2 FARMER’S MARKET

CHAPTER 2 FARMER'S MARKET Mom poked the bug with one finger. "Bummer. You've officially got your first garden pest!" "Garden pest?" I asked. That sure didn't sound good. "We aren't the only ones who like kale." Mom chuckled. "Slugs, snails, aphids—they're all creatures who can eat or damage your food before you get a chance to eat it. This little guy here is an aphid." "But last year I didn't have any on my kale! Did I do something wrong this year?" "Not at all! Depending on the weather and predators and other things like that, you'll see more or less of certain pests each year. Last summer was

第二章农贸市场妈妈用一根手指戳了戳虫子。 “游手好闲的人。你正式得到了你的第一个花园害虫！”“园林害虫?”我问。 这听起来确实不太好。 “我们不是唯一喜欢羽衣甘蓝的人。” 妈妈笑了。“鼻涕虫、蜗牛、蚜虫——这些生物都能在你有机会吃东西之前吃掉或破坏你的食物。 这个小家伙是一只蚜虫。” “但是去年我的羽衣甘蓝上没沾上！”我今年做错什么了吗？”“一点也不！”根据天气、捕食者和其他类似的事情，你每年都会或多或少地看到某些害虫。 去年夏天

pretty cool out—I bet it wasn't warm enough for the aphids." My shoulders slumped. "Will there be any left by the time it's ready to harvest?" "Are you guys ready for the market?" Dad called from the front door. Mom gave my shoulders a squeeze. "Don't worry, sweetie. There are things we can do to help your plants. Let's figure it out after the farmer's market." I nodded, but I didn't feel a whole lot better. It would be so unfair if all that time I'd spent growing the different plants from seeds was a waste because the aphids ate it up. I was grumbly on the way to the market, but I cheered up once we got there. There were always so many fun foods to taste, and I liked finding weird vegetables and fruits to try. I stood in front of my favorite fruit booth, trying to decide which sample to try first when two little arms wrapped around me and squeezed really tightly. Which could only mean… "Sophie!" I squeaked.

外面很凉快，我敢说对蚜虫来说还不够暖和。” 我的肩膀耷拉下来。“到收割的时候还会有剩下的吗？”“你们准备好进入市场了吗？”爸爸从前门喊道。 妈妈捏了捏我的肩膀。 “别担心，亲爱的。我们可以做一些事情来帮助你的植物。 我们去农贸市场后再想办法吧。” 我点了点头，但我并没有觉得好多了。 如果我花在培育不同植物种子上的时间被蚜虫吃光了，那就太不公平了。 我在去市场的路上满腹牢骚，但一到那里我就高兴起来了。 总是有很多有趣的食物可以品尝，我喜欢寻找奇怪的蔬菜和水果来尝试。 我站在我最喜欢的水果摊前，正想决定先吃哪个样品，这时两只小胳膊紧紧地抱住了我。 这只能意味着……“索菲！”我发出“吱吱”的响声。

Sophie laughed behind me and let go. I could breathe again! My friend could definitely give a tight hug. She'd make a good boa constrictor. "Oh my gosh, Zoey, you have to come see this!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me to a new booth I hadn't seen before. Sophie pointed to a container with weird black and orange bugs crawling around inside. "GUESS! Guess what those are!" "Ummm, some kind of beetle maybe?"

索菲在我身后笑了笑，放手了。 我又能呼吸了！我的朋友绝对可以给你一个紧紧的拥抱。 她会成为一条很好的蟒蛇。 “哦，天哪，佐伊，你一定要来看这个！”她抓住我的手，把我拖到一个我以前没见过的新摊位前。 苏菲指着一个容器，里面有奇怪的黑色和橙色的虫子在爬。 “想!猜猜这些是什么！”“嗯，可能是某种甲虫吧？”

"They're BABY LADYBUGS!" "No wayyy!" I peered closer. "Are you sure?" "Aren't they neat?" A lady with a nametag that said "Nina" who was working at the booth smiled at us. "They look like skinny long beetles now. But after they shed a few times and grow, they'll pupate. And when they're done changing things up in there, perfect little ladybugs will come out!" She pointed to a pupa in the back of the container. It looked a little bit more like a ladybug—the right shape,

“它们是瓢虫宝宝！”“没有wayyy !”我凑近了看。 “你确定吗？”“它们是不是很整齐？”一位在展台工作的女士，她的胸牌上写着“妮娜”，她对我们微笑着。 “它们现在看起来像又瘦又长的甲虫。 但在它们脱落几次并长大后，它们就会化蛹。 等他们把里面的东西换完，完美的小瓢虫就会出来了！”她指着容器后面的一只蛹。 它看起来更像瓢虫——形状合适，

anyway. "Do you like bugs?" Sophie and I nodded furiously. "Well, if you two garden at all, you'll love the bugs we have here today!" She waved her hand over some different containers. "Ladybugs, lacewings, nematodes, and—oh, praying mantises!" I cheered. "I love those!" "All of them eat garden pests, so they're pretty popular among organic gardeners. Do you guys know what organic gardening is?" Nina asked. "It's when you grow your garden or food without using pesticide," Sophie said. "Pesticides are bad for lots of creatures," I added. "Plus, if you use a lot of them, like on a farm, and it rains, they can get into local streams and really hurt the things that live there—like merhorses!" Both Sophie and Nina stared at me. "Mer-what?" Nina asked. "Uhhh, I meant… mayflies!" Phew. That was a close one. "Oh wow, you know about stream bugs?" Nina raised her eyebrows.

无论如何。“你喜欢虫子吗？”索菲和我狂怒地点点头。 “好吧，如果你们俩还喜欢园艺的话，你们会喜欢我们今天这儿的虫子的！”她在一些不同的容器上挥了挥手。 “瓢虫、草蛉、线虫，还有，哦，螳螂！”我欢呼雀跃。 “我喜欢那些！”“它们都吃花园害虫，所以它们在有机园丁中很受欢迎。 你们知道什么是有机园艺吗？”尼娜问。 索菲说：“这是指你在种植花园或种植食物时不使用农药。” “杀虫剂对很多生物都有害，”我补充说。 “另外，如果你用了很多，比如在农场，下雨的时候，它们会进入当地的溪流，真正伤害生活在那里的东西，比如美人鱼！”索菲和尼娜都盯着我。 “Mer-what ?”尼娜问。“啊，我是说……蜉蝣！”唷。 真是好险啊。“哦，哇，你知道流bug吗？”尼娜扬起眉毛。

Sophie mumbled, "Merhorses?" and shook her head once. "Pesticides can be bad for a lot of reasons— mayflies included!" Nina continued. "When you don't want to use pesticides, you have a few choices." She grabbed a jar and opened the lid and pulled out a HUGE green caterpillar. "Whoaaa!" Sophie and I said at the same time. Nina plonked the caterpillar in my hand. "Some pests, like this tomato hornworm or slugs, are big enough that you can pick them by hand." I handed the caterpillar to Sophie so she could

索菲喃喃地说：“人鱼？”然后摇了摇头。 “杀虫剂有害的原因有很多——包括蜉蝣！”妮娜继续说道。 “当你不想使用杀虫剂时，你有几个选择。” 她抓起一个罐子，打开盖子，拉出一只巨大的绿色毛毛虫。 “Whoaaa !”苏菲和我异口同声地说。 尼娜把毛毛虫砰地一声塞到我手里。 “有些害虫，比如番茄角虫或鼻涕虫，大到你可以用手把它们摘下来。” 我把毛毛虫交给苏菲，这样她就能