Let us go to a seed-shop and buy a few garden peas.
咱們去種子商店買點兒豌豆吧!
Here they are, looking like a handful of little grey balls.
瞧, 放在手里像一把灰色的小球。
We will soak a few of them in water,
把幾粒豌豆浸在水里,
and place them in a saucer on a piece of wet flannel, with another piece over them.
放在碟子里。碟子底下墊一塊濕絨布, 碟子上面再蓋一塊濕絨布。
The peas will soon begin to grow.
豌豆很快就會生長起來,
They will swell, and split their skins;
先是膨脹, 然后表皮裂開,
and then we shall see their two seed-leaves.
然后就能看見兩片子葉。
Besides these leaves, each young pea has a little stem and a tiny root.
每顆豌豆除了子葉之外, 還有一個細小的莖、一個細小的根。
But after the baby peas have put forth one or two green leaves, they will wither and die.
不過, 在小豌豆長出一兩片綠葉之后, 很快就會枯萎死亡。
It is different with the peas we sow in the garden or in a flower-pot.
我們在花園里, 或者在花盆里種下的豌豆就不一樣了。
In about two weeks their green leaves will come peeping up through the soil,
大概在兩個星期之內, 豌豆的綠葉就會從土里鉆出來,
and they will grow up into tall plants.
會長成高高的植物。
We must then push long sticks into the ground for them to climb up.
然后我們就得在土里插上長長的桿子, 讓豌豆往上爬。
Do you know how it is that the pea-plant can climb?
小朋友, 你知道豌豆是怎么往上爬的么?
At the ends of its branches it has a great many green threads,
豌豆的枝條盡頭, 有很多綠色的細絲,
which twist round the sticks, and help the plant to hold on to them.
它就用這些細絲纏住桿子, 把身體固定在上面。
By the time summer has come, the pea-plants will be as high as the sticks you set up,
入夏的時候, 豌豆就會長到跟桿子一樣高了,
and they will be covered with pretty white blossoms.
開滿了漂亮的小白花。
The blossoms soon drop off, and we see long green pods in their place.
豌豆花很快就會落下來, 在花的地方能看見綠色的小豌豆莢。