English 中文网 漫画网 爱新闻iNews 翻译论坛
中国网站品牌栏目(频道)
当前位置: Language Tips > 双语新闻

世界最臭尸花瑞士开放 气味刺鼻如腐肉
What a stinker! World's smelliest flower opens for the first time in a DECADE

[ 2011-04-26 08:29]     字号 [] [] []  
免费订阅30天China Daily双语新闻手机报:移动用户编辑短信CD至106580009009

世界最臭尸花瑞士开放 气味刺鼻如腐肉

Miracle-Gro: The flower opened for the first time in 75 years on Good Friday.

For botanists, it doesn't get more exciting than this - after 75 years, the Titan Arum plant has unfurled its leaves and is in full bloom.

For curious crowds who gathered, they perhaps realised that a once-in-a-lifetime look is more than enough - thanks to its pungent odour of rotting flesh.

The flower, nicknamed 'Corpse flower', bloomed late on Good Friday at the University of Basel, Switzerland and is expected to remain open until Easter Sunday.

The eight foot plant, which is indigenous to Sumatra's rainforests in Indonesia, has the largest unbranched shoot in the world. On average, they bloom once in a decade.

Titan Arum is coveted by collectors and plant enthusiasts around the world because of its strange blooming patterns.

It produces umbrella-sized petals which open to a diameter of three to four feet.

Its distinctive smell can be detected from half a mile away. The odour, which is usually strongest at night, is meant to attract pollinators such as carrion beetles and flesh flies.

Twelve of them are housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the Princess of Wales Conservatory among hundreds of other tropical plants.

When the plants are ready to pollinate, the stem heats up to release a pungent smell, which lasts for about three days.

The largest Arum at Kew gardens weighs 200lb and grows at a staggering rate of a quarter of an inch an hour.

It guzzles liquid fertiliser and potassium each week to keep up its strength while bedded in roomy surroundings.

Sir David Attenborough, who invented the name Titan Arum, was the first to capture it flowering on film for his BBC TV series The Private Life of Plants.

He dropped the plant’s original name – Amorphophallus – perhaps because of the reference to male genitalia.

(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

点击查看更多双语新闻

(Agencies)

没有什么能比这个消息更让植物学家感到兴奋了。在历经75年的生长以后,这株泰坦魔芋终于绽放出花朵。

好奇的围观者可能意识到这种景观终生难见一次,因为这种花散发出的腐肉般的刺鼻气味实在独特。

复活节前的星期五(耶稣受难日)那天夜里,这种绰号叫作“尸花”的花在瑞士巴塞尔大学盛放,预计花期将持续到复活节(周日)。

这一高达八英尺的泰坦魔芋是印尼苏门答腊岛热带雨林的本土植物,拥有全世界最大的不分枝巨芽。这种植物一般十年才开一次花。

泰坦魔芋的开花方式很奇特,因而世界各地的收藏家和植物爱好者都渴望收藏这种植物。

泰坦魔芋花的花瓣有伞那么大,盛开后整朵花的直径达三至四英尺。

泰坦魔芋花独特的气味在半英里外就能闻到。这种花的臭味通常在夜间最浓烈,可以吸引腐尸甲虫和肉蝇这样的传粉昆虫。

威尔士王妃馆内的英国皇家植物园(邱园)收藏的数百种热带植物中,就有12株泰坦魔芋。

在泰坦魔芋将要授粉时,花茎会发热并散发出一股刺鼻气味,这种气味大约会持续三天。

邱园中最大的泰坦魔芋重达200磅,而且生长速度惊人,每小时长0.25英寸。

在宽敞的环境中,这种植物每周会大量吸收液态肥料和钾来维持生命力。

把这种植物命名为“泰坦魔芋”的戴维•阿滕伯勒爵士是首个拍到它开花景观的人。当时他正在拍摄BBC电视剧《植物私生活》。

他舍弃了该植物的原名Amorphophallus,原因可能是这一名字有男性生殖器的意思。

相关阅读

2010年度最离奇新闻大全

美国加州夫妇成世界最高夫妻

亡者归来:三分之一绝种动物再现世间

悉尼做出世界最大汉堡 重90公斤

世界上最丑的狗去世 曾为公益募款10万美元

荷兰花商培育出彩虹玫瑰 单支售价24.49磅

英巨兔身长1.3米 成世界最大兔子

科学家:屎壳郎为世上力量最大的昆虫

(中国日报网英语点津 陈丹妮 编辑:冯明惠)

Vocabulary:

Titan Arum: 泰坦魔芋,原产于印度尼西亚苏门达腊的热带雨林地区,花朵的直径长1.5米,高则将近3米,人们普遍认为这是世界上最大的花。这种植物一般能活150年左右,在它的生命期内只开两三次花。它会发出一种令人作恶如尸肉腐败的味道,因此,又称之为“尸花”。

pungent: having a strong taste or smell 味道(或气味)强烈的;刺激性的

covet: to want something very much, especially something that belongs to somebody else 渴望;贪求(尤指别人的东西);觊觎

pollinator: (花粉)传粉媒介,传粉昆虫

staggering: so large, shocking or surprising that it is difficult to believe(大得惊人的;骇人的;难以想像的)

guzzle: to drink something quickly and in large amounts(狂饮;猛喝)

genitalia: 生殖器

 
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
 

关注和订阅

人气排行

翻译服务

中国日报网翻译工作室

我们提供:媒体、文化、财经法律等专业领域的中英互译服务
电话:010-84883468
邮件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn