英语博客(A cup of English):Robert's harvest

Beginners.

I walked into the kitchen this afternoon, and I found my son, Robert, climbing through the kitchen window. "What on earth are you doing?" I asked him. "I wanted to open the window so I can pass you all my pumpkins²." "Okay," I replied, still a bit confused about why he needed to climb through the window instead of just opening it. Anyway, he passed me all of his pumpkins, about eleven of them. He put them in the sink, washed them off, and then placed them on the mantlepiece as a decoration. He kept one of them in the kitchen. His plan was to open it, take out the seeds, and bake them. So that is what we did. He did most of the work. We have some little pumpkin¹ knives that are not very sharp, but similar to miniature saws. They are good for cutting through the tough pumpkin skin. Next he took out the seeds and the gooey pulp³. He picked out the seeds, put them in a pan of water, and washed them. When the pulp had been washed off, he dried the seeds in a paper towel, and put them on a metal baking tray. A sprinkle of salt, and into the oven they went, at 350 degrees. I actually forgot about them until I smelled something delicious. Luckily, they were not burnt. Yum, baked pumpkin seeds from our own garden! Well done, Robert.

Grammar notes.

Vocabulary: pulp, paper towel, baking tray.

Exs:

I like to buy orange juice with no pulp.

If you spill that milk, don't use a kitchen towel. Please use a paper towel instead.

We put the cookie dough⁴, spoonful by spoonful, on the baking tray.

Advanced.

My son said to me yesterday that he wanted to pick his pumpkins. He had planted the seeds in early Summer, and much to my surprise, had had success. He had been shopping with me one day in June, and he saw an aisle⁵ with seeds of all kinds. The home store was gearing the sales around the garden, and planting vegetables. So he looked up and down the aisle. There were many kinds of seeds to choose from, but he stuck to the miniature and white pumpkins. He knew exactly what he wanted. "Now, we have to follow the instructions properly, or they won't grow, okay Robert?" I had said to him, knowing that he likes to do things his way, and not necessarily always the right way. "Okay, Mum," he replied. When we got home, after unloading the car of all of our shopping, we headed straight out to the garden. He chose to plant the seeds in a circular, built up area of soil where we have lots of trees and bushes. In the middle of this area is a firepit. "When we roast marshmallows over the firepit, we'll be able to look around and see pumpkins everywhere," he said excitedly as we opened the packets. However, he put  both packets of seeds in one little hole. I told him that they probably wouldn't grow well at all and that we should follow the instructions, but he insisted on planting them his way. Well, wouldn't you know that out of the two of us, he is the one with the bumper⁶ harvest! So much for instructions!

Grammar notes.

Expressions:  a bumper harvest/ crop, wouldn't you know, to my/his/our surprise.      Practice of pluperfect.

Exs:

This year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes. The plants just kept producing and producing.

She bought a lottery⁷ ticket and, wouldn't you know, she won some money!

At first, the man and woman didn't like eachother at all. To our great surprise, they announced their engagement three months later.

Pluperfect.

He had planted many types of seeds, but had hardly harvested any crops.

Had he had enough of fighting, or did he want to box all night?

They had never been to Greece before; they had always stayed in the Americas.

 

1 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

2 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

3 pulp   

n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆

参考例句：

• The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
• The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。

4 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

5 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

6 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

7 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。