蘋果和蘋果樹
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.
蘋果,甜甜的蘋果!從沒有哪個(gè)孩子不喜歡吃熟透的甜蘋果吧?小朋友,你見過野生的蘋果嗎?在五月份走過鄉(xiāng)間的小路,就可能看見小小的野生蘋果樹上,開著漂亮的粉白花。這種蘋果樹叫做crab,結(jié)出的蘋果就叫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,你就可以摘到這些野生的蘋果了。這些蘋果很小,吃起來也很酸,我覺得你應(yīng)該不會喜歡吃的。
Let us go into the orchards 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 bent back out of the way.
咱們在五月份進(jìn)一趟果園,看看那里生長的漂亮的蘋果樹吧!蘋果樹都開滿了漂亮的粉白花,每朵花周圍都環(huán)繞著五片小小的綠色萼片,在花朵還是花蕾的時(shí)候,這些萼片可以保護(hù)花蕾。但是,花蕾開放的時(shí)候,綠色的萼片就向后卷起來,給花蕾讓開了位置。
Next come five white and pink leaves, which are called petals. 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黃色雄蕊,就像小小的大頭針,長著黃色的頭?;ǘ涞闹虚g是綠色的子房,是五個(gè)部分長在一起形成的。
As the summer passes, all the other parts of the flower wither and fall off; but the seed-vessel grows and thickens, until it becomes a round fleshy apple.
夏天過去的時(shí)候,花朵的其他部分就都枯萎凋謝了,但是子房卻一直長大、變粗,最后變成了圓圓的、多肉的蘋果。