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Lesson 30 The Potato
第30課 馬鈴薯
Next to bread, there is perhaps nothing which is so much used for food in our country as the potato. Yet the potato was not known in Great Britain until about three hundred years ago, when it was brought from America by a great sailor.
在英國, 我們吃得最多的食物, 除了面包, 大概就是馬鈴薯了。可是, 直到300年前, 英國人才認識馬鈴薯。當時, 一位偉大的航海家把馬鈴薯從美洲帶到了英國。
People call the potato a root, because it grows under ground. But it is not a root; it is a knob or swelling on the lower part of the stem of the plant.
人們管馬鈴薯叫“塊根”, 因為它是長在地底下的。其實它不是“根”, 而是植物在地下的莖上的“疙瘩”或者“膨大的東西”, 學名叫“塊莖”。
If we look carefully at a potato, we see little pits, or "eyes, " as they are called, on the outside. What arethese eyes? Wait till the potato is planted and you will see.
仔細看看馬鈴薯, 能看見外面有一些小坑, 也叫“芽眼”。這些芽眼是什么呢? 把馬鈴薯種下去, 你就知道了。
We plant potatoes in March or April, cutting up each potato into two or three pieces, called "sets. " There must be at least one good eye in each piece or set.
英國播種馬鈴薯的時間是在三四月份, 把一個馬鈴薯切成兩三塊, 英語叫set(s)。每塊上至少要有一個芽眼。
Soon a little sprout grows out of each eye; so the eye of the potato is really the beginning of a leaf-bud. This grows up into a stem, which puts out green leaves and pretty white or purple flowers.
很快, 每個芽眼就會長出一個小芽來。原來, 馬鈴薯的芽眼, 其實是嫩芽出生的地方。嫩芽會長成莖, 莖又會生出綠葉, 也生出漂亮的白色或者紫色的小花。
