英国学生科学读本 第95期:面粉与面包(1)

 　　Lesson 95 Flour And Bread 第95课 面粉与面包

　　Let us buy a pound of flour at the baker¹'s. 我们去面包房买上一磅面粉。

　　The baker will give us the flour in a nice paper bag, and it will only cost about twopence. 他们会将面粉装在精致的纸袋中, 而且一磅面粉只需两便士。

　　When we open the bag, we see that the flour is a fine white powder. 打开袋子, 就能看到面粉是一种细致的白色粉末。

　　Where did the flour come from, and how was it made? 面粉从何而来? 又是如何制成的呢?

　　There are several kinds of flour—such as oat-flour, barley-flour, rice-flour, and maize-flour or corn-flour. 面粉的种类有很多, 例如燕麦粉、大麦粉、米粉、玉米粉。

　　But most of the flour used in Great Britain is wheat-flour. 然而, 英国使用的大部分面粉都是小麦粉。

　　Wheat-flour, of course, comes from the plant called "wheat. " 小麦粉当然就是由一种名叫“小麦”的植物制成。

　　The farmer sows the wheat in his ploughed fields in the late autumn or in the early spring. 晚秋或早春时分, 农民们在犁过的农田里种下小麦。

　　When the wheat plant comes up, it looks like a little blade of grass. 小麦破土而出时, 看起来就像是野草一样。

　　During the summer the plant grows tall, with a long, hollow stem, and a head or ear of little green scaly² flowers. 到了夏天, 小麦就已经长得很高了, 带着一个长长的中空茎干以及一簇或一穗绿色的鳞状小花。

　　They do not look much like flowers, as they have no brightly-coloured leaves. 它们看起来并不像花朵, 因为没有颜色明亮的花瓣。

　　Each flower turns into a seed or grain, which becomes hard and round as it ripens³. When it is ripe, it turns yellow. 每一个花朵都会长成种子或谷粒, 一旦成熟, 就会变得又硬又圆, 而颜色则会泛黄。

　　Then the farmer cuts it down, or "reaps" it.  随后, 农民们就会将其割下, 或者说是“收”麦子。

　　He carries the wheat to his barn, and there he thrashes it, or beats all the grains of corn out of the ears. 农民将麦子运到谷仓并打谷, 也就是将谷粒从麦穗中敲打出来。

　　The corn is then put into sacks and sold to a man called a miller⁴. 随后, 农民将这些谷物捆装在麻袋中贩卖给磨坊主。

　　The miller grinds the corn between two large fiat⁵ stones which are called mill-stones, or between steel rollers. 磨坊主使用两块扁平的石头（磨石）或钢辊对这些谷物进行碾磨。

　　The husks or skins of the grains of corn are first rubbed off, and then the white inside or kernel⁶ of each grain is ground down to a fine powder. 谷物的外皮首先掉落下来, 然后, 里面的白色谷粒就被碾磨成了精细的粉末。

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

3 ripens   

v.成熟，使熟( ripen的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The sun ripens the crops. 太阳使庄稼成熟。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then their seed ripens, and soon they turn brown and shrivel up. 随后，它们的种子熟了，不久就变枯萎。 来自辞典例句

4 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

5 fiat   

n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布

参考例句：

• The opening of a market stall is governed by municipal fiat.开设市场摊位受市政法令管制。
• He has tried to impose solutions to the country's problems by fiat.他试图下令强行解决该国的问题。

6 kernel   

n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心

参考例句：

• The kernel of his problem is lack of money.他的问题的核心是缺钱。
• The nutshell includes the kernel.果壳裹住果仁。