1986版高中英语课文第二册
LESSON 2 THE TALLEST GRASS
Did you ever see grass growing high as a tree - a tall tree? Bamboo is this kind of grass. It grows up straight and thin with branches at the top.
Although bamboo is really a kind of grass, it looks more like a tree - a beautiful tree. It has long leaves that sway in the wind like slim fingers reaching to touch something. Chinese and Japanese poets write poems and songs about bamboo, and artists paint it in pictures.
Not all bamboo grows tall. Altogether there are more than 500 different kinds of bamboo, and some grow no higher than your ankles. Bamboo grows best in places where it is warm and where it rains often. Some kinds of bamboo grow very fast. If they are growing near a house, their slim leaves brush the roof gently and cool the house with their shade.
Some bloom and have seeds every year. Some never bloom at all. Some bloom only once, after living about forty years, and then die. However, new shoots of bamboo will come up from around the roots of the old ones.
But the most interesting things about this remarkable plant is what people do with it after it is cut down. Bamboo probably has more uses than any other plant in the world.
Bamboo is not a tree, remember, so the long straight stems of bamboo are not like tree wood. They are hollow, which make them very light. You can lift a big piece of bamboo with one hand. At the same time, bamboo is so strong that people use it to build houses and even high bridges over rivers.
In warm countries, many people have their houses made almost entirely of bamboo: the walls, the roof, the floor. Nearly everything within their houses is made of bamboo, too. The chairs, tables, curtains, cooking pots, flower vases, drinking cups, birdcages, and so on are all made of bamboo. And the fence around their garden is made of bamboo too.
Some bamboo is thinner than your little finger. Some is much thicker than your waist. And because it is hollow, it can be fitted together and used for pipes to carry water. Many farmers' fields are irrigated by water brought from a river or lake through bamboo pipes.
Bamboo is used for more than building. People eat it. The tender young shoots of bamboo are crisp and tasty. They are often found in Chinese or Japanese dishes. Some are put into cans and shipped all over the world.
Bamboo is also made into paper. The soft pulp inside the hard stems is taken out and sent to a factory. There it is made into a fine paper. Bamboo can also be made into good walking sticks and fishing poles.
Who can tell what new use someone may find for this special kind of grass - bamboo?
xingqisi 写了： 2025年 4月 20日 22:28
初中英文课本专门有一课吧。是不是楼主太年轻教材换了
严谨精神。我觉得生殖器官特征可作为种子植物细分标准。而低等植物还是以根茎叶为主因为没有明显的生殖器官。比如苔藓无真根，直到蕨类才有。