时差N小时:有名的西红柿辩论 The Great Tomato Debate

In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case thathinged onwhether the tomato was a fruit or avegetable.

1893年，美国最高法院有一场关于西红柿到底是水果还是蔬菜的案子。

According to botanists, most of the edible parts of aplant are vegetables. Vegetables can be aroot, stem,leaf, or flower.

根据植物学家的观点，一种植物中，可以吃的部分大都称为蔬菜。

Even bulbs, like onions, and buds like brusselssprouts are vegetables.

蔬菜可以是根、茎、叶或者花。甚至球根植物，如洋葱，芽类如球芽甘蓝都是蔬菜。

A fruit, on the other hand, is always the matured ovary of a flowering plant.

另一方面，水果通常是一种花类植物的成熟子房。

Fruit is formed whenpollen, which carries sperm, lands on the sticky part of the flower.

当花粉携带精子着落在花朵粘性的部分，水果就形成了。

The sperm travel from the pollen grain into the ovary then into the ovule where one fertilizestheegg.

精子从花粉颗粒进入子房，然后进到受精的地方-胚珠。

Once the egg is fertilized, the ovule becomes a seed, and the whole ovary becomes a fruit.

一旦受精卵形成，胚珠就变成一颗种子，整个子房就变成一个水果。

This is why fruits usually contain seeds.

这就是为什么水果通常都包含种子的原因。Of course, when we generally thinkof fruit we think of sweet fruits like apples and pears that areeaten raw or baked in dessert.

当然，我们通常认为水果是我们想象中的那种甜味的水果，像苹果和梨子，可以生吃或烘焙作为餐后甜点。

We don't think of tomatoes or cucumbers as fruit, although theyare fruit because they developfrom the ovary of the plant.

我们不认为西红柿或黄瓜是水果，尽管他们确实是水果，因为他们是由植物的子房发育而来的。

Back to the 1893 court case.

回到1893年的案子，

The Supreme Court declared that tomatoes were vegetablesbecause they are usually eatencooked like vegetables.

最高法院判定，西红柿是蔬菜，因为西红柿通常用烹饪蔬菜那样的方法来吃。

The decision allowed the court to uphold atax on imported tomatoes because, at that time,vegetables were taxed but fruits were not.

这个决定允许法庭对进口西红柿征税，因为那时候，蔬菜是要收税的，但水果不用。