(单词翻译:单击)
In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that hinged onwhether the tomato was a fruit or a vegetable.
1893年,美国最高法院有一场关于西红柿到底是水果还是蔬菜的案子 。
According to botanists, most of the edible parts of a plant are vegetables. Vegetables can be aroot, stem, leaf, or flower.
根据植物学家的观点,一种植物中,可以吃的部分大都称为蔬菜 。
Even bulbs, like onions, and buds like brussels sprouts are vegetables.
蔬菜可以是根、茎、叶或者花 。甚至球根植物,如洋葱,芽类如球芽甘蓝都是蔬菜 。
A fruit, on the other hand, is always the matured ovary of a flowering plant.
另一方面,水果通常是一种花类植物的成熟子房 。
Fruit is formed whenpollen, which carries sperm, lands on the sticky part of the flower.
当花粉携带精子着落在花朵粘性的部分,水果就形成了 。
The sperm travel from the pollen grain into the ovary then into the ovule where one fertilizes theegg.
精子从花粉颗粒进入子房,然后进到受精的地方-胚珠 。
Once the egg is fertilized, the ovule becomes a seed, and the whole ovary becomes a fruit.
一旦受精卵形成,胚珠就变成一颗种子,整个子房就变成一个水果 。
This is why fruits usually contain seeds.
这就是为什么水果通常都包含种子的原因 。
Of course, when we generally think of fruit we think of sweet fruits like apples and pears that areeaten raw or baked in dessert.
当然,我们通常认为水果是我们想象中的那种甜味的水果,像苹果和梨子,可以生吃或烘焙作为餐后甜点 。
We don't think of tomatoes or cucumbers as fruit, although theyare fruit because they develop from the ovary of the plant.
我们不认为西红柿或黄瓜是水果,尽管他们确实是水果,因为他们是由植物的子房发育而来的 。
Back to the 1893 court case.
回到1893年的案子,
The Supreme Court declared that tomatoes were vegetablesbecause they are usually eaten cooked like vegetables.
最高法院判定,西红柿是蔬菜,因为西红柿通常用烹饪蔬菜那样的方法来吃 。
The decision allowed the court to uphold atax on imported tomatoes because, at that time, vegetables were taxed but fruits were not.
这个决定允许法庭对进口西红柿征税,因为那时候,蔬菜是要收税的,但水果不用 。