英国学生科学读本 第56期:黄色的报春花(2)

 　　One kind has in its eye a little green knob just like the head of a pin; these are called pin-eyed. The other kind has a fringe of little yellow dust-spikes instead; such flowers are called thrum-eyed.

　　其中一种的“眼”中，有一个小小的绿球，像大头针的头一样，英语是pin–eyed，直译是“大头针花心”，汉语叫“长花柱花”。另一种花心，边上有一圈小小的黄色花药，这种花英语叫做thrum-eyed，直译是“线头花心”，汉语叫“短花柱花”。

　　Let us split open the tube of one of each kind. Both have the broad green seed-vessel down at the bottom of the tube, and from it there rises a slender green thread with a round sticky knob at the top. This thread is called the style. Now you see that in one of the flowers the style rises to the top of the tube, and in the other it rises only half-way.

　　咱们把两种花心的“花冠筒”各掰开一条。两种花冠筒底部，都有宽宽的绿色“子房”，从它里面长出一根细丝，顶端有一个带着粘性的小圆球。这细丝叫做“花柱”，现在你看到了，在一朵花当中，花柱会长到花冠筒顶端，在其他花当中，却只长到花冠筒的一半高。

　　Do you see any other difference between the two flowers? Yes; in the pin-eyed flower the dust-spikes are placed half-way down the tube, but in the other they are right at the top, and form its "thrum" eye.

　　你还看见这两种花有什么不同了吗？有的：长花柱花中，花药的位置，在花冠筒的下半边；而在别的花中，花药在最顶端，形成了花的线头形状的花心。

　　You know that every flower needs pollen¹ from some other flower to help to make its seeds, and that bees and other insects carry this pollen about when they are gathering² honey. Let us see how the two kinds of primrose³ flowers help each other to make seeds.

　　小朋友知道，每朵花都需要从别的花那儿拿到花粉，才能制造出自己的种子，蜜蜂和其他昆虫，在采蜜的时候，就能把花粉带来带去。咱们再看看，这两种报春花是怎么互相帮助，制造种子的。

　　When a bee pushes its trunk down into a thrum-eyed primrose, it gets part of its head covered with pollen. When it goes to a pin-eyed flower, that part of its head rubs against the top of the style and supplies it with pollen.

　　蜜蜂把喙探进“短花柱花”的时候，头上的一个地方会染上花粉。蜜蜂再落到“长花柱花”上，头的这个地方就蹭到了柱头，把花粉送给了它。

　　A pin-eyed flower will leave its pollen on a different part of the insect's head. But this is just the part that will rub against the style of a thrum-eyed flower. So you see that the two kinds of primrose flowers exchange pollen with each other by means of the bees, and so help each other to make good seeds.

　　“长花柱花”还会把花粉，留在昆虫头部的另一个地方，蜜蜂正好用这个地方，蹭到“短花柱花”花的柱头。所以这两种报春花，就是通过蜜蜂来传递花粉的，互相帮助，制造出优良的种子。

1 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 primrose   

n.樱草，最佳部分，

参考例句：

• She is in the primrose of her life.她正处在她一生的最盛期。
• The primrose is set off by its nest of green.一窝绿叶衬托着一朵樱草花。