英國語文第六冊(雙語):溫帶地區(qū)(3)

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Turning now to the vegetable kingdom, we find the cornplants—the plants which are best adapted for the food of civilized man—scattered profusely over the Temperate Zone. It is only when man has settled down in a fixed abode, —when he has abandoned his nomadic life and become an agriculturist, attaching himself to a certain locality, —that it is possible for him to rear corn. Corn is not self-sustaining, self-diffusing, like the wild grass. Self-sown, it gradually dwindles away, and finally disappears. "It can only be reared permanently by being sown by man's own hand, and in ground which man's own hand has tilled."

現(xiàn)在來到植物王國，植物王國里最適合人類食用的植物是大量地分布在溫帶地區(qū)的“玉米”。只有當(dāng)一個(gè)人放棄游牧生活在某地安定下來，成為一名專業(yè)的農(nóng)業(yè)戶并依附于一個(gè)特定的地方，這時(shí)他才有可能會去種植玉米。玉米不像野草那樣可以自給自足、自我繁殖。自我播種只會造成數(shù)量逐漸減少，直到最后徹底消失。所以，玉米只能通過人類的雙手、在人類親手耕種的土地上進(jìn)行種植。

Corn, therefore, a great German botanist has said, precedes all civilization. With it are connected rest, peace, and domestic happiness, of which the wandering savage knows nothing. In order to rear it, nations must take possession of certain lands; and when their existence is thus firmly established, improvements in manners and customs speedily follow. They are no longer inclined for bloody wars, but fight only to defend the fields from which they derive their support.

一位偉大的德國植物學(xué)家曾經(jīng)說過：玉米先于一切文明。與之息息相關(guān)的是流浪的野蠻人無法體會的修養(yǎng)、安寧和家庭幸福。因?yàn)榉N植玉米國家必須占有一定面積的土地，當(dāng)他們在這片土地上執(zhí)掌大權(quán)之時(shí)便會去改善禮儀和風(fēng)俗。他們的戰(zhàn)爭將不再是為了殺戮，而是為了保衛(wèi)那片自己賴以生存的土地。

Corn is the food most convenient and most suitable for man in a social state. It is only by the careful cultivation of it that a country becomes capable of permanently supporting a dense population. All other kinds of food are precarious, and cannot be stored up for any length of time: roots and fruits are soon exhausted; the produce of the chase is uncertain, and if hard pressed ceases to yield a supply. In some countries the pith of the sago-palm, the fruit of the bread-fruit tree, the root of the esculent fern, and similar food, supplied spontaneously by nature, serve to maintain a thinly scattered and easily satisfied population; but man in these rude circumstances is invariably found depraved in body and in mind, and hopelessly incapable of bettering his condition. But the cultivation of corn, while it furnishes him with a supply of food for the greater part of the year, imposes upon him certain labours and restraints which have a most beneficial influence upon his character and habits.

玉米是人類生活中最方便、最適合食用的食物。一個(gè)國家只有經(jīng)過精心的培育才有能力持續(xù)供養(yǎng)其稠密的人口。而其它種類的食物都易變質(zhì)，進(jìn)而不易儲存，其根莖和果實(shí)會很快枯萎，所以努力不一定會有收獲，一旦遇到問題，供給就會停止。在一些國家，山艾樹的枝干、面包樹上的果實(shí)、蕨類植物的根、還有類似的食物，都是大自然為了維持那些稀疏并且容易滿足的人類自發(fā)供應(yīng)的。而那些生活在惡劣的環(huán)境下的人們常常會身心墮落，對自己無法改變處境無能為力。不過，種植玉米雖然為他們提供了一年里所需的大部分食物，卻也同時(shí)在他們身上施加了一定的勞動(dòng)和限制，這對他們性格和習(xí)慣的養(yǎng)成有著極為有利的影響。