美国学生世界地理教材 第97期:你讲法语吗?（续）(2)

 When we eat our meals we almost always do so indoors¹, where we can see no one else and no one else can see us.  我们就餐几乎总在室内，我们看不到别人，别人也看不到我们。

But the French often eat outof- doors, on the sidewalk or overlooking² the sidewalk,  但法国人经常在户外就餐，要么就在人行道上，

where they can see every one and every one can see them, and that’s where many of their most famous restaurants are placed. 要么在俯瞰人行道的地方，就餐的人能看到周围的人，周围的人也能看到他们，法国许多最著名的餐馆正是位于这样的地方。

The French drink a great deal of wine with their meals, much as we drink milk or coffee or tea,  法国人吃饭时喝很多葡萄酒，就像我们喝牛奶、咖啡或茶一样，

and there are many great farms in different parts of France where they raise grapes from which they make the wine.  在法国各地有很多种植葡萄的大农场，人们用葡萄酿造葡萄酒。

These farms are vineyards—called “vinyards.”  这些农场叫做葡萄园。

Cloth is made out of several things—linen³, cotton, wool, and silk; linen, cotton, and wool are chiefly for use, but silk is chiefly for beauty.  布可以用好几种材料制成——亚麻、棉花、羊毛和蚕丝；亚麻、棉花和羊毛做的布比较实用，但蚕丝做的布主要适用于装饰。

In Ireland cloth is made out of linen, in England cloth is made out of cotton and wool, but in France cloth is made out of silk for beauty’s sake⁴.  在爱尔兰布是用亚麻做的，在英国布是用棉花和羊毛做的，但在法国，为了美观的目的，布是用蚕丝做的。

Linen and cotton are made from plants, wool is made from sheep, but silk is made from a little caterpillar⁵.  亚麻和棉花都从植物中获得，羊毛来自绵羊，但蚕丝取自一种小毛虫。

We call this caterpillar a silkworm, but he is not really a worm at all.  我们把这种小毛虫叫做蚕，但它并不是真正的虫子。

A worm is born, lives, and dies always a worm, but a caterpillar turns into a beautiful moth⁶ or butterfly if let alone. 虫子从出生、长大到死始终是个虫子，但是如果让毛虫自然生长，它就会蜕变成一只美丽的飞蛾或者蝴蝶。

Most caterpillars⁷, however, we try to kill, for they eat the leaves of trees and other green things.  然而，我们会设法把大多数的毛虫都消灭掉，因为它们吃树叶和其他绿色植物。

But silkworms are so valuable that people feed them leaves and raise them as our farmers raise chickens.  但是蚕非常宝贵，人们喂树叶给它们吃，照料它们，就像农民养鸡一样。

The silk caterpillar likes a special kind of leaf—the leaves of the mulberry-tree.  蚕幼虫喜欢一种特殊的树叶——桑树叶。

So in the valley of a river in France called the Rh?ne the French people grow mulberry-trees 法国一条河，叫罗讷河，在罗讷河山谷，法国人专门种植桑树

—not for the mulberries but for the leaves, which they gather and feed to the silkworms. ——不是为了桑葚而是为了桑叶，他们用采摘来的桑叶养蚕。

After the silk caterpillar has eaten, he spins a fine thread of silk almost a quarter of a mile long out of his own body,  当蚕幼虫吃了桑叶后，就像蜘蛛从自己体内吐出丝，织网一样，从自己的体内吐出一根很细的丝线，

as a spider spins a spider web out of his own body.  几乎有四分之一英里那么长。

The silk caterpillar winds himself up in this thread as he spins it round and round and round  蚕幼虫一圈一圈又一圈吐丝的时候，也就把它自己缠绕在丝线里面，

until he is completely covered up and looks in his cover of silk thread something like a peanut.  直到自己完全被裹住，形成的蚕茧看起来有点像个花生。

Then he goes to sleep inside, and if he waked up he would come out a moth; but they don’t let him wake up.  然后它就在里面开始睡觉了，一觉醒过来，它就会变成一只蛾子，破茧而出；但人们不让它醒过来，

They boil him while he is asleep, till he is soft, and then they un wind the thread which he has wound round himself and use it to make silk cloth,  在它还在熟睡的时候就把茧放到水里煮，直到变软，然后把缠绕在它身上的丝线解开，用蚕丝做成丝绸、

silk stockings, silk ribbons, and all the silk things that women love.  丝袜、丝带以及所有女人喜欢的丝制品。

On the River Rh?ne is the greatest place in Europe for making silk. It is called Lyons. 在罗讷河上有一个欧洲最大的丝绸产地，叫做里昂。

1 indoors   

adv.(在)室内，(在)户内

参考例句：

• Because of the coldness of the weather we stayed indoors.我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。
• It is very cold outside,you'd better come indoors across the board.外面很冷，你们所有人最好都进屋。

2 overlooking   

v.忽视( overlook的现在分词 )；监督；俯视；（对不良现象等）不予理会

参考例句：

• The house is in an elevated position, overlooking the town. 这栋房子地势较高，可以俯瞰全城。
• The house sits high on a hill overlooking a lake. 房子高高地坐落在可以俯瞰湖水的小山上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

4 sake   

n.缘故，理由

参考例句：

• He loves poetry for beauty's sake.他因为爱美而喜欢诗歌。
• We can't risk big things for the sake of small ones.我们不能因小失大。

5 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

6 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

7 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句