10.10-11 BBC精读笔记 - Do vegetables really exist?
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#You might think the answer is obvious, but it’s anything but
By Henry Nicholls
17 September 2015
anything but: used to emphasize that someone or something does not have a particular quality
#Name a vegetable. It’s easy right? Sweet potatoes and carrots are vegetables, obviously. Onions perhaps? But what about lettuce, for example?
And we have all met those who insist that a tomato is a fruit. Then there are others who argue that because it’s not sweet in the same way as an apple or a pear, a tomato is more properly categorised as a vegetable.
vegetable: a plant that is eaten raw or cooked, such as a cabbage, a carrot, or peas
sweet potato(es): a vegetable that looks like a red potato, is yellow inside, and tastes sweet (yam[s])
carrot(s): a long pointed orange vegetable that grows under the ground
onion(s): a round white vegetable with brown, red, or white skin and many layers. Onions have a strong taste and smell
lettuce: [U]&[C] a round vegetable with thin green leaves eaten raw in salads 生菜，莴苣 y→iceberg lettuce: 球叶莴苣，卷心莴苣
tomato: a round soft red fruit eaten raw or coocked as a vegetable
#To get some clarity, we asked the audience of BBC Earth for some help.
“You're BBC! Why are you asking us if this is a vegetable?” wonderedKimberly A. Brooks. “Is that the best you can do? Disappointed.”
get some clarity
#“Ummmm,” replied Leah Kimmet. “It is a question posed to stimulate discussion because it is one of those debates that has never been conclusive.”
“This is the most interesting comment thread I’ve ever seen,” said Harry Trevva-Taylor Blake.
Precisely. Our question was particularly pertinent for Marc Trevelyaи, who was in the midst of eating a salad comprised of lettuce, carrots and apples.
pose a question: to ask a question, especially one that needs to be carefully thought about
conclusive: showing that something is definitely true
pertinent to sth./sb.: ['pɜːtɪnənt] directly relating to something that is being considered
in the midst of
be comprised of somebody/something: to consist of particular parts, groups etc
#As this is BBC Earth, I put the question to Wolfgang Stuppy, research leader in Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology at the UK's world-renowned Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Wakehurst Place.
On the little question of whether vegetables really exist, he could not have been clearer: “No, not botanically,” he says. “The term vegetable doesn’t exist in botanical terminology.” Tamara Kershner’s comment echoes this edict: “Vegetable is a general term that doesn't exist in the biological world.”
From a biological perspective then, there is no such thing as veg. There are just plants.
comparative plant and fungal biology
renowned: known and admired by a lot of people, especially for a special skill, achievement, or quality[=famous]
botanically: [bə'tænɪkli]relating to plants or the scientific study of plants
terminology: the technical words or expressions that are used in a particular subject
echo: vt. to repeat an idea or opinion because you agree with it
edict: an official public order made by someone in a position of power
#I throw some hypothetical vegetables at Stuppy to see how he responds. But the radishes and carrots on sale at the greengrocers are not vegetables to a plant scientist, they are merely the roots of radishes and carrots. Botanically speaking, onions and garlic are bulbs. Potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes are tubers. Asparagus are stems. Lettuces are leaves. Cauliflower and broccoli are inflorescences. Apple and pears are fruit.
So is that it? Vegetables do not really exist?
radish(es): a small vegetable whose red or white root is eaten raw and has a strong spicy taste
greengrocer: someone who owns or works in a shop selling fruit and vegetables 蔬果店
bulbs: 鳞茎类植物
Jerusalem antichokes: 洋姜
tuber: 块茎植物
asparagus: 芦笋
cauliflower: ['kɒlɪflaʊə] 花椰菜，菜花（白色）
broccoli: 花椰菜，西兰花（绿色）
inflorescence: 花
#Not quite, because veggies might have a place in the kitchen. “Vegetable is a culinary term,” says Joshua Sammy. I refer to On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, something of a holy book for foodies. “Vegetable took on its current sense just a few centuries ago and essentially means a plant material that is neither fruit nor seed,” he writes.
