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"Why, the food must be like mud pies, Grandmother!" cried Mary Jane.
咦，奶奶，那食物一定就像泥土馅饼一样了！玛丽·简大声说道。
"Don't you remember when I used to make beautiful pies from the dirt in your back yard?"
您不记得我过去常常用您后院里的泥土制作漂亮馅饼了吗？
"Oh, but, Mary Jane," answered Grandmother, "it is only some things in the ground that help the plant to grow."
嗯，是这样的，但玛丽·简啊，只有土壤中的一些东西能够帮助植物成长，奶奶回答。
"How does the plant get these things from the ground?" asked Mary Jane.
那植物是怎么从土壤中获得这些东西的呢？玛丽·简问道。
Grandmother said, "The rain water that soaks into the earth helps.
奶奶回答说，渗入地里的雨水起了作用。
It mixes with the things in the ground that the plant needs.
它混合了土壤中植物生长所需要的东西。
This water soaks into the roots of the plant and is carried into the leaves, where the food is made.
这样的水渗入植物的根部，再被送到植物的叶子里，食物就在那里被制造了出来。
"When rain does not fall for many days, the ground gets so dry that we have to put water wherever plants are growing.
几天不下雨的话，土壤就会变干，我们就必须给植物生长的地方浇水。
"But there is something else a plant must have before it can make food. "A plant must have sunlight."
但在植物制作食物之前，还需要其他的一些东西。植物需要阳光。
"Oh!" cried Mary Jane. "The sun is hot.
哦，我知道了，太阳是热的，玛丽大声说道。
Does it cook the plant's food, just as fire cooks our food?"
它就像我们用火烧熟食物一样，将植物的食物给烧熟，是不是？
"No," said Grandmother. "Plants need heat, but the heat does not cook the food.
不是的，奶奶说。植物需要热量，但这热量不是用来烧熟食物的。
We do not know just how the food is made.
现在我们还不清楚植物的食物是怎么被制造出来的。
"We only know that a plant cannot make food without sunlight, even though it has air and water."
我们只知道，即便有空气和水但没有阳光的话，植物也是无法生产出食物来的。
"I wish I knew how plant food tastes," said Mary Jane.
我想知道植物的食物尝起来怎么样，玛丽·简说。
"Oh, Mary Jane!" laughed Grandmother. "You eat plant food almost every day of your life.
哦，玛丽·简啊！奶奶笑到。你生活中的每一天都在吃植物的食物。
"Plants do not use all the food they make. They store some of it in their leaves and stems and seeds.
植物是不会吃掉所生产出来的全部食物。它们会把一部分食物储存在叶子、茎和种子里。
"Some plants, like the potato plant, the turnip, and the carrot, store extra food under the ground. This extra food is what we eat."
一些植物像土豆、萝卜和胡萝卜会把多出来的食物存放在地下。这些多出来的食物就是我们吃的食物。
Mary Jane thought about all the things her grandmother had told her.
玛丽·简想了想奶奶告诉她的所有的这些事。
Then she ran off to look at the growing things in the garden.
然后便跑到了花园研究花园中生长的食物去了。
