美国小学英语教材6:第238课 森林产品(3)（在线收听）

The Indians taught us to make and enjoy maple sugar. In northern Minnesota one tribe still continues this industry,

印第安人教我们制作和享受枫糖，在米尼苏达州北部，一个部落依然在沿袭这一产业，

selling pure maple sugar in birch bark containers, much the same as their forefathers made before the coming of the white man.

用桦树皮制作的容器售卖纯正的枫糖，和祖先在白人到来之前制作的枫糖一样。

Today the chief maple sugar center is in the northeastern states. Both the sugar and the syrup are products of the hard maple or sugar maple.

今天，主要的枫糖中心位于东北部的大州，糖和浆都是硬枫木或糖枫树制作而成的。

The method of getting the sap and making it into sugar is simple. About the middle of March the tapping of the tree begins,

提取浆液和制作成糖的方法很简单，大约在三月中旬，树木的敲击工作开始，

and the sap flows for the following month or six weeks. Two holes, less than a half inch in diameter, are bored about two inches deep in the trunk of the tree,

第二个月或者在六周内， 浆汁开始留出，每个洞的直径不到0.5英寸，钻孔深度大约为两英寸深。

and a wooden spigot is inserted in these holes to conduct the sap to a bucket directly beneath.

塞子会塞进洞口，让浆液直接流到下面的桶中。

This sap is then collected, poured into great iron kettles, and boiled to a syrup. Cooking longer, until the syrup is like wax,

浆液随即被采集，倒进巨大的铁水壶中，经过水煮后成为糖浆，之后进行长时间翻炒，直到糖浆变成了蜡一样的物质，

produces maple sugar. An average tree provides over twenty gallons of sap each season, and this can be boiled down to about four pounds of sugar or two quarts of syrup.

成为枫糖，每个季节，一颗普通大树可以提供20多加仑的浆液，通过水煮后可以生成大约四磅的糖或两夸脱的糖浆。

Proper tapping is not injurious to the trees. As certain woods increased in value, wood veneers have become another important forest product.

适当的敲击不会损害树木，随着特定树木的价值上涨，薄木板也成为了另外一个重要森林产品。

Some kinds of woods are so valuable and are becoming so scarce that it pays to cut them into very thin sheets, or slices, and glue them to a backing of some more common and cheaper wood.

一些树木很珍贵，且变得很稀有，将它们切成薄木板或切片，然后将它们粘合在普通，廉价木板的底衬中。

For furniture these thin pieces of veneer give the same appearance as if they were of solid wood, but this piecing together has other advantages.

对于家具而言，这些饰面薄板会有实木的感觉，但这些拼凑的木板有另一个好处。

Drawers, for example, made up of several layers of veneer are stronger and less likely to warp and crack than if they were all of one piece.

比如说抽屉，抽屉是由好几层饰面薄板组成，它们很坚硬，比起整块板更加坚固，且不会破碎。

Most veneers are made by first boiling a log for some hours to soften it and then revolving the log, by machinery, against a sharp knife.

多数饰面薄板首先会将原木进行几个小时的煮沸，从而将它变软，之后通过机器旋转原木，再配上尖利的刀子。

As it turns, the knife bites into the wood, and a long thin sheet of veneer is peeled away. Woods chiefly used for this purpose are the high-priced kinds,

随着它的转动，刀子伸进木头中，长长的饰面薄板就削好了，主要用于这一用途的木头一般价格很高，

such as mahogany, Spanish cedar, and Circassian walnut. As our valuable hardwood trees become increasingly scarce, more and more kinds of woods are used for veneers.

比如桃花心木，西班牙雪松以及胡桃木，随着珍贵的硬木变得越来越稀有，更多木头变为了饰面薄板。