veggie: US a vegetable
culinary: [formal] relating to cooking
something of a ....: the thing is a ...
take on its current sense: sense-the meaning if a word, sentence, phrase etc take on↔sth-to begin to have a particular quality or appearance, here it means to begin to have a particular meaning(sense)
essentially: used when stating the most basic facts about something[=basically]
#If you put your botanist’s hat on they are fruits. If you put your chef’s hat on they are vegetables
Yet even here, within the culinary sphere, the definition of vegetable seems to rest on the definition of a fruit. A fruit, says Stuppy, is “any structure produced by a plant that does or is meant to contain seeds.” So according to McGee, the tomato does not qualify as a vegetable (as most of you knew).
with in ... sphere: in a particular area of activiy, work, knowledge etc
rest on/upon sth: to be based on a particular idea or set of facts
#But if we apply such fruit-based logic, then we would have to banish dozens of other kitchen staples from the vegetable drawer, including cucumbers and courgettes (Pierre G. Bélance), squash and pumpkins (Brock Burch), peppers and corn (Ali Ware), beans and aubergines (Lee Chi Pan Mark) and so on. Mushrooms aren’t even plants so they can’t be vegetables either. The same for seaweed.
fruit-based logic
kitchen staples: 厨房里经常用到的事物
cucumber: a long thin round vegetable with a dark green skin and a light green inside, usually eaten raw 黄瓜
courgette[kʊə'ʒet]:(应该是法语词源) a long vegetable with dark green skin[=(US)zucchini [zʊ'kiːnɪ］ 西葫芦
squash: one of a group of large vegetables with solid fruit and hard skins, such as pumpkins 南瓜属植物
pumpkin: ['pʌm(p)kɪn] 美式必须发/p/的音 a very large orange fruit that grows on the ground, or the inside of this fruit
【发散一下：in the US its used when speaking to someone you love】
pepper(s): a hollow(中空的) red, green, or yellow vegetable, eaten either raw or cooked with other food bell pepper 柿子椒
corn: plants such as wheat(小麦), barley(大麦), and oats(燕麦) or their seeds 谷物
corn-UK 谷物；US 玉米
aubergine:
mushroom: one of several kinds of fungus with stems and round tops, some of which can be eaten
seaweed: a plant that grows in the sea 海藻，海草
plant: a living thing that has leaves and roots and grows in earth, especially one that is smaller than a tree
#Andrew Schaug has a useful way of looking at the tomato: “It’s technically a fruit because it contains seeds. It’s a vegetable because it’s part of a plant and used as a savoury ‘vegetable’ in cooking,” he says. Several others – DS Deopa, Stephen Olsen, Mahendra Bishnoi, Alan Hutchinson – expressed a similarly practical position: there are some plants that are fruit but are used as vegetables. “If you put your botanist’s hat on they are fruits,” says Stuppy. “If you put your chef’s hat on they are vegetables.”
savoury: UK a small piece of food with a salty taste that is served at a party 开胃菜
botanist: someone whose job is to make scientific studies of wild plants
put your + noun(a profession) + hat on & be wearing your teacher's/salesman's hat & have your teacher's/salesman's hat on: to be performing the duties of a certain profession etc, which are not your only duties
#So ask a botanist to define a vegetable and they will say they cannot, as such a definition does not exist.
Ask a chef, and they might define a vegetable as plants that are neither fruits nor seeds.
Ask a lawyer, however, and they might say it depends where you live.
That’s because the existence of vegetables has been accepted in law – and all because of that age-old dilemma of whether a tomato is a fruit or not.
More than a century ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the status of the tomato in the infamous case of Nix versus Hedden.
rule on something
infamous case of Nix versus Hedden: 西红柿是水果还是蔬菜？看看美国最高法院如何裁定
#Several of you, including Lester Chasteen,Benny Thomas and Andrew Schaug, were aware that the Tariff Act of 1883 decreed that imported vegetables, but not fruit, should be subject to tax. With a financial interest in tomatoes, the Nix family argued along botanical lines, that the tomato is a fruit so they were exempt from duty. The court begged to differ, siding unanimously with federal officer Edward Hedden: the tomato is a vegetable.
