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Lesson22 An ear of wheat
第22課 一棵麥穗
I am sure that you have all had some bread to eat today. How many of you know what bread is made of? The baker makes it of flour mixed with water, and some yeast, and a little salt. These things mixed together make a thick paste, called dough. Dough is made into bread by baking it in an oven. HARVEST-TIME（收獲的時(shí)節(jié)）
小朋友, 你們今天一定都吃過(guò)面包了吧? 你們有多少人知道, 面包是什么做的? 面包師傅用面粉和上水, 再加上酵母和一點(diǎn)兒鹽。這些東西混在一起, 就成了一種很粘的漿糊一樣的東西, 叫“生面團(tuán)”（dough）。生面團(tuán)在爐子里烤過(guò)之后, 就成了面包。
The white flour is got by grinding the grains or seeds of wheat. But the farmer does not grind all his wheat. He sows some of it in his fields, and in a few weeks he sees long narrow leaves springing up, just like blades of grass.
白面粉, 是把小麥的麥粒, 或者叫種子, 磨碎了做出來(lái)的。但是農(nóng)民并不會(huì)把所有的麥粒都磨碎。有一些要播到農(nóng)田里, 過(guò)幾個(gè)星期, 就能看見(jiàn)又窄又長(zhǎng)的葉子長(zhǎng)出來(lái)了, 跟草葉一樣。
Then the stem of the plant appears, and it grows to a height of three or four feet. This stem is hollow and jointed. If you look at the stems of grasses, you will see that they are just the same.
然后, 小麥的莖也出現(xiàn)了, 會(huì)長(zhǎng)到三四英尺的高度, 小麥的莖是空心、分節(jié)的。看看青草的莖, 也是這個(gè)樣子。
In autumn, an "ear" forms at the end of each stem. It is made up of many grains of wheat, each of which has a hard covering or husk. EARS OF WHEAT（小麥穗）
秋天, 每一根莖的頂端都會(huì)長(zhǎng)出一個(gè)“穗子”（ear）。穗子是很多顆麥粒組成的, 每顆麥粒都有一個(gè)硬殼, 也叫“麥糠” （husk）。
The ears and seeds of grasses are very like the ears and seeds of wheat, only they are much smaller. So we know that wheat is nothing but a large kind of grass.
野草的穗子和種子, 跟小麥的穗子和種子一樣, 只是小得多。這樣, 我們就知道了, 小麥也是一種“個(gè)頭兒”比較大的草。
But wheat is not a wild grass. It was once a wild grass;but it has been taken care of for a great many years. It has been sown in good ground; and so it now grows tall, and its seeds are very large.
不過(guò), 小麥可不是野草。很久以前小麥?zhǔn)且安? 但是人們種小麥, 已經(jīng)種了很多很多年, 一直種在肥沃的土地上, 于是小麥現(xiàn)在就長(zhǎng)高了, 種子也很大了。
It is just the same with children. Boys and girls who are well taken care of by their good fathers and mothers grow bigger and stronger than very poor children, who have no one to look after them.
這跟小朋友們是一樣的。那些讓爸爸媽媽照顧得很好的孩子, 長(zhǎng)得就比家境不好的孩子高, 也比他們壯。因?yàn)榧揖巢缓玫暮⒆? 受的照顧也不好。
There are several other kinds of grain that were once, like wheat, only wild grasses. These are barley, oats, rice, and rye. If we pull up any of these plants, we shall find that their roots are little white threads, just like the roots of all grasses. FLOWER OF WHEAT （小麥花）
還有其他幾種谷子, 很久以前, 跟小麥一樣, 也是野草。這些谷子有：大麥、燕麥、稻米、黑麥。把這些植物拔起來(lái), 就會(huì)看見(jiàn), 它們的根是細(xì)小的白絲, 跟所有的草根一樣。
Did you ever notice the flowers of the wheat-plant and of the wild grasses? You will have to look very closely to see them, but there they are—very small flowers of a green colour. THE BAKER（100年前英國(guó)的面包師傅）
你注意過(guò)小麥和野草的花么? 要靠得很近, 才能看見(jiàn), 但它們還是有花的, 是一種非常小的綠色花朵。
The dry, yellow stems of the wheat-plant are called straw. The straw hats which you use in summer are made of the stems of wheat, or of some plant of the same kind. Get some straw and see if you can plait it in the same way as this: —This is the way straw hats are made.
小麥的莖, 干了之后發(fā)黃, 叫做麥稈。小朋友在夏天戴的草帽, 就是麥稈或者其他類似的植物做的。拿點(diǎn)兒麥稈, 看你能不能把它編成這個(gè)樣子? 草帽就是這么編出來(lái)的。
