英国学生科学读本 第21期:一棵麦穗

 　　Lesson22 An ear of wheat

　　第22课 一棵麦穗
　　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 1 makes it of flour mixed with water, and some yeast 2, and a little salt. These things mixed together make a thick paste, called dough 3. Dough is made into bread by baking it in an oven. HARVEST-TIME（收获的时节）
　　小朋友, 你们今天一定都吃过面包了吧? 你们有多少人知道, 面包是什么做的? 面包师傅用面粉和上水, 再加上酵母和一点儿盐。这些东西混在一起, 就成了一种很粘的浆糊一样的东西, 叫“生面团”（dough）。生面团在炉子里烤过之后, 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, 是把小麦的麦粒, 或者叫种子, 磨碎了做出来的。但是农民并不会把所有的麦粒都磨碎。有一些要播到农田里, 过几个星期, 就能看见又窄又长的叶子长出来了, 跟草叶一样。
　　Then the stem of the plant appears, and it grows to a height of three or four feet. This stem is hollow and jointed 4. If you look at the stems of grasses, you will see that they are just the same.
　　然后, 小麦的茎也出现了, 会长到三四英尺的高度, 小麦的茎是空心、分节的。看看青草的茎, 也是这个样子。
　　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（小麦穗）
　　秋天, 每一根茎的顶端都会长出一个“穗子”（ear）。穗子是很多颗麦粒组成的, 每颗麦粒都有一个硬壳, 也叫“麦糠” （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.
　　野草的穗子和种子, 跟小麦的穗子和种子一样, 只是小得多。这样, 我们就知道了, 小麦也是一种“个头儿”比较大的草。
　　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.
　　不过, 小麦可不是野草。很久以前小麦是野草, 但是人们种小麦, 已经种了很多很多年, 一直种在肥沃的土地上, 于是小麦现在就长高了, 种子也很大了。
　　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.
　　这跟小朋友们是一样的。那些让爸爸妈妈照顾得很好的孩子, 长得就比家境不好的孩子高, 也比他们壮。因为家境不好的孩子, 受的照顾也不好。
　　There are several other kinds of grain that were once, like wheat, only wild grasses. These are barley 5, 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 （小麦花）
　　还有其他几种谷子, 很久以前, 跟小麦一样, 也是野草。这些谷子有：大麦、燕麦、稻米、黑麦。把这些植物拔起来, 就会看见, 它们的根是细小的白丝, 跟所有的草根一样。
　　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年前英国的面包师傅）
　　你注意过小麦和野草的花么? 要靠得很近, 才能看见, 但它们还是有花的, 是一种非常小的绿色花朵。
　　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.
　　小麦的茎, 干了之后发黄, 叫做麦秆。小朋友在夏天戴的草帽, 就是麦秆或者其他类似的植物做的。拿点儿麦秆, 看你能不能把它编成这个样子? 草帽就是这么编出来的。