Tariff Act of 1883: reduced high tariff rates only marginally, and left in place fairly strong protectionist barriers.
decree: to make an official judgement or give an official order
subject sth/sb to sth: to force someone or something to experience something very unpleasant, especially over a long time 受制于，屈从于
exempt sb from sth: to give someone permission not to do or pay something
beg to differ
side with: to support or argue against a person or group in a quarrel, fight etc
unanimous(ly): [jʊ'nænəməs] an unanimous decision, vote /agreeing completely about something 无异议的，全体一致的，完全赞同的
#But live outside the US, and things again become confusing, as this is not the judgment of lawyers in the European Union, at least in respect of European Union Council Directive 2001/113/EC. This ruling, on the content of fruit jams, jellies and marmalades, clearly states that tomatoes “are considered to be fruit,” as are rhubarb stalks, carrots and sweet potatoes.
in respect of something: [formal] cooncerning or in relation to something
jam: a think sweet substance made from boiled fruit and sugar, eaten especially on bread
jelly(jellies): a think sweet substance made from boiled fruit and sugar with no pieces of fruit in it, eaten especially on bread
marmalade(s):['mɑːməleɪd] a jam made from fruit such as oranges, lemons or grapefruit, usually eaten at breakfast
rhubarb:['ruːbɑːb] a plant with broad leaves. It has thick red stems(茎) and can be cooked and eaten.
stalk: a long narrow part of a plant that supports leaves, fruits, or flowers(植物的茎，秆)
#As a result, a jar of rhubarb, carrot or sweet potato jam – none of which contain any botanical fruit - must state the percentage of fruit they contain.
Which brings us full circle. Do vegetables exist?
Botanically no.
Culinarily, yes.
Legally, maybe.
Easy, isn’t it?
bring sth./sb. full circle: to return something, such as a situation, argument, attitude, or idea, to it's original starting position, especially after a long or circuitous series of changes. eg. Increasing dictatorial(独裁的) crackdowns(制裁、镇压) are bringing the country full circle to were things stood before the civil war.
#You might think the answer is obvious, but it’s anything but
By Henry Nicholls
17 September 2015
anything but: used to emphasize that someone or something does not have a particular quality
#Name a vegetable. It’s easy right? Sweet potatoes and carrots are vegetables, obviously. Onions perhaps? But what about lettuce, for example?
And we have all met those who insist that a tomato is a fruit. Then there are others who argue that because it’s not sweet in the same way as an apple or a pear, a tomato is more properly categorised as a vegetable.
vegetable: a plant that is eaten raw or cooked, such as a cabbage, a carrot, or peas
sweet potato(es): a vegetable that looks like a red potato, is yellow inside, and tastes sweet (yam[s])
carrot(s): a long pointed orange vegetable that grows under the ground
onion(s): a round white vegetable with brown, red, or white skin and many layers. Onions have a strong taste and smell
lettuce: [U]&[C] a round vegetable with thin green leaves eaten raw in salads 生菜，莴苣 y→iceberg lettuce: 球叶莴苣，卷心莴苣
tomato: a round soft red fruit eaten raw or coocked as a vegetable
#To get some clarity, we asked the audience of BBC Earth for some help.
“You're BBC! Why are you asking us if this is a vegetable?” wonderedKimberly A. Brooks. “Is that the best you can do? Disappointed.”
get some clarity
#“Ummmm,” replied Leah Kimmet. “It is a question posed to stimulate discussion because it is one of those debates that has never been conclusive.”
“This is the most interesting comment thread I’ve ever seen,” said Harry Trevva-Taylor Blake.
Precisely. Our question was particularly pertinent for Marc Trevelyaи, who was in the midst of eating a salad comprised of lettuce, carrots and apples.
pose a question: to ask a question, especially one that needs to be carefully thought about
conclusive: showing that something is definitely true
pertinent to sth./sb.: ['pɜːtɪnənt] directly relating to something that is being considered
in the midst of
be comprised of somebody/something: to consist of particular parts, groups etc
#As this is BBC Earth, I put the question to Wolfgang Stuppy, research leader in Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology at the UK's world-renowned Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Wakehurst Place.
