英国学生科学读本 第40期:甘蔗(2)

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　　甘蔗茎里面充满了柔软的“髓”；等到甘蔗完全长大成熟了，髓里面就会充满汁液。甘蔗长着又长又直的窄叶子，顶端有一个穗子，大约有两英尺长，长满了玫瑰色的花朵。

　　Black men dig the ground, and plant the sugar-cane; for the countries where sugar grows are too hot for white men to work in. When the plants are fully grown, the black men cut them off near the ground with big sharp knives, strip off the leaves and the flowers, and cut up the stems into pieces about two feet long.

　　黑人工人会把地挖出坑来，把甘蔗种下去；因为这些地区太热，白人工人没办法工作。甘蔗完全长大之后，黑人工人会用锋利的大刀子把甘蔗从接近地面的地方砍断，把叶和花都剥掉，把茎切成大概两英尺的段子。

　　You may be sure that both the black men and the little black boys and girls suck many pieces of the stems every day. The sweet juice is a good food, and all the negroes become fat and strong at the time when the cane is being cut.

　　你大概知道，成年的黑人和黑人小朋友，每天都会吃掉很多段甘蔗。甘蔗的甜汁是一种很好的食物，收甘蔗的时候，黑人们都吃得又胖又壮。

　　A great deal of sugar is now made in France and in Germany, from the juice of a kind of beet⁴, a plant with a white root, somewhat like a big turnip⁵. It is very like the red beet-root which we cut up into slices and use as a vegetable. If you have eaten any of that, you must have noticed how sweet it tastes. There is far more sugar in the white beet, however, than in the red beet.

　　现在，法国和德国也出产大量的糖，这些糖是用一种叫“甜菜”的植物汁液制造的。甜菜长着白色的根，看上去很像一棵大号的郁金香。还有一种红色的甜菜根，我们把这种甜菜根切成片当菜吃。要是你吃过，一定会注意到，甜菜根有多么甜。不过，白色甜菜根的含糖量，却比红色甜菜根高得多。

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