People say Asheville, North Carolina, is a beautiful town, and its beauty lies mostly in the landscape. Nestleddeep in the North Carolina hills, Asheville is especially lovely in the spring, as color comes back to the Blue Ridge Mountains. But there is a problem with Asheville in spring: It smells like cemen. Why? That’s just the Bradford pears.

人称北卡罗来纳州的阿什维尔是一个美丽的小镇，它的美主要在于风景。阿什维尔坐落在北卡罗来纳州的深山里，在春天尤其可爱，因为蓝岭山脉的色彩又回来了。但阿什维尔的春天有个问题: 闻起来像精液。为什么？因为布拉德福梨树。

Bradford pear trees, also known as the Callery pear, have small, white petals that turn to dark green foliage as the petals drop. They are pretty, but they are also the baneof springtime in Asheville. Urban Dictionary describes it as a “cross between old semen, dirty vagina, and rotting fried shrimp. Common throughout the South,” the linguistic authority continues, “these trees are pleasantly located near eateriesand other fine establishments.” This is certainly true in Asheville, where a lovely outdoor lunch is made all the more ripe by the stenchof rotting semen.

布拉德福德梨树，也称为豆梨树，有小而白的花瓣，花落后树叶变成深绿。豆梨树很漂亮，但也是阿什维尔（北卡罗来纳州城市）春天的烦恼之源。城市词典（由网友编写定义的俚语词典）将其描述为“（气味）介于旧精液、肮脏的阴道和腐烂的炸虾之间”。这些树在整个（美国）南方都很常见，它们的身影常出现在餐馆和一些高档场所附近。” 在阿什维尔更是如此，在那里，一顿美好的户外午餐往往夹杂着腐烂精液的强烈臭味。

我们通常把甜味和吸引蜜蜂联系在一起，但是世界上很多植物使用非常难闻的气味来 吸引甲虫和苍蝇来传粉。在化学界，这些气味被称为“ 挥发性胺”，在分子结构上与氨相似。豆梨花和石楠花一类的花中含有 三甲胺之类的胺类物质，而精液中含有 精胺（spermine）等物质，因此闻起来有相似之处。

And Asheville is hardly alone. A native of China introduced to U.S. in the 1964 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a decorative tree, the Bradford pear is now an invasive species, spreading across the world to “almost every city and town to some degree or another,” according to horticulturalist Michael A. Dirr. According to the 2006 tree census, Bradford pears accounted for over 10 percent of New York City’s nearly 600,000 trees, making it the fifth most popular tree in the city.

阿什维尔并不是唯一一个受害者。布拉德福梨树原产于中国，1964年，美国农业部将布拉德福德树作为一种景观树木引入美国，现在已经成为一种入侵物种。据园艺学家迈克尔 · 迪尔说，它“在某种程度上几乎传播到了世界各地的每个城镇”。根据2006年的树木普查，布拉德福德梨占纽约市近60万棵树木的10% 以上，使其成为纽约市第五大最受欢迎的树木。

在美国，豆梨树可长成高达30英尺的大树。由于生长速度快，树枝容易断裂，形成安全隐患，有些城市已禁止种植。

枝干断裂的豆梨树

“When you see those fields of white flowering trees, please don’t get giddywith excitement over pretty white flowers,” writes the Asheville Citizen-Times. “What you are looking at are Callery pears destroying nature.”

《阿什维尔市民时报》（Asheville Citizen-Times）写道: “当你看到那片开满白花的树林时，请不要因为看到漂亮的白花而兴奋得头晕目眩。你现在看到的是正在破坏大自然的豆梨。”

The stench of rotten ejaculate that wafts around you each April is just a tree reminding you that after the long winter, spring, finally, has come.

每年四月，当你周围弥漫着一股腐烂精液的恶臭，那只是一棵树在提醒你——经过漫长的冬天之后，春天终于来了。

词汇精讲

bane

/beɪn/

n. 苦恼之源

Rain is the bane of holiday-makers...

雨天令度假者头疼。

eateries

/ˈiːtəri/

n.〈口〉小餐馆

We met in a little eatery just off the main road.我们是在大路边的一家小饭馆相遇的。

stench

/stentʃ/

n.恶臭，臭气

thestench of rotting fish cigarette smoke

烂鱼的腥臭味

invasive species

/ɪnˈveɪsɪv ˈspiːʃiːz/

n. 入侵物种

These invasive species have no natural predators.

这些入侵物种没有天敌。

giddy

/ˈɡɪd.i/（同 dizzy）

adj. 飘飘然的

She was giddy with excitement.

她激动得头晕目眩。

好了，以上就是今天的分享了。你家附近有石楠树吗？欢迎在评论区留言哦~

👇每日为您推荐精华英语学习内容 👇

点在看

完成今日学习打卡👇返回搜狐，查看更多