读者文摘:一个核桃的自述(2)

If you've ever cracked open a peach pit and found an almond-shaped seed inside, you'll know what I'm getting at.

如果你曾经砸开过一个桃子核，看到里面的杏仁形的种子，你就会知道我说的是什么意思。

As tough as my shell can get, delicate oils found within the lobes¹ can go rancid fairly easily.

尽管我的壳很坚硬，但在裂片里面发现的油很容易变质。

If I'm bitter or lingeringly musty, then we'd best go our separate ways.

如果我吃起来是苦的或者是持续的霉味，那么最好就送我们上路。

If you're not going to eat me right away, put me in the fridge or even in the freezer in a well-sealed, airtight bag.

如果你不立即吃掉我的话，把我放在冰箱里，或者放在密封的袋子里冷冻。

If you pick my fruit early, before the pit has fully² hardened, you can do rather unexpected things.

如果在核完全变硬之前，你摘了我的果实，你可以做些意想不到的事情。

In Britain they pickle³ me, brining me whole in salt water and preserving me in a brown-sugar-and-spice syrup⁴.

在英国，他们会腌制我，把我整个放在盐水里，在红糖和香料的糖汁里保存。

With that I become delicate and soft; you can slice clean through me and see the seed, the proto-shell, and the rim⁵ of fruit flesh.

这样我就会变得柔软，你可以把我整个切开，看到种子、原壳和果肉的边缘部分。

But what's really fascinating is the color of a pickled walnut⁶: black.

腌核桃最有趣的部分就是它的颜色：黑色。

That's because my clear, milky⁷ juice turns dark when it's exposed to air.

这是因为，我清澈的乳白色汁液暴露在空气中会变黑。

Young walnut fruits provide that same inky color to nocino, the Italian after-dinner drink made by macerating me in high-proof liquor with sugar and spices.

未成熟的核桃果可为意大利餐后饮料nocino提供同样的墨色，nocino是用糖和香料将我浸泡在高强度的酒中制成的。

In ancient Rome they would combine my tinted⁸ sap with leeches⁹, ashes, and charred¹⁰ things to make dark hair dye.

在古罗马，人们会把我有色的汁液与水蛭、灰烬和烧焦的东西混合，制成深色染发剂。

My juice was also used to make walnut ink, which Rembrandt, Leonardo, and Rubens are said to have used for some of their sketches¹¹.

我的汁液还被用来做胡桃木墨水，据说伦勃朗、莱昂纳多和鲁本斯的一些素描就是用胡桃木墨水画的。

The Encyclopedia¹² of Hair will tell you that in 17th-century England,

据头发百科全书记载，在17世纪的英国，

the oil expressed from my seed was used as a depilatory, thinning the eyebrows¹³ and hairlines of women when that look was in fashion.

从我的种子中提取的油被用作脱毛剂，使眉毛和发际线变细，当时流行过这样的时尚造型。

Now, inexplicably¹⁴, walnut oil is touted¹⁵ as a baldness cure.

现在，令人费解的是，核桃油被吹捧为治疗秃顶的良方。

Suffice it to say you might be better off not using me for hair-related purposes.

我只想说，你最好别把我用在头发上。

But you humans have found countless¹⁶ other applications for me, including employing my shells as an abrasive¹⁷ cleaning agent, used to this day.

但是你们人类已经为我发现了无数的其他用途，包括使用我的壳作为研磨性清洁剂，直到今天还在使用。

This was not always a good idea: In 1982, a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter crashed because of walnut-shell residue¹⁸ that had blocked the oil jets lubricating the copter's transmission.

这并不总是一个好主意：在1982年，一架美国军队直升机因为核桃壳的残渣坠毁，原因是残渣阻塞了润滑直升机传动装置的油喷嘴。

My favorite inedible¹⁹ function, though, is as an investment vehicle.

但是，我最喜欢的非食用功能，是用作一个投资工具。

The Chinese regard the finest examples of me the way you might regard jewels or fancy pottery²⁰.

中国人看待最好品质的核桃就跟看待珠宝或花式陶器一样。

I can fetch wild sums of money in the East, where swirling²¹ a pair of me in your palm is said to stimulate²² blood circulation.

在东方，靠我可以赚到大把大把的钱，在那里，把我捧在手心转动说可以刺激血液循环。

Matching sets can go for more than $30,000—the larger and older I am, the more I'm worth.

相匹配的一套核桃价值可超过3万美元——我越大越老，我就越有价值。

Think of that the next time you pop a handful of me into your mouth as a snack.

下次你把我当零食吃的时候，想想这一点。

1 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 pickle   

n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡

参考例句：

• Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
• Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。

4 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

5 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

6 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

7 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

8 tinted   

adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• a pair of glasses with tinted lenses 一副有色镜片眼镜
• a rose-tinted vision of the world 对世界的理想化看法

9 leeches   

n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生

参考例句：

• The usurers are leeches;they have drained us dry. 高利贷者是吸血鬼，他们吸干了我们的血汗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Does it run in the genes to live as leeches? 你们家是不是遗传的，都以欺压别人为生？ 来自电影对白

10 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。

13 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

14 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

15 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

16 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

17 abrasive   

adj.使表面磨损的；粗糙的；恼人的

参考例句：

• His abrasive manner has won him an unenviable notoriety.他生硬粗暴的态度让他声名狼藉。
• She had abrasions to her wrists where the abrasive rope had scraped her.她的手腕有多出磨伤，那是被粗糙的绳子擦伤的。

18 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

19 inedible   

adj.不能吃的，不宜食用的

参考例句：

• The food was totally inedible.食物完全无法下咽。
• These chemicals make the fruit inedible.这些化学品使这种水果不宜食用。

20 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

21 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

22 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。