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Lesson 53 The Oyster
第53課 牡蠣
The oyster is called a shell-fish; but it is not a real fish, like the sole or the herring. All true fishes have a backbone, and they swim about in the sea by the help of their tail and their fins.
牡蠣是一種貝類, 意思是“帶殼的魚”。但它不是真正的魚, 跟比目魚和鯡魚不一樣。所有真正的魚都有一條脊椎骨, 借助尾巴和鰭的幫助, 在海里游來游去。
But the oyster has no backbone; indeed it has no bones at all. Its soft body is protected by two hard shells, between which it lies.
但是牡蠣沒有脊椎骨, 其實, 牡蠣連一點兒骨頭都沒有。它柔軟的身體躺在兩片堅硬的甲殼之間, 讓這兩片甲殼來保護。
One of these shells is larger than the other; and it is by the larger one that the oyster fastens itself to the rocks or to the muddy sea-bottom where it lives.
這兩片甲殼, 一片大, 一片小；牡蠣用那片大甲殼, 把自己固定在巖石上, 或者海底的泥地上, 就在這些地方生活。
The two shells are joined together by a hinge; and the oyster has a strong piece of flesh, or a muscle, by which it can keep them shut. If you take an oyster out of the water, you will find that it holds its two shells so tightly together that you cannot pull them apart.
兩片甲殼由一條蝶鉸相連；牡蠣還有一塊強壯的肉, 學名叫“閉殼肌”, 用它來閉合兩片甲殼。如果把一只牡蠣從水里撈出來, 你會發現牡蠣的兩片殼閉合得非常緊, 掰都掰不開。
Oysters are usually opened with a knife; but by being put into boiling water they can be killed in a moment, and the shells then open easily. Look inside an empty oyster-shell, and you will see a little hollow where the muscle was fixed to the shell.
牡蠣一般要用刀子撬開；但是如果放進開水里, 馬上就會死掉, 貝殼也就很輕易地打開了。請看空牡蠣殼的內部, 你會看見一個小小的空洞, 肌肉就是在這兒附著在殼上的。
The inside of the shell shines like pearl; indeed, it is from a kind of oyster that pearls are got. The oyster makes both the shell and the pearls out of matter which it finds dissolved in the sea-water.
貝殼的內部, 像珍珠一樣閃閃發亮。其實, 牡蠣中有一種, 就是能制造珍珠的。牡蠣的貝殼和珍珠, 都是用溶解在海水里的物質制造的。
