VICTORIA AMAZONICA

by Adeline and Alexa

翻譯：折耳貓

在南美洲的亞馬孫河流域，生長著一種奇特的睡蓮，它有“水中大力士”之稱，其葉子能托起一個小孩，而且花的顏色一天一變，因此又被稱為“善變的女神”。

The Victoria Amazonica, or the1)giant2)water lily, is the largest plant in the family of water lilies. It grows in the3)shallow waters in the4)Amazon river.

The flower of the Victoria Amazonica

The flower of the Victoria Amazonica5)blooms only at night. The flower is about the size of a soccer ball! Th e flower only blooms for a few days. It first blooms white and becomes pink the second night. It needs to be6)pollinated. The flower can7)release a sweet smell that8)attracts9)beetles. There can be up to 40 beetles staying inside the flower when it closes in the morning.When the flower opens at night the beetles come out taking10)pollen with them to pollinate other flowers. The flower then turns purple and on the third day it dies.

The leaf of the Victoria Amazonica

The leaf of the Victoria Amazonica can grow up to 46cm in size. The leaves are very strong and they can even hold a child!

How does it protect itself?

The giant water lily grows11)thorns on the bottom of the leaf to protect itself from fish and other animals.

1) giant ['d?a??nt] adj. 巨大的

2) water lily 睡蓮

3) shallow ['??l??] adj. 淺的

4) Amazon ['?m?z?n] n. 亞馬孫河（南美洲大河）

5) bloom [blu?m] v. 開花

6) pollinate ['p?l?ne?t] v. 對……授粉

7) release [r?'li?s] v. 釋放

8) attract [?'tr?kt] v. 吸引

9) beetle ['bi?tl] n. 甲殼蟲

10) pollen ['p?l?n] n. 花粉

11) thorn [θ??n] n. 刺

參考譯文

亞馬孫王蓮或巨型睡蓮是睡蓮科最大的植物，長于亞馬孫河淺水域。

亞馬孫王蓮的花

亞馬孫王蓮的花僅在夜間開放，花型碩大如足球！花期僅有幾天。最初花是白色的，第二晚則變?yōu)榉奂t。它需要借助外力授粉。它的花會釋放一種香甜的味道以吸引甲殼蟲。早上花苞合攏的時候，能困住多達(dá)40只甲殼蟲。當(dāng)花兒在夜晚開放時，甲殼蟲便帶著花粉離開然后給其他花授粉。隨后，花朵變?yōu)樽仙谌炀偷蛑x了。

亞馬孫王蓮的葉

亞馬孫王蓮的葉可長至46厘米，非常結(jié)實，可以承載一個小孩！

亞馬孫王蓮的盾

王蓮葉子的底部長有刺，可使它免受魚和其他動物的傷害。

名師考點小結(jié)

protect sb./sth. from sth. 保護(hù)，防護(hù)

（1）地震中我們應(yīng)該如何保護(hù)自己呢？

How can we ____ _____ _____ the ____.

（2）我們應(yīng)該如何預(yù)防流感？

How can we _________ _____ the____.

（3）盡量保護(hù)皮膚免受太陽曬。

____ ____ _____your skin ____ the sun.