英国学生科学读本 第26期:摘毛茛(1)

 　　Lesson 26 Picking Buttercups

　　第26课 摘毛茛

　　You all like to gather the yellow flowers called buttercups. The flowers are pretty, but there are other partsof the plant which you should look at. Let us dig¹ up the whole plant with a big knife, and try to see all its parts, and learn what are their uses.

　　小朋友, 你们都喜欢摘一种叫做“毛茛”的小黄花。这些花儿很漂亮, 不过, 这种植物的其他部分, 你们也应该看一看。咱们用一把大刀子挖出一棵来, 观察一下所有的部分, 再了解一下这些部分都有什么用。

　　First, there are the roots, which are brown or white in colour. The roots fix the buttercup plant in the ground, and they also suck² out of the soil a great deal of water every day. In this water there are many things taken from the soil which the plant needs for its food.

　　首先是“根”。根的颜色一般是棕色或者白色。根把毛茛固定在地上, 每天还从土壤里吸收很多水分。这些水分里, 有很多来自土壤的养分, 是植物需要的“食物”。

　　Then there is the green, branching stem³. It holds up the leaves and the flowers, and spreads them out so that they can all get plenty of the fresh air and of the sunlight⁴.

　　然后, 还有绿色的, 分出枝叶的“茎”。茎支撑着“叶”和“花”, 把它们分散开, 这样, 叶和花就都能得到足够的新鲜空气和阳光。

　　The green leaves are covered with tiny holes, too small for our eyes to see. Through these holes the leaves draw in air, and they use part of this air as food. So the food of the buttercup is air and water, and a small part of the earth which is mixed with the water.

　　绿叶上面, 满是细小的气孔。这些气孔小到我们的眼睛都看不见。叶子就通过这些气孔来吸入空气, 空气里的一部分, 也是植物的“食物”。毛茛的“食物”就是空气和水, 还有溶解在水里的一部分土壤。

1 dig   

v.挖（洞，沟等）；掘

参考例句：

• It is difficult to dig the ground when it is frozen.地面冻住了就不易挖掘。
• In those days we often went to dig for wild vegetables.那时候我们常常出去挖野菜。

2 suck   

vt.吸，吮，吸入，吮吸，吸收，获得；vi.吸，吸奶；n.吸，吸入，吮吸

参考例句：

• It's good to suck in such clean fresh air for a change.换个环境，吸点清新空气，真是好极了。
• Bees suck honey from flowers.蜜蜂从花中吸吮蜜汁。

3 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

4 sunlight   

n.日光，阳光，日照

参考例句：

• The room was flooded with warm and golden sunlight.房间充满着温暖、金色的阳光。
• In the bright sunlight she had to narrow her eyes.在强烈阳光下她必须眯着双眼。