美國語文第五冊 第255期：種子的傳播與種植（04）

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and they begin to pluck them long before they are ripe, so that when the crop of white-pine cones is a small one, as it commonly is,

那時松果成熟還早，果實還小，松鼠們便早早開始動手了。

they cut off thus almost everyone of these before it fairly ripens.

一般來說，它們幾乎不會錯過秋天里每一粒珍貴收獲。

I think, moreover, that their design, if I may so speak, in cutting them off green,

此外，依據(jù)松鼠設(shè)想，我是否可以這么猜測，松樹果實尚青嫩生澀，

is partly to prevent their opening and losing their seeds, for these are the ones for which they dig through the snow,

松鼠們便迫不及待地開始采摘，一方面在于它們唯恐裂落地，失卻到嘴的美食；或許直到冬天來臨，松鼠才能從積雪里挖出，

and the only white-pine cones which contain anything then.

至于那些落地的白松松籽，那可是漫長冬季里唯一貯有種子的活命糧。

I have counted in one heap the cores of two hundred and thirty-nine pitch-pine cones which had been cut off and stripped by the red squirrel the previous winter.

我曾發(fā)現(xiàn)一堆松果，那是上一個冬季紅松鼠嚙咬撕扯后藏匿下的，我數(shù)了數(shù)，竟有二百三十九顆松果。

The nuts thus left on the surface, or buried just beneath it,

堅果被丟棄地面或淺埋土壤，

are placed in the most favorable circumstances for germinating.

給種子提供了極易萌發(fā)的環(huán)境，

I have sometimes wondered how those which merely fell on the surface of the earth got planted;

但我有時還是無法明白，那些落到地表的種子如何就能發(fā)芽？

but, by the end of December, I find the chestnut of the same year partially mixed with the mold, as it were,

12月末，我通過觀察后發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)年生栗子落地后，部分外殼已霉變，

under the decaying and moldy leaves, where there is all the moisture and manure they want, for the nuts fall fast.

殘枝頹葉混雜覆蓋地層，落地栗子從而獲得必需的濕濡與營養(yǎng)。

In a plentiful year a large proportion of the nuts are thus covered loosely an inch deep,

掛果多的年頭，大多落地堅果上覆蓋著腐泥頹葉，深達(dá)一英寸，

and are, of course, somewhat concealed from squirrels.

藏匿在稀疏軟泥下的果實，起碼可躲過松鼠一劫。