Lesson 40 The Sugar-Cane
第40课 甘蔗
Have you "a sweet tooth"? Do you like things with sugar in them? If you do (and I am almost sure that you do),you will like this lesson, for it will tell you where sugar comes from, and all about it.
小朋友，你爱吃甜食吗？你喜欢加糖的东西吗？要是你喜欢（我差不多肯定你会喜欢），你也会喜欢这一课，因为这一课告诉你的，正是糖的来源，以及关于糖的一切！
Sugar is found in the juice or sap of many plants. You cannot see the sugar, because it is dissolved in the water of the juice. Sugar dissolves so well that one pound of water can dissolve three pounds of sugar.
很多植物的汁液，或者树汁，里面都有糖。但是这种糖是看不见的，因为它溶解在汁液的水分里面了。糖的可溶性非常好，一磅水能溶解三磅糖呢！
The sweetness of most fruits is caused by a kind of sugar called grape-sugar. You know that grapes taste sweet. Now raisins are just dried grapes; and if you cut open some raisins, you will be sure to find inside them many little hard grains of this grape-sugar.
多数水果的甜味，来自一种叫做“葡萄糖”的糖。你知道葡萄吃起来是甜的。晒干了的葡萄叫葡萄干；把葡萄干切开，就肯定能在里面，找到很多这种葡萄糖粒。
But the sugar which we use to sweeten our tea, and which is sold in all the grocers’shops as "lump-sugar" or "brown sugar," is made either from the juice of the plant called the sugar-cane, or from that of another plantcalled the beet.
不过，我们放在茶里的糖，在所有杂货店里卖的糖，叫做“方糖”或者“红糖”，这种糖要么是一种叫“甘蔗”的植物的汁制造的，要么是另一种叫“甜菜”的植物制造的。
The sugar-cane grows in very hot countries. It is a tall kind of grass, about twice the height of a man. Its smooth, shining stems are about two inches thick, and they have knots or joints at every five or six inches.
甘蔗生长在非常炎热的地区，是一种长得很高的草，差不多有成年人高度的两倍。甘蔗的茎很光滑，有光泽，直径大概有两英寸；每5-6英寸就分一个“节”。