小草也“害羞”
2009-01-01 00:00:00陳欣
英語大王 2009年2期
繪畫 后 山
Little Rabbit was very proud*.
One day， Little Rabbit met Little Tortoise. Little Rabbit said，“Look， I have got a white coat， two long ears and two red eyes. How beautiful I am! You only have a hard and an ugly* shell*. No one likes you.”
Little Tortoise said，“You are so proud. No one likes a proud rabbit.”
Little Rabbit said， “Everybody likes me.”
Little Tortoise asked， “Can you prove* it?”
Little Rabbit said， “Of course， I can.”
Little Tortoise said， “OK. Take the hand of Mimosa*. And see whether Mimosa is willing to make friends with you.*”
When Little Rabbit touched Mimosa’s leaves， the Mimosa lowered his head and all his leaves folded up.* Little Rabbit’s face turned red and he was not proud any more.
閱讀小助手：
Take the hand of Mimosa. And see whether Mimosa is willing to make friends with you.
牽含羞草的手，看含羞草是否愿意和你交朋友。
When Little Rabbit touched Mimosa’s leaves， the Mimosa lowered his head and all his leaves folded up.
小兔子剛觸摸到含羞草的葉子，含羞草就低下了頭，所有的葉子也都合攏了起來。
含羞草是真的不愿意和驕傲的小兔子做朋友嗎？
原來，含羞草的葉子和葉柄具有特殊的結(jié)構(gòu)。在葉柄基部和復(fù)葉的小葉基部，都有一個(gè)比較膨大的部分，叫葉枕。葉枕里水分充足，經(jīng)常膨脹得鼓鼓的，而且有很大的壓力。當(dāng)葉子受到觸碰時(shí)，震動(dòng)會(huì)傳給葉枕，葉枕下部細(xì)胞里的水分就會(huì)向上部和兩側(cè)流去，葉枕上部鼓起，下部凹陷，于是葉子便向上合攏，葉柄垂下去。刺激之后，稍過一段時(shí)間，一切又慢慢恢復(fù)正常，葉子又展開了，葉柄又豎立起來了。
含羞草的老家在熱帶南美洲的巴西，那里常有大風(fēng)大雨。每當(dāng)?shù)谝坏斡甏蛑~子時(shí)，它的葉片便立即閉合，葉柄下垂，以躲避狂風(fēng)暴雨對(duì)它的傷害。另外，含羞草的“害羞”反應(yīng)還是一種自衛(wèi)方式。動(dòng)物稍一碰它，它就合攏葉子，這樣動(dòng)物也就不敢吃它了。
故事里的小烏龜真聰明，借用含羞草好好教育了驕傲的小兔子。
Word Bank
proud /praJd/ adj. 驕傲的
ugly /5Q^lI/ adj. 難看的
shell /Fel/ n. 殼
prove /pru:v/ v. 證明
mimosa /mI5mEJzE/ n. 含羞草
