評(píng)論
打印
But as much as you humans love me, you're not nearly the first species to clamor for my substantial flesh.
但是雖然你們?nèi)祟惡軔畚遥悄銈冞h(yuǎn)不是第一個(gè)吵著要吃我的肉的物種。
Millennia ago in my native southern Mexico and Central America, there existed beasts with digestive systems large enough to process and then disperse my massive pit.
幾千年前，在我的家鄉(xiāng)墨西哥南部和中美洲，存在著消化系統(tǒng)足夠大的野獸，它們可以處理并傳播我巨大的果核。
These were the so-called megafauna: sloths that could reach ten feet tall;
這些就是所謂的巨型動(dòng)物：能長到十英尺高的樹懶；
armadillo-like glyptodons that were as big as small cars; and gomphotheres, cousins of the elephant, with their ginormous tusks.
像犰狳一樣的雕齒獸，有小汽車那么大；還有大象的近親嵌齒象，他們有著巨大的象牙。
Historians and botanists don't know exactly which of these snacked on me,
歷史學(xué)家和植物學(xué)家并不知道這些物種的哪些以我為食。
but they all would have been able to pop me into their mouths like peanuts, then poop out my pits far and wide for new trees to grow.
但是他們都可以把我像花生一樣放進(jìn)我的嘴里。然后把我的果核排到很遠(yuǎn)的地方，好讓新樹長起來。
Without them to spread my unusually large seed, my creamy green gift would have been little more than a weird and momentary blip in fruit's sugary history.
沒有它們散播我異常大的種子，我這個(gè)奶油綠色的禮物只不過是含糖水果歷史上一個(gè)奇怪而短暫的小插曲。
Fast-forward to about 13,000 years ago, when humans came along and hunted my behemoth patrons into extinction.
快退到13000年前，那時(shí)人類出現(xiàn)并獵殺我的巨獸主顧導(dǎo)致其滅絕。
That would have been the end of me, too, had people not decided that they also loved a dose of plant-based fat.
如果人類不喜歡這種植物性脂肪的話，我這個(gè)物種也會(huì)滅絕的。
While human digestion can't accommodate my pit, your hands can,
雖然人類的消化系統(tǒng)不能容納我的果核，但是你們的手可以，
and I was able to achieve even wider distribution via the thumb-carrying Homo sapiens who ate me and tossed my seed here and there.
我們能夠通過長有拇指的智人實(shí)現(xiàn)更廣泛的分布，他們吃了我，把我的種子扔得到處都是。
One last word—of caution. There has been a spate of "avocado hand,"
最后一個(gè)要小心的事。“牛油果手”已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了一大批，
which is what happens when well-meaning guac makers whack their knives at my pit in hopes of dislodging it but instead find themselves with a blade in the palm.
當(dāng)好心的牛油果醬生產(chǎn)商用刀子對(duì)我的果核重?fù)簦Ｍ馨阉鰜恚鞘终茀s被刀刃弄傷時(shí)，就會(huì)發(fā)生這種情況。
ER doctors report an increase in such incidents and strongly advise caution when preparing me.
急診室的醫(yī)生報(bào)告說，這類事件在增加，并強(qiáng)烈建議人們在加工我時(shí)要謹(jǐn)慎。
Please listen to them. My reputation for being both healthy and rich gets dinged when I bite the hand that breeds me.
請(qǐng)聽取他們的建議。在使我生長的手受傷的時(shí)候，我的有益健康和營養(yǎng)豐富的聲譽(yù)會(huì)受到重?fù)簟?/p>
