陳現(xiàn)英

難詞探意

1. nurseryman /?n??s?rim?n/ n. 園丁;苗圃工人

2. orchard /???t??d/ n. 果園

3. truism /?tru??z?m/ n. 自明之理

4. pastry /?pe?stri/ n. 油酥糕點

When you think of the word “America”， what specific symbols come to mind？ The Statue of Liberty？ Baseball？ Burgers？ A world?class college degree？ Those are all good guesses， but for a long time， a sweeter treat has come to represent the best—and worst—of the US： apple pie.

So who was responsible for impressing apples into the American mind？ That would be John Chapman， also known by the more famous nickname—Johnny Appleseed. Contrary to popular belief， Appleseed was no mere American legend; he really did exist. But he did much more than that： The nurseryman planted apple trees around the turn of the 19th century in Ohio and other Midwestern states. Appleseed also gave away countless seedlings to pioneers who set up apple orchards across the nation. So， in some ways， Americas conquest of the West can also be symbolized within the core of an apple. And in the years since， the US has developed a lot of truisms associated with apples， including“an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and “one bad apple spoils the bunch”.

But it wasnt until World War Ⅱ that apple pies really became stamped into the American consciousness as a patriotic pastry. American soldiers during the war commonly told reporters that they defended their nation“for mom and apple pie”. Later， the apple pie became American. People searched The New York Times records and came up with more than 1，500 hits for the phrase “American as apple pie”. Moreover， the American Pie Council states that approximately $700 million dollars （or 186 million units） worth of apple pie is sold each year in the US.

Nonetheless， this association between the sugary delight and America hasnt been entirely positive. A quick search of Google Scholar using the same phrase will turn up scholarly articles on topics including gun violence， child abuse， poverty and domestic terrorism.

Given apple pies strong associations with America， theres perhaps some small irony that it is not necessarily a homegrown American product， but something baked overseas and brought to these shores. But if immigrants comprise a key component of the United States lifeblood， then there is perhaps no better symbol of America than the delicious dessert.