第68课 风信子

　　The wild hyacinth is one of the most beautiful of the flowers of spring-time, and it is also one of the most abundant . In April, May, and June, we may find its flowers in many parts of the woods in such numbers that at a distance they look like wreaths of blue smoke resting upon the ground.

　　野生风信子是春天最为美丽、数量最为众多的花朵之一。到了四月、五月、六月, 经常可以在树林中看到大片大片的风信子。从远处望去, 它们就如同一个个蓝色烟圈那样平铺在地面之上。

　　The flowers have a rich, sweet perfume , and we can often tell by the scent alone that we are coming near a bed of hyacinths.

　　风信子散发着浓郁的甜美香气, 闻到这种香气, 就能够知道附近肯定有一片风信子花床。

　　Let us dig up a wild hyacinth, bulb, roots, and all, so that we may have the entire plant to examine. The roots are slender and thread-like. They grow out of a bulb about an inch in thickness. This bulb, like the bulb of the onion, is made of many thick and fleshy leaves.

　　让我们连同球茎和根挖起一株完整的野生风信子, 仔细观察这种植物。它的须根非常纤细, 生长在一个厚度约为一英寸的球茎之上。这个球茎跟洋葱的一样, 由很多肥厚、多汁的叶片组成。

　　Several narrow leaves grow up from the bulb to the height of about a foot. From the centre of the bulb rises the flower-stem, which carries near its top from six to twelve small blue flowers. Sometimes, but not often, we find the wild hyacinth bearing white flowers, and sometimes purple flowers.

　　球茎上长出几片高度约为一英尺的狭窄叶子。花葶从球茎的中间向上生长, 在其靠近顶部的位置上则开有6–12朵蓝色小花。有时候也能看到盛开白色与紫色花朵的风信子, 但不常见。

　　Each flower looks like a little bell, and for this reason the children in England often call the wild hyacinth the "blue-bell. "But in Scotland and some other places the name "blue-bell" is given to the hare-bell, a very different plant.

　　每一个花朵看起来都像一个小铃铛, 为此, 英格兰的孩子们经常把野生的风信子称作“蓝铃花”。然而, 在苏格兰及其他一些地方, “蓝铃花”指的是另外一种完全不同的植物——圆叶风铃。

　　Each hyacinth flower has a little stalk of its own, by which it hangs from the main stem. The outside of the flower consists of six separate deep-blue leaves or petals, which turn back at their tips. Looking inside the bell formed by these blue leaves, we find six dust-spikes or stamens, one growing upon each petal.

　　风信子的每一花朵都有一枝连接茎干的小花梗。花朵的外部由六片分开的深蓝色花瓣组成, 在靠近顶部的位置向下弯曲。仔细观察这些蓝色叶片构成的“铃铛”内部, 就会看到六个花瓣上分别长有一个粉穗或雄蕊。