On the little question of whether vegetables really exist, he could not have been clearer: “No, not botanically,” he says. “The term vegetable doesn’t exist in botanical terminology.” Tamara Kershner’s comment echoes this edict: “Vegetable is a general term that doesn't exist in the biological world.”
From a biological perspective then, there is no such thing as veg. There are just plants.
comparative plant and fungal biology
renowned: known and admired by a lot of people, especially for a special skill, achievement, or quality[=famous]
botanically: [bə'tænɪkli]relating to plants or the scientific study of plants
terminology: the technical words or expressions that are used in a particular subject
echo: vt. to repeat an idea or opinion because you agree with it
edict: an official public order made by someone in a position of power
#I throw some hypothetical vegetables at Stuppy to see how he responds. But the radishes and carrots on sale at the greengrocers are not vegetables to a plant scientist, they are merely the roots of radishes and carrots. Botanically speaking, onions and garlic are bulbs. Potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes are tubers. Asparagus are stems. Lettuces are leaves. Cauliflower and broccoli are inflorescences. Apple and pears are fruit.
So is that it? Vegetables do not really exist?
radish(es): a small vegetable whose red or white root is eaten raw and has a strong spicy taste
greengrocer: someone who owns or works in a shop selling fruit and vegetables 蔬果店
bulbs: 鳞茎类植物
Jerusalem antichokes: 洋姜
tuber: 块茎植物
asparagus: 芦笋
cauliflower: ['kɒlɪflaʊə] 花椰菜，菜花（白色）
broccoli: 花椰菜，西兰花（绿色）
inflorescence: 花
#Not quite, because veggies might have a place in the kitchen. “Vegetable is a culinary term,” says Joshua Sammy. I refer to On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, something of a holy book for foodies. “Vegetable took on its current sense just a few centuries ago and essentially means a plant material that is neither fruit nor seed,” he writes.
veggie: US a vegetable
culinary: [formal] relating to cooking
something of a ....: the thing is a ...
take on its current sense: sense-the meaning if a word, sentence, phrase etc take on↔sth-to begin to have a particular quality or appearance, here it means to begin to have a particular meaning(sense)
essentially: used when stating the most basic facts about something[=basically]
#If you put your botanist’s hat on they are fruits. If you put your chef’s hat on they are vegetables
Yet even here, within the culinary sphere, the definition of vegetable seems to rest on the definition of a fruit. A fruit, says Stuppy, is “any structure produced by a plant that does or is meant to contain seeds.” So according to McGee, the tomato does not qualify as a vegetable (as most of you knew).
with in ... sphere: in a particular area of activiy, work, knowledge etc
rest on/upon sth: to be based on a particular idea or set of facts
#But if we apply such fruit-based logic, then we would have to banish dozens of other kitchen staples from the vegetable drawer, including cucumbers and courgettes (Pierre G. Bélance), squash and pumpkins (Brock Burch), peppers and corn (Ali Ware), beans and aubergines (Lee Chi Pan Mark) and so on. Mushrooms aren’t even plants so they can’t be vegetables either. The same for seaweed.
fruit-based logic
kitchen staples: 厨房里经常用到的事物
cucumber: a long thin round vegetable with a dark green skin and a light green inside, usually eaten raw 黄瓜
courgette[kʊə'ʒet]:(应该是法语词源) a long vegetable with dark green skin[=(US)zucchini [zʊ'kiːnɪ］ 西葫芦
squash: one of a group of large vegetables with solid fruit and hard skins, such as pumpkins 南瓜属植物
pumpkin: ['pʌm(p)kɪn] 美式必须发/p/的音 a very large orange fruit that grows on the ground, or the inside of this fruit
【发散一下：in the US its used when speaking to someone you love】
pepper(s): a hollow(中空的) red, green, or yellow vegetable, eaten either raw or cooked with other food bell pepper 柿子椒
corn: plants such as wheat(小麦), barley(大麦), and oats(燕麦) or their seeds 谷物
corn-UK 谷物；US 玉米
aubergine:
mushroom: one of several kinds of fungus with stems and round tops, some of which can be eaten
seaweed: a plant that grows in the sea 海藻，海草
plant: a living thing that has leaves and roots and grows in earth, especially one that is smaller than a tree
#Andrew Schaug has a useful way of looking at the tomato: “It’s technically a fruit because it contains seeds. It’s a vegetable because it’s part of a plant and used as a savoury ‘vegetable’ in cooking,” he says. Several others – DS Deopa, Stephen Olsen, Mahendra Bishnoi, Alan Hutchinson – expressed a similarly practical position: there are some plants that are fruit but are used as vegetables. “If you put your botanist’s hat on they are fruits,” says Stuppy. “If you put your chef’s hat on they are vegetables.”
