7. Where Do Seeds Come From

7 Where Do Seeds Come From? Nothing grew. Our garden was the worst garden in the history of gardens. The next day, Miss Nichol arrived on her tractor, wearing a T-shirt that said I'M ROOTING FOR YOU on it.

种子从何而来？ 没有做了。我们的花园是花园史上最差的花园。 第二天，尼科尔小姐开着拖拉机来了，她穿着一件t恤，上面写着“我支持你”。

Well, the tractor wasn't wearing the T-shirt. Miss Nichol was. It would be weird for a tractor to wear a T-shirt, or any kind of clothing. Miss Nichol had a box with her. She was looking at our pathetic garden when Mrs. Stoker came out of the school. "I just wanted to see how you kids were making out," she said. "Ugh, gross!" we all replied. "We're not making out." "Our garden is terrible," admitted Andrea. "Gardening can be very difficult," said Mrs. Stoker. "One time, I tried growing fungi, but it didn't grow at all. I guess there was mushroom for improvement. Get it? Mushroom? Much room?" We all laughed even though Mrs. Stoker didn't say anything funny. "Yeah," she continued. "I know a guy who dug a deep hole in his garden and filled it with water. I think he meant well. Get it? But seriously, his whole garden flooded. It turned out there was a leek in it. Get it? There was a leek in the garden?"* She kept telling jokes for a while. We asked Miss Nichol why nothing grew in our garden. She

拖拉机上可没穿t恤。 尼科尔小姐是。如果拖拉机穿t恤或其他衣服，那就太奇怪了。 尼科尔小姐带着一个盒子。 斯托克太太从学校出来的时候，她正看着我们可怜的花园。 “我只是想看看你们这些孩子过得怎么样，”她说。 “呃，恶心！”我们都回答。 “我们不是在亲热。”“我们的花园糟透了，”安德烈承认。 “园艺是非常困难的，”斯托克太太说。 “有一次，我试着种植真菌，但它根本不生长。 我想应该有改进的余地。 明白了吗?蘑菇吗?房间吗?”我们都笑了，尽管斯托克太太没有说什么好笑的话。 “是的，”她继续说。“我认识一个人，他在花园里挖了一个深洞，里面装满了水。 我想他是好意。明白了吗? 但说真的，他的整个花园都淹了。 原来里面有韭菜。 明白了吗?花园里有一棵韭菜？她讲了一会儿笑话。 我们问尼科尔小姐为什么我们的花园里什么也长不出来。 她

told us she knew from the start that nothing was going to grow. "Why didn't you tell us?" asked Neil. "I wanted to teach you young 'uns a lesson," Miss Nichol explained. "Lollipops, candy canes, and doughnuts don't grow outta the ground." "What about chicken trees?" I asked. "Nope." Bummer in the summer! Miss Nichol told us that if we wanted anything to grow in our garden, we would have to plant normal stuff like cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini. She opened the box she was carrying. It was filled with little bags of seeds. She got down on her knees with us and showed us how to plant the seeds. "Where do seeds come from, Miss Nichol?" asked Andrea, who has to know everything so she can be smarter than everybody else. "Seeds come from fruits and vegetables," replied Miss Nichol. "So where do the fruits and vegetables come from?" Andrea asked. "They come from seeds," said Miss Nichol.

告诉我们她从一开始就知道什么都长不出来。 “你为什么不告诉我们？” “我想给你们这些年轻人一个教训，”尼科尔小姐解释说。 “棒棒糖、棒棒糖和甜甜圈不是从地里长出来的。” “那鸡树呢？”我问。 “不。”夏天的流浪者！尼科尔小姐告诉我们，如果我们想在花园里种点什么，我们就得种普通的东西，比如黄瓜、西红柿和西葫芦。 她打开手里拿着的盒子。 里面装满了小袋的种子。 她和我们一起跪下来，教我们如何播种。 “种子是从哪里来的，尼科尔小姐？”安德烈问，她必须知道一切，这样她才能比别人聪明。 “种子来自水果和蔬菜，”尼科尔小姐回答。 “那么水果和蔬菜是从哪里来的呢？”安德里亚问道。 “它们来自种子，”尼科尔小姐说。

"And where do seeds come from?" asked Andrea. "They come from fruits and vegetables," said Miss Nichol. "But where do fruits and vegetables come from?" They went back and forth like that for a while. We planted a bunch of seeds and watered them with a watering can. And then we waited. And waited. And waited.

“种子是从哪儿来的呢？”安德烈问。 “它们来自水果和蔬菜，”尼科尔小姐说。 “但是水果和蔬菜是从哪里来的呢？”他们这样来回了一会儿。 我们种了一束种子，用喷壶给它们浇水。 然后我们就等着。等着。 等着。

Nothing grew! This was frustrating! Maybe our dirt was no good. Maybe we didn't water the seeds enough. Maybe we watered too much. Or maybe we were just terrible gardeners. That afternoon in class, we were talking about all this stuff. And you'll never believe who walked into the door at that moment. Nobody! Who walks into doors? We went over that in Chapter 1. But you'll never believe who walked into the doorway. It was Uncle Fred! He used to be the host of a kids' TV show, but now he's our music teacher. It's a long story. You can read about it in a book called Uncle Fred Is a Knucklehead! "I heard about your garden," Uncle Fred said. "I think I know what to do. Follow me." We followed Uncle Fred out to the garden. He opened his backpack and took out a violin. "I know for a fact that zucchini like soothing music," said Uncle Fred. "It helps them grow. So I'm going to play Beethoven for your zucchini." He played Beethoven in the garden for a million hundred hours. The whole time, we looked at the dirt to see if anything was popping through the surface.

没有长大!这真是令人沮丧！也许我们的泥土不好。 也许我们没有给种子浇足够的水。 也许我们浇得太多了。 或者我们只是糟糕的园丁。 那天下午在课堂上，我们一直在谈论这些事情。 你绝对不会相信那一刻谁走进来了。 没有人!谁会走进门？ 我们在第一章讲过了。 但你绝对不会相信谁走进了门口。 是弗雷德叔叔！他曾经是一个儿童电视节目的主持人，但现在他是我们的音乐老师。 说来话长。你可以在《弗雷德叔叔是个傻瓜》这本书里读到！“我听说了你的花园，”弗雷德叔叔说。 “我想我知道该怎么做。 跟我来。”我们跟着弗雷德叔叔来到花园。 他打开背包，拿出一把小提琴。 “我知道西葫芦喜欢舒缓的音乐，”弗雷德叔叔说。 “这有助于他们成长。所以我要为你的西葫芦演奏贝多芬的曲子。” 他在花园里演奏贝多芬的曲子，演奏了一百万个小时。 整个过程中，我们都在观察泥土，看有没有什么东西从表面冒出来。

Nothing. I guess the zucchini don't like Beethoven after all.

什么都没有。我猜西葫芦根本不喜欢贝多芬。