38　HABITS OF FLOWERS
花的习性

I

Flowers have habits or ways of doing things, just as people have. Would you like to hear about some of these?

There is one habit that almost all flowers have. They turn to the light as if they loved it. If plants are kept in a room, the flowers turn to the window.

Some flowers shut up at night as if to go to sleep. They open again in the morning. Tulips do this.

One morning a lady was looking at some tulips. As one of them opened, out flew a bee. He had stayed too late the night before, and so had been shut up in the flower.

He may have been hard at work all day getting honey. He stopped to rest in the tulip, and was shut in when it closed.

He had a fine bed that night. I wonder if he slept any better than he would have slept in the hive!

II

The pond lily closes at night and opens again in the morning.

The golden flowers of the dandelion are shut close in their green coverings every night. They look like buds that have never opened.

I must tell you another habit which the dandelion has. When the sun is very warm, it closes just as it does at night. Its green covering protects it from the heat.

Some flowers hang down their heads at night. They look as if they were nodding in their sleep. In the morning they look up to the light again.

Most flowers last for some days. But there are some that last only a short time. The morning-glory is one of these. Do you know any others?

一

花朵和人类一样，也有自己的习性。你想知道它们的习性是什么吗？

几乎所有的花都有一个共同的爱好，那就是光线，它们总是喜欢朝着有光的地方生长。如果家里摆着花，你会发现它们都望着窗户。

有些花晚上会闭合起来，仿佛陷入了沉睡，等到第二天早上再重新开放。郁金香就是如此。

一天早晨，一位女士正看着郁金香缓缓绽放，突然一只蜜蜂从花骨朵里飞了出来。他头天晚上在里面待得太晚，没能在花朵闭合之前飞走。

也许他采蜜采得太辛苦，就在郁金香里打了个瞌睡，没想到被关在里面了。

幸好那是一张不错的睡床，说不定他在那里比在蜂巢里睡得还香呢！

二

睡莲也是晚上闭合，早晨重新开放的。

金色的蒲公英每天晚上都会紧紧地裹起绿色的外壳，看起来就像从未开放过的花蕾。

不过除此以外，蒲公英还有另一个习惯。当阳光暖暖地照下来，它们也会像晚上一样闭合起来。绿色的外壳会保护花朵不受炽热阳光的损害。

有些花到了晚上就垂着头，仿佛在打瞌睡，早上才会恢复原状。

大部分的花都会开几天，但也有的花期非常短，牵牛花就是如此。你还知道别的吗？ S/PplwBRgq4O+ocOBFwxeNbEmh46veaPvYyM4yEZGwROMjwx2mvCbzc2BolDXsQF