Lesson5 A Lawn That Takes a Long Time To Make
Mr. Anderson lives in America, and last year he came to England to visit his father's hometown.
There was a big garden in the town with green grass in the centre. A gardener was watering it, and Mr. Anderson said to him, "Good morning. Is this your garden?"
"No," answered the gardener, "it isn't mine, but I work here."
"How do people get such a beautiful lawn?' Mr. Anderson asked."Ours are never as good as this.'
The gardener stopped his work and looked at Mr. Anderson. Then he said, "You are from America, aren't you?"
Mr. Anderson answered, "Yes, but my father came from here."
"Well,"the gardener said, "it's easy to grow lawns like this.
Let me tell you how."
Mr. Anderson went into the garden. 'My name's Anderson,' he said to the gardener, "What's yours?"
"My name's Gray," the gardener answered, "Now about the lawns.
First we sow our seeds; then when the grass appears, we pull all the weeds out; after that, we cut the grass every week. We water it every day when the weather is very dry."
"Oh," Mr. Anderson answered, "that's very interesting, Gray, and how long does it take before the lawn ends up like this?
The gardener thought for a few moments and then answered, 'Oh, about four hundred years."

lawn 草坪
sow 播种

历时弥久长成的草坪
安德森先生住在美国，去年他到英国参观他父亲的家乡。
镇上有个大公园，中间是绿草地。
一个园丁正在浇水，安德森先生对他说：“早上好。这是你的花园吗？”
“不是，”园丁答道，“不是我的，不过我在这里工作。”
“怎么才能有这么漂亮的草地呢？”安德森问，“我们从没有这么好的草坪。”
园丁停下手中的活，看着安德森先生问：“你是美国人，对吗？”
安德森先生回答：“是的，不过我父亲原是英国人。”
“哦，”园丁说：“种一块这样的草地很容易，我现在就告诉你。”
安德森先生走进公园。“我叫安德森。”，他问园丁，“你叫什么？”
“格雷，”园丁说，“现在来说说草坪。首先我们播种，然后等小草长出来后，除掉野草，之后每周都修剪。天气干燥的时候每天都浇水。”
“噢，”安德森先生回道，“真有意思，格雷，不过长成一块像这样的草地要多长时间呀？”园丁想了一会，之后说：“呃，大约四百年。”