(原版)澳大利亚语文第三册 LESSON 8
LESSON 8 BUTTER
BUTTER
1. Joe and Sarah [1] were up quite early to see the cows milked. Mr. Flower had a fine herd [2] of dairy cows. They were milked in a paddock at some distance from the house.
2. The children went down to the yards with their cousin, and saw the men put the cows into the shed and feed them. Their food was a mixture of lucerne, chaff, bran, and molasses [3] , and the cows seemed to enjoy their breakfast.
3. Each cow was wiped down before she was milked. Soon the new milk spurted [4] into the buckets under the skilful hands of the milkers. As each bucket was filled with milk it was emptied into a large can standing on wheels.
4. When the can was full it was taken to the dairy. The children followed to see what next was done with the milk.
5. The dairy was built under the shade of a large fig-tree. The floor was of stone and the wooden walls were built double, so that fresh air could pass freely between them, and keep the dairy sweet and cool. Everything in the dairy was quite clean.
6. After the milk had been strained, it was poured from the can into an open vessel on a machine, which was started and began to whirl round like a top.
7. As the machine whirled [5] round, the cream was forced to the centre of the vessel, and flowed through a spout into a can placed there to catch it.
8. After all the cream had been collected, the separated milk [6] was put into cans, and set aside to feed the pigs and calves.
9. Breakfast was now ready, and the children went to the house, where they had some of the fresh milk with their porridge. After breakfast they drove out with Tom to take the cream to the butter factory.
10. The man at the factory took them to see butter made. Cream was put into a kind of large square box with a hole in the lid. This was a box churn. The lid was closed by screwing a thick plate of glass into the opening, and the box began to turn slowly round.
11. After about half an hour the churn was stopped and the glass unscrewed. The children saw that now, instead of cream, there was milk with grains of butter floating in it.
12. The buttermilk was drained off and cold water was poured in to cool the butter. The churn was set working again and the butter washed clean.
13. The butter was taken from the churn with a wooden spade, and placed upon a table to be worked and salted. The top of the table kept turning round and round, and the salt was worked well into the butter. About two and a-half pounds of salt were added to every hundred pounds of butter.
14. The butter was next packed in square boxes. About fifty-six pounds were put into each box.
15. The man in charge told them that the butter boxes were sent away by train in a special car [7] , which was kept very cool. When the butter arrived in Brisbane it was tested [8] by officers of the State.
16. The boxes of butter were marked to show the quality of the butter, and were placed in the hold [9] of a steamer, where they were kept ice-cold during the voyage overseas to the English market.
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[1] Joe and Sarah: Two children who were visiting their uncle, Mr. Flower.
[2] herd: A number together——a herd of cattle, a flock of sheep, a mob of horses.
[3] molasses: A thick, sweet fluid from the sugar-cane; refined molasses is called treacle.
[4] spurted: Flowed in spurts or jerks.
[5] whirled: Turned very quickly.
[6] separated milk: Milk from which the cream has been removed by the separator.
[7] special car: A car kept for only one purpose.
[8] tested: Tried as to quality.
[9] hold: The room where the cargo is stored.
