Level 3 · Reading series
Lesson 32 · A Garden for Night Visitors
Audio track 32
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
Our school garden looked empty after sunset. The flowers were still open, but the bees we saw during the day were gone. One evening, our teacher asked us to sit quietly near the window and watch.
A small moth landed on a pale flower. It moved to another flower, then vanished into the dark. We could not tell from one visit whether it carried pollen, so we wrote only what we saw.
The next week, we drew a simple map of the flowers and the lights nearby. We wanted to learn which visitors came at different times. The plants had not moved between afternoon and evening. Our way of looking at the garden had changed.
Sentence practice
Play any sentence in Dicvo’s Jenny English voice. Before playing all, choose how many times each sentence plays. A practice pause about as long as the sentence follows each play, including before the next sentence. The complete reading remains above.
Choose a sentence to begin.
-
Our school garden looked empty after sunset.
-
The flowers were still open, but the bees we saw during the day were gone.
-
One evening, our teacher asked us to sit quietly near the window and watch.
-
A small moth landed on a pale flower.
-
It moved to another flower, then vanished into the dark.
-
We could not tell from one visit whether it carried pollen, so we wrote only what we saw.
-
The next week, we drew a simple map of the flowers and the lights nearby.
-
We wanted to learn which visitors came at different times.
-
The plants had not moved between afternoon and evening.
-
Our way of looking at the garden had changed.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
日落后，校园花园看起来空荡荡的。花仍然开着，白天见到的蜜蜂却不见了。一天傍晚，老师让我们安静地坐在窗边观察。
一只小飞蛾落在颜色浅的花上，又飞向另一朵，随后消失在夜色里。只观察这一次，我们无法判断它有没有带走花粉，便只记下亲眼所见。
第二周，我们画了一张简图，标出了花朵和附近的灯。我们想知道不同时段会有哪些访客。花园里的植物从下午到傍晚并没有移动；改变的是我们观察花园的方式。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- after sunset
- 日落后；观察发生在傍晚。
- bee
- 蜜蜂；白天来访的昆虫。
- sit quietly
- 安静地坐着；便于观察夜间访客。
- moth
- 飞蛾；落在浅色花上的昆虫。
- pale
- 颜色浅的；形容花朵。
- vanish
- 消失；飞蛾飞入暗处。
- pollen
- 花粉；一次观察未能确定飞蛾是否携带。
- write only what we saw
- 只写所见；不把推测写成事实。
- nearby
- 附近的；还标记了花园旁的灯。
- at different times
- 在不同时段；比较白天与傍晚的访客。
Background notes (Chinese)
花园在夜里并非一定没有动物。一次观察能证实飞蛾停在花上，却不足以证明它携带花粉。把观察到的现象与推测分开，是科学记录的重要一步。