有關植物英語美文***2***

　　有關植物英語美文：植物世界的互惠互利

　　Companion planting is the idea that some kinds of plants can help each other grow. Plants thatare compatible together generally have similar needs in terms of nutrients, soil and moisturelevels.

　　混栽的想法在於某些種類的植物有助於彼此生長。互相相容的植物一般在養分、土壤和水分含量上有類似需求。

　　Advice about which plants are compatible is sometimes based more on tradition than proof.But experts say there is evidence to support certain combinations. These can improveharvests, reduce disease and help with pest control by attracting helpful insects.

　　有關哪些植物能夠互相相容有時候更多取決於傳統而不是論證。但專家表示某些組合有證據作為支援。這些組合可以提高收成、減少疾病，並且通過吸引益蟲來幫助控制蟲害。

　　For example, some kinds of soil bacteria take nitrogen from the air and make it into a formthat plants can use. The plants hold the nitrogen in their roots. Legumes are especially good atthis nitrogen-fixing. Then any crops that share the same space as the legumes can get thenitrogen as the roots decompose.

　　例如，某些型別的土壤細菌從空氣中吸收氮並將其轉化成為一種植物能夠利用的形式。這類植物將氮儲存到根部，豆類尤其擅長於這樣固氮。這樣共享土壤的任何作物，例如豆類，可以在根部分解時獲得這些氮。

　　Beans and potatoes can also share territory well because their roots reach different levels inthe soil. Deep-rooted vegetables get nutrients and moisture from lower down in the soil, so theydo not compete with plants with shallower roots.

　　菜豆和馬鈴薯也能很好地分享領土，因為它們的根在土壤中的深度不同。深根類蔬菜從更深的土壤中獲得養分和水分，因此它們不會與淺根植物競爭。

　　But some plants placed together may harm each other's development. For example, tomatoesdo not like wet soil but watercress does, so you would probably want to keep them separated.

　　但有些植物放到一塊可能會損害各自的發展。例如，西紅柿不喜歡潮溼的土壤，但豆瓣菜卻喜歡潮溼的土壤，所以你可能需要將它們分開。

　　Some kinds of produce should be kept apart even after being harvested. This is because ofethylene gas. Ethylene is a plant hormone that can cause some foods to ripen too quickly.Apples release ethylene gas. Apricots, melons and tomatoes also release a lot of ethylene.Some vegetable are easily affected by ethylene, including asparagus, broccoli, cabbage andcucumbers.

　　某些種類的農產品即使在收穫後也應當隔離開。這是因為乙烯。乙烯是一種植物激素，能夠導致一些食物成熟太快。蘋果會釋放乙烯。杏、甜瓜和西紅柿也釋放乙烯。有些蔬菜很容易受乙烯影響，其中包括蘆筍，西蘭花，白菜和黃瓜。

　　This risk of ripening too soon is why markets often separate high ethylene-producing foodsfrom those that are sensitive to the gas.

　　這種過快催熟的風險就是市場上經常將產生乙烯多的食物和對乙烯敏感的食物分開的原因。

　　But if you put an apple in a bag with a green banana, the ethylene from the apple will make thebanana ready to eat sooner.

　　但如果你將一個蘋果和未熟的香蕉放進一個袋子裡，蘋果釋放的乙烯將使香蕉很快可以食用。

　　What about peaches, plums and nectarines that are too firm to eat? These kinds of fruit do notneed any help from an apple — they release enough ethylene to ripen themselves. But thatdoes not mean there is no way to get the job done faster.

　　桃子、李子、油桃吃起來太硬怎麼辦?這類水果不需要蘋果幫忙，它們能夠釋放足夠多的乙烯使自身成熟。但這並不意味著沒辦法使這個成熟的過程更快一些。

　　Growers suggest placing the fruit in a fruit bowl or in a paper bag with the top folded over.Keep the fruit at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Once the fruit is soft enough toyour liking, either use it or put it in the refrigerator to keep it from getting too ripe. Yuck.

　　種植者建議將這些水果放入水果盤或紙袋裡並蓋好。將這些水果保持在室溫下避免陽光直射。一旦水果軟到你喜歡的程度，要麼吃了它，要麼把它放入冰箱以防止它變得太熟。

　　有關植物英語美文：植物也受噪聲影響

　　You can almost hear the law of unintended consequences at work among the flora and fauna ofnorthwestern New Mexico.

　　你幾乎不敢相信新墨西哥州西北動植物研究工作帶來意想不到的結果。

　　Thousands of natural gas wells dot the landscape there, along with the compressors that getthe gaseous fuel ready to travel through pipelines. The compressor rumble is constant, andseems to be attracting black-chinned hummingbirds, according to a new experiment. Thefindings appeared this week in the journalProceedings of the Royal Society B.

