【英语时差8,16】连翘

 ForsythiaSpring has arrived and while there is a light film of green on many shrubs² and trees, yellow, demands our attention, as the Forsythia blooms. An Englishman, Sir Charles Forsyth, gave his name to this shrub¹. It grows in any soil and in sun or light shade. Its bright star-shaped flowers appear on bare stems, just before the leaves come out. If you cut the branches either in bud or in bloom, remember to hammer or crush the woody stems so they can take up plenty of water.

    After forsythia bushes bloom, prune³ out any thick, woody older branches, leaving the young growth for flowering next year. Be careful where you plant them, as they can quickly take over. Also, after their spring display they are not especially interesting to look at so should not be allowed to dominate a small garden.

    Their moment of glory, while magnificent, is of short duration. While most of us don’t want these exuberant⁴ fellows in our flowerbeds, they make marvelous hedges, or can be planted as specimens⁵ in a part of the garden where it is ok for them to be quiet or unobtrusive once their spring glory is past. Like some pets, and maybe some children we have encountered, forsythia bushes are wonderful when at their best but have a tendency to unruliness.

1 shrub   

n.灌木，灌木丛

参考例句：

• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
• Moving a shrub is best done in early spring.移植灌木最好是在初春的时候。

2 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

3 prune   

n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除

参考例句：

• Will you prune away the unnecessary adjectives in the passage?把这段文字中不必要的形容词删去好吗？
• It is our job to prune the side branches of these trees.我们的工作就是修剪这些树的侧枝。

4 exuberant   

adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的

参考例句：

• Hothouse plants do not possess exuberant vitality.在温室里培养出来的东西，不会有强大的生命力。
• All those mother trees in the garden are exuberant.果园里的那些母树都长得十分茂盛。

5 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》