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Lesson 1 The Holly
第一課 冬青
How nice it is at Christmas to see the branches of holly on the walls! How pretty the bright-red berries look against the shining dark-green leaves!
過圣誕節(jié)了，墻上掛起了冬青的樹枝，小朋友們多高興?。∧切┝良t色的果子，襯著閃光的暗綠色葉子，多好看?。?/div>
You may call the holly either a large shrub or a small tree. The leaves of most trees fall off when winter comes, but the holly is green all the year round. It is called an ever-green tree; for as long as one old brown leaf drops off, a fresh green one grows in its place.
冬青，可以叫它“大灌木”，也可以叫它“小樹”。冬天來了，樹的葉子差不多都掉光了，是冬青呢，一年四季都是綠油油的。冬青是一種“常綠樹”，因為只要冬青樹上的一片葉子變成了棕色，落了下來，在原來的地方，就會長出一片新的綠葉！
Did you ever prick your fingers when you were hanging up the holly? The leaves have sharp points or spines all round the sides and also at the ends.
小朋友，你在往墻上掛冬青的時候，有沒有扎到過手指頭？冬青的葉子邊上和頂上，長滿了小小的尖兒，這種尖兒也叫“刺”（spine）。
Can you guess what is the use of these prickles or spines to the holly tree? They keep cows and other animals from biting off the leaves.
猜猜看，這種“刺”，或“棘”，對冬青有什么用處呢？有了這些刺，冬青就不怕牛、馬，或者別的動物，去咬它的葉子了。
Look at the holly leaves at the top of the tree, where the cows cannot reach, and you will see that these leaves are quite smooth, and have no spines.
看看冬青樹頂上的葉子。牛、馬夠不到冬青樹的頂上，瞧，這兒的葉子就很光滑，沒有刺了。
If you put some of the bark of the holly tree into an old sauce-pan with a little water, and stew it slowly on the fire, you will get a sticky white stuff.
要是把一塊冬青樹的樹皮放進湯鍋，再加點兒水，慢慢地放在火上燉一會兒，就會得到一種白白的、黏黏的東西。
This sticky stuff is called bird-lime, for men spread it on leaves and twigs to catch birds. If a bird rests on one of these twigs or leaves, the bird-lime sticks to its feet, and then it cannot fly away.
這種黏黏的東西，叫做“黏鳥膠”，因為人們把它涂在樹葉上，涂在小樹枝上逮鳥兒。要是鳥兒落在這些小樹枝上、樹葉上，黏鳥膠就會黏在鳥兒的腳上，鳥兒就飛不走了。
Look at the holly in summer, and you will see that it has small white flowers. When these drop off, the fruit comes in their place. The fruit of the holly tree is the pretty scarlet berry, which you can see on the branches in winter.
夏天的冬青，會開出小小的白花。白花落了，在原來的地方會長出果實。冬青的果實是好看的紅莓，冬天，過圣誕節(jié)的時候，你就能在圣誕掛飾上看到紅莓。
Be sure you find some nice holly, with plenty of scarlet berries, for next Christmas. Hang up the branches all round your rooms, and stick a small piece in your plum-pudding.
明年圣誕節(jié)，一定要找些美麗的冬青枝葉，帶著好多紅莓。把冬青枝葉掛滿房間，往葡萄干布丁里放一顆小紅莓吧！
