Do Potatoes See with Their Eyes?土豆是用 “眼睛”看東西嗎？

長庚

Do you like eating potatoes？ The English word “potato”comes from theSpanish word “patata”. Patata comes from batata. It was a South American Indianword that referred to the sweet potato.

The part we know as the potato， though， grows under the ground. Its called atuber1， and it grows from the end of stems2 below the roots3 of the plant under theground. Each tuber or potato has several buds4. These are the small buds we callpotato “eyes”. Its from these buds that new potato plants can grow. So eyes of apotato can help grow more potatoes， but cant help it see under the ground.

Potatoes were first grown more than 10，000 years ago in Peru in SouthAmerica. Spanish explorers5 brought the potatoes to Europe in the 1500s.Europeans6 brought potatoes to North America in the 1600s. Today， potatoes are theworlds fourth-largest food.

There are now more than 1，000 different types of potatoes around the world.China grows the most potatoes of any country in the world. In the United States，Idaho and Washington grow the most potatoes each year.

The green parts of a potatos skin7， as well as the leaves of the potato plant，are a little toxic8. Its always best to cut out green part when taking the skin offpotatoes before cooking. The average9 American eats more than 125 pounds ofpotatoes each year. The first vegetable to be grown in space10 was... you guessed it...the potato！

你喜歡吃土豆嗎？英語單詞“potato”源自西班牙語單詞“patata”。

patata 源自batata，這是一個南美洲印第安人的詞，指的是紅薯。

不過，我們所知的土豆的那一部分是生長在地下的。它被稱為塊莖，從地下植物根下面的莖末端長出來。每個塊莖（土豆）都有幾個芽。這些小芽被我們稱為土豆“眼睛”。新的土豆植株正是從這些芽中長出來的。所以土豆的“眼睛”可以長出更多的土豆，但是不能幫助它在地下看清東西。

土豆最早種植于一萬多年前的南美洲秘魯。15 世紀，西班牙探險者們將土豆帶到了歐洲。17 世紀，歐洲人把土豆帶到了北美。今天，土豆是世界第四大食物。

現在全世界有1000 多種不同種類的土豆。中國是世界上種植土豆最多的國家。在美國，愛達荷州和華盛頓州每年種植的土豆最多。

土豆表皮的綠色部分以及土豆植株的葉子都有點毒性。烹飪前削土豆皮的時候，最好去掉綠色部分。普通美國人每年要吃掉超過125 磅（約56.7 公斤）土豆。第一種在太空種植的蔬菜是———你猜到了———土豆！

Notes

1. tuber.塊莖

2. stem . 植物；灌木的；莖；干

3. root? .植物的；根；根莖

4. bud . 芽

5. explorer . 探險者

6. European . 歐洲人

7. skin . 水果或蔬菜的外皮

8. toxic.有毒的；引起中毒的

9. average? . 普通的；平常的；平均數

10. space? . 太空；外層空間；宇宙空間