Y: So Don, yesterday I was walking down the produce aisle when I saw it--long, ripe,yellow，the perfect banana. It really looked delicious and I had to have it. I took it home and hung it on a banana hanger. The very next morning, it developed nasty brown spots.

昨天走在鄉(xiāng)間小路上,見(jiàn)到了長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的、黃色的香蕉，太誘人了！看上去真的是很好吃，我也忍不住吃上了幾根。我還拿到家里一些掛了起來(lái)。第二天早上，上面卻長(zhǎng)了骯臟的、褐色的斑點(diǎn)。

D: And you're wondering what gives.

在想為什么會(huì)生出那些斑點(diǎn)嗎？

Y: Right. It was a good banana yesterday. What happened?

是啊。昨天還是好好的香蕉。發(fā)生了什么呢？


D: It's no mystery, Yael. Those spots are a natural part of the ripening process. You see, just like all fresh produce, your bananas are alive.They're taking in oxygen to help them convert sugars into energy, and releasing carbon dioxide. This process is called respiration.

沒(méi)什么稀奇的。那些斑點(diǎn)是香蕉在成熟的過(guò)程中自然產(chǎn)生的。就像所有的新鮮農(nóng)產(chǎn)品一樣，你的香蕉是活的。他們吸入氧氣，將糖轉(zhuǎn)化成能量，并釋放二氧化碳。這個(gè)過(guò)程叫做呼吸作用。

Y: I don't know, Don, this banana looks dead to me.

我不太懂。我還以為這些香蕉是死的。

D: Now, the quicker a fruit or vegetable respires, the quicker it ripens. For most fruits,the respiration rate slows down after the initial growth stage and the fruit ripens slowly. The growth and ripening process of bananas, however, is different. Although at first the banana's respiration slows down too, when it's ready to ripen, the banana's pulp releases a chemical that increases respiration. This converts the starches in the banana to sugars and gives it its fabulous taste. And you know how good bananas taste!

水果或者蔬菜的呼吸作用越強(qiáng)烈，它成熟的就越快。對(duì)于大多數(shù)水果來(lái)說(shuō)，在最初的成長(zhǎng)階段呼吸作用減弱，成熟也較為緩慢。但是，香蕉的成長(zhǎng)和成熟過(guò)程卻不是這樣的。雖然香蕉一開始呼吸作用也會(huì)減弱，當(dāng)快要成熟的時(shí)候，它的果肉會(huì)釋放出一種化學(xué)物質(zhì)來(lái)加強(qiáng)它的呼吸作用。香蕉內(nèi)的淀粉轉(zhuǎn)化為糖，使香蕉美味無(wú)比。你知道香蕉有多好吃吧！

Y: Watch it--you're drooling. But what does all this ripening have to do with spots?

看啊-你都流口水了！但是這整個(gè)成熟的過(guò)程和那些斑點(diǎn)又有什么關(guān)系呢？

D: Well, with all this respiration, the banana eventually processes all the starches available. And that's when it begins to die. Those brown spots are rot and decay.

隨著不斷的呼吸作用，香蕉內(nèi)的淀粉最終都被轉(zhuǎn)化成糖了，香蕉也就“死”了。那些棕色的斑點(diǎn)是腐爛。

Y: Poor thing. It just ran out of fuel.

真可憐，就是把自己的能量消耗殆盡了。

D: Yeah, it's never easy seeing a good banana go bad.

是啊，看到好好的香蕉變質(zhì)了，心情肯定不好。

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