savoury: UK a small piece of food with a salty taste that is served at a party 开胃菜
botanist: someone whose job is to make scientific studies of wild plants
put your + noun(a profession) + hat on & be wearing your teacher's/salesman's hat & have your teacher's/salesman's hat on: to be performing the duties of a certain profession etc, which are not your only duties
#So ask a botanist to define a vegetable and they will say they cannot, as such a definition does not exist.
Ask a chef, and they might define a vegetable as plants that are neither fruits nor seeds.
Ask a lawyer, however, and they might say it depends where you live.
That’s because the existence of vegetables has been accepted in law – and all because of that age-old dilemma of whether a tomato is a fruit or not.
More than a century ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the status of the tomato in the infamous case of Nix versus Hedden.
rule on something
infamous case of Nix versus Hedden: 西红柿是水果还是蔬菜？看看美国最高法院如何裁定
#Several of you, including Lester Chasteen,Benny Thomas and Andrew Schaug, were aware that the Tariff Act of 1883 decreed that imported vegetables, but not fruit, should be subject to tax. With a financial interest in tomatoes, the Nix family argued along botanical lines, that the tomato is a fruit so they were exempt from duty. The court begged to differ, siding unanimously with federal officer Edward Hedden: the tomato is a vegetable.
Tariff Act of 1883: reduced high tariff rates only marginally, and left in place fairly strong protectionist barriers.
decree: to make an official judgement or give an official order
subject sth/sb to sth: to force someone or something to experience something very unpleasant, especially over a long time 受制于，屈从于
exempt sb from sth: to give someone permission not to do or pay something
beg to differ
side with: to support or argue against a person or group in a quarrel, fight etc
unanimous(ly): [jʊ'nænəməs] an unanimous decision, vote /agreeing completely about something 无异议的，全体一致的，完全赞同的
#But live outside the US, and things again become confusing, as this is not the judgment of lawyers in the European Union, at least in respect of European Union Council Directive 2001/113/EC. This ruling, on the content of fruit jams, jellies and marmalades, clearly states that tomatoes “are considered to be fruit,” as are rhubarb stalks, carrots and sweet potatoes.
in respect of something: [formal] cooncerning or in relation to something
jam: a think sweet substance made from boiled fruit and sugar, eaten especially on bread
jelly(jellies): a think sweet substance made from boiled fruit and sugar with no pieces of fruit in it, eaten especially on bread
marmalade(s):['mɑːməleɪd] a jam made from fruit such as oranges, lemons or grapefruit, usually eaten at breakfast
rhubarb:['ruːbɑːb] a plant with broad leaves. It has thick red stems(茎) and can be cooked and eaten.
stalk: a long narrow part of a plant that supports leaves, fruits, or flowers(植物的茎，秆)
#As a result, a jar of rhubarb, carrot or sweet potato jam – none of which contain any botanical fruit - must state the percentage of fruit they contain.
Which brings us full circle. Do vegetables exist?
Botanically no.
Culinarily, yes.
Legally, maybe.
Easy, isn’t it?
bring sth./sb. full circle: to return something, such as a situation, argument, attitude, or idea, to it's original starting position, especially after a long or circuitous series of changes. eg. Increasing dictatorial(独裁的) crackdowns(制裁、镇压) are bringing the country full circle to were things stood before the civil war.
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