蔬菜無性別之分
Vegetables Do Not Have Gender
蔬菜無性別之分
Have you heard that femAle watermelons are sweeter than male ones? That male eggplants are less bitter than female ones? That male peppers have fewer seeds? Well, you heard wrong.
你有沒有聽過母西瓜比公西瓜更甜的說法？有沒有聽過母茄子比公茄子更苦的說法？或者公胡椒的籽更少的說法？如果有，可別信哦。
Let me explain what happens when one vegetable loves another vegetable very much. Their flower parts do have gender: the pollen comes from the male part, and it needs to get to an ovary, which is a female flower part. Sometimes the same flower has both male and female parts (like eggplants), while in other plants (like watermelons) the male and female flowers are separate.
首先，我需要解釋當一種蔬菜與另一種蔬菜相愛時會發生什麼。它們的花蕊卻有雌雄之分：花粉來源於雄蕊，需要進入雌蕊的子房。有時候，有些花雌雄同株（比如茄子），而其它植物（比如西瓜）的雌雄蕊是分開的。
But no matter what, a fruit is a fruit. The ovary, having been fertilized with pollen, grows into a fruit with seeds. The fruit is not "male" or "female" (and yes, this means that eggplants and peppers are fruits. It is also correct to call them vegetables.)
但無論如何，水果就是水果。受精的花粉到達子房，從而長成帶有種子的水果。而這種水果無公母之分（是的，這意味着茄子和胡椒都是水果。但它們也屬於蔬菜。）
So when you pick up an eggplant at the store, you're not looking at a male or a female creature. There are no "male" or "female" eggplants, nor peppers nor watermelons nor whatever else people are making up silly stories about.
所以，當你在店裏挑選茄子時，你並不是在挑選公茄子或母茄子。對於茄子、胡椒、西瓜或其它水果蔬菜而言，它們並無公母之分。
Fortunately, the people who spend their days educating the public about vegetables are on the case, patiently explaining this nonsense over and over again:
幸運的是，整天都在向大衆介紹蔬菜無性別之分的專家正耐心地向人們一遍又一遍地解釋。
"This is a garden myth," says the Oregon State University extension about gender of bell peppers. "There are not 'male' or 'female' eggplants," says Mary Keith of the University of Florida extension. "vegetable specialist Joe Kemble wants to make clear that there are no male fruits," says the Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities extension page.
“這是一個菜園之謎，”俄勒岡州立大學在甜椒性別拓展課上表示。“茄子不分公母，”佛羅里達大學的的瑪麗·基思（Mary Keith）在拓展課上說到。“蔬菜專家喬·肯布勒（Joe Kemble）正在研究有沒有公水果，”阿拉巴馬農工大學和奧本大學在其拓展頁面上寫道。
Most of the advice about fruit and vegetable gender centers around checking some subtle clue about the vegetable—the number of sections on a pepper, the shape of the flower scar on an eggplant—but, again, this doesn't reveal anything special about the contents. Eggplants don't come in round-scarred and oval-scarred types; they just have flower scars, and you can make up whatever story you like about them, but that story will not help you pick the right and fresh one.
有關水果和蔬菜性別的大多數建議都以查看蔬菜的細微線索爲主——例如胡椒的片數、茄子上花疤的形狀等——但這並沒有揭示出關於蔬菜的任何特殊信息。茄子不是圓形就是橢圓形的，它們本身就長有花疤，雖然你可以根據自己的喜好編造任何故事，但這並不能幫助你挑選出既新鮮又好吃的茄子。