　　成千上萬的天然氣井點綴在那兒的風景中 通過燃料氣體壓縮機而穿越管道輸送。根據一項新的實驗壓縮機恆定的隆隆聲似乎能吸引一種black-chinned蜂鳥。這些發現刊登在本週的皇家社會研究月刊。

　　Researchers set up test flower beds and tracked bird landings. They found that thehummingbirds were five times more likely to visit noisy areas. Why? Perhaps because thewestern scrub jay tends to avoid noise. And western scrub jays eat baby hummingbirds. Thesituation is good for wildflowers that are pollinated by the hummingbirds.

　　研?a href='//' target='_blank'>咳嗽蓖ü??⒒ㄆ圓⒏?儼饈閱窶嘟德浯問?Ｋ?欠⑾址淠裼諧??灞犢贍苄勻バ?值牡厙?饈俏?裁?或許是因為西方矮樹松鴉不喜歡噪音，而西方矮樹松鴉喜歡吃蜂鳥幼鳥。這樣由蜂鳥授粉的野花在鬧市區開的很好。

　　But the absence of jays seems to be bad for other plants. For example, the pinon pine relies onscrub jaysto spread its seeds. As a result, pine seedlings were four times less abundant atnoisy sites than quiet ones.

　　但缺乏松鴉似乎對其他植物不利。例如 矮松樹依賴松鴉來傳播種子。結果 喧鬧地點鬆幼苗清靜地兒減少四倍。

　　Pinon seedlings take decades to become pinon pines, a critical habitat for hundreds of speciesin the western U.S. So the forest of the future may never take root. Darn noisy neighbors.

　　矮松樹苗要花上幾十年的時間成為松樹 而因為討厭嘈雜的鄰居，在美國西部的森林中作為數百種關鍵物種棲息地的矮松樹苗可能永遠不會生根。

　　有關植物英語美文：最古老的植物

　　At first glance, this old bush looks much like many other plants in the area, but researchers saythis shrub known as Palmer's Oak is considerably more special, because they believe it to be13,000 years old, one of the oldest plants in the country. And it's literally right across the streetfrom Jurupa Hills residence Samuel Cano.

　　第一眼看上去，這些灌木和這片地區的其他植物無甚區別，但研究人員說這種叫做Palmer's Oak的灌木其實十分特別，因為它們是這個國家最古老的植物，已經活了一萬三千年。生長面積從Jurupa Hills蔓延至SamuelCanon。

　　13,000 years old,I mean that's a long time. A lot of history.Wow! And this literally couldpredate man in North America if my guesses are right. Scientist Andrew Sanders says what hefound odd about this particular plant is that it's typically found high in the mountains, notdown here.So it got him and others thinking what if this oak bush sprouted during a muchcolder era. So they dated the plant and sure enough it probably was around during the ice age.

　　一萬三千年，真是很長的一段時間。有很長的歷史。哇!如果我的猜測正確，這種植物比北美洲早期人類出現得還要早。科學家Andrew Sanders說，這種植物的奇怪之處在於，海拔越高，它就長得越高，海拔低就不會長得高。因此，Andrew和其他人都認為這種橡木灌木曾生活在較冷的區域。研究人員通過資料進行研究推測這些植物產生於冰河時代。

　　The main thing that strikes me is that we've got where literally looking at a bit of what theworld was like in the Ice Age. I mean we don't have to look at a fossil in this case. We can seethe living individuals. So as far as researchers can tell this exact plant was growing here at thesame time mastodons and sabre tooth tigers were roaming the area. The big question: how didit survive all these years.

　　最震撼我的是，我們能夠在理論上知道冰河時代地球上的情形。我是說，我們不用化石印證，而是能看到現存的植物個體。研究人員驚訝於這種植物是如何在乳齒象和劍齒虎四處遊蕩的環境下生存的。

　　I think the main thing is that it's manage to get into this narrow rocky crevasse on a northfacing slope. So it's start to shade it. Scientists believe the shrub to be at least 1,000 yearsolder than this creosote bushes in Palm Springs. So while that they may not look like much, this75-foot-long old bush is in fact the oldest known living plant in the state,right here in JurupaHills.

　　我認為主要是因為這種植物生長在狹窄的岩石裂縫中，面向北的斜坡上，始終不見陽光。科學家認為這種灌木比棕櫚泉的石炭酸灌木至少早出現1千年。儘管它們長得一點也不像。這種高75英尺生長在Jurupa Hills的古老灌木實際上是加利福尼亞州最古老的現存植物。