异类之不一样的成功启示录 第154期:种植水稻的历史

 　　Rice has been cultivated in China for thousands of years.

　　在中国，种植水稻的历史已有数千年。

　　It was from China that the techniques of rice cultivation¹ spread throughout east Asia-Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan.

　　随后，东亚地区的日本、韩国、新加坡和中国台湾相继从中国大陆引进了稻田的播种技术。

　　Year in, year out, as far back as history is recorded, farmers from across Asia have engaged in the same, relentless², intricate pattern of agriculture.

　　时间飞逝，回溯历史，亚洲的农民们都同样经历了错综复杂的农业变迁。

　　Rice paddies are "built," not "opened up" the way a wheat field is. You don't just clear the trees, underbrush and stones and then plow³.

　　稻田不同于麦田的“直接耕种”，稻田需要“开垦”，不仅仅需要清除树木、低矮的灌木以及石头，还需要耕犁。

　　Rice fields are carved into mountainsides in an elaborate series of terraces, or painstakingly⁴ constructed from marshland and river plains.

　　稻田通常建立在开垦过的梯田、改良后的沼泽以及河流经过的平原上。

　　A rice paddy has to be irrigated⁵, so an elaborate series of dikes has to be built around the field.

　　稻谷种植需要灌溉，所以稻田必须修田埂，

　　Channels must be dug from the nearest water source, and gates built into the dikes so the water flow can be adjusted precisely⁶ to cover the right amount of plant.

　　稻田周围需要修建水渠。这样在灌溉时，水渠里的水流经田埂上开凿的缺口，直接流进需要灌溉的每寸土地。

　　The paddy itself, meanwhile, has to have a hard clay floor; otherwise, the water will simply seep⁷ into the ground.

　　另外，稻田地的土质层内需要有硬土层，否则水就会全部渗透到地下。

　　But of course, you can't plant rice seedlings⁸ in hard clay, so on top of the clay, there has to be a thick, soft layer of mud.

　　但问题在于，稻种根本无法在硬土层上播种，因此在硬土层上还需要有一层厚度适中且柔软的粘土，

　　And the claypan, as it's called, has to be carefully engineered so that it will drain properly and also keep the plain submerged at the optimum level.

　　粘土的作用在于保证种子始终处在湿度适宜的最佳状况。

　　Rice has to be fertilized⁹ repeatedly, which is another art.

　　稻子还需要不间断地施肥，这又是另一种艺术。

　　Traditionally, farmers used "night soil"(human manure) and a combination of burned compost, river mud, bean cake, and hemp-used carefully,

　　在过去，农民通常使用粪便和一种由豆壳饼、纤维植物燃烧后与河中淤泥形成的混合肥料来为稻田施肥。

　　because too much fertilizer or the right amount applied¹⁰ at the wrong time can be as bad as too little.

　　在使用的过程中，他们必须特别谨慎，因为一旦施肥过量或者选择错误的时节进行施肥都会造成不小的损失。

1 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

2 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

3 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

4 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

5 irrigated   

[医]冲洗的

参考例句：

• They irrigated their crops with water from this river. 他们用这条小河里的水浇庄稼。
• A crop can be sown, weeded, irrigated, and fertilized uniformly. 一种作物可以均匀一致地进行播种，除草，灌溉和施肥。

6 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

7 seep   

v.渗出，渗漏；n.渗漏，小泉，水（油）坑

参考例句：

• My anger began to seep away.我的怒火开始消下去了。
• If meteoric water does not evaporate or run overland,it may seep directly into the ground.如果雨水不从陆地蒸发和流走的话，就可能直接渗入地下。

8 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。