李蓓

What food often plays roles（扮演角色） in fairy tales？ Beans！ They are in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk（《杰克與魔豆》）. Jack has a magic bean. They are in the story of the Princess and the Pea（《豌豆公主》）， too. The queen uses a bean to find a real princess.

Beans become important in human life too. They can help a lot to protect the environment（環(huán)境）. The United Nations（聯(lián)合國(guó)） wants countries and farmers to plant more beans. Why beans？

Planting beans is good for the environment. Beans need less water than other crops（莊稼）. People can also store（儲(chǔ)存） beans for a longer time. Beans can grow in most places in the world.

Our body can get protein（蛋白質(zhì)） from beans. Protein is good for our health. People make beans into different foods.

Mexicans（墨西哥人） eat beans as one of their staple foods（主食）.

Chinese have soybeans（大豆）， red beans and so many beans in their meals. Chinese people love to cook them in different ways. Tofu and soybean milk are made from soybeans.

Natto（納豆） is a traditional food in Japan. Natto is not a name of a bean. It is made from soybeans. It is very sticky（黏黏的）. Some eat it as a kind of breakfast food.

In the past， people in the US didnt eat many beans in their meals. Now soybeans， peas and so many other beans are staple US foods.

Hummus（鷹嘴豆泥） is a popular sauce（醬） in Arab countries（阿拉伯國(guó)家）. It is made from chickpeas（鷹嘴豆）. People like to have it with pita（皮塔餅）.

Baked beans（烘豆） are popular in the UK. British people eat 38.5 tons（噸） baked beans every hour. Most baked beans are haricot beans（扁豆）.

① Many years ago， people in Greece（希臘） used beans to choose officials（官員）. They put one white bean with many black beans in a pot（罐）. Whoever（無(wú)論誰(shuí)） picked（挑選） the white bean became an official.

② In Mexico， there are Mexican jumping beans（墨西哥跳豆）. A mother moth（蛾） lays（產(chǎn)） an egg in a bean. Each baby moth grows up in a bean. It eats the bean to live. In the bean， it moves its body and you can see the bean jumping.

Do you want to grow your own bean sprouts（豆芽）？ Lets try！

What you need： A jar（罐子）， some clean mung beans（綠豆）， cool clean water， some cheesecloth（紗布）， some rubber bands（皮筋）.

①Add beans into the jar. Fill it with water.

②Cover（覆蓋） the jar with the cheesecloth. Use a rubber band to keep it tight.

③Pour out（倒出） the water through the cloth. Put the jar away from sunshine and put it upside down（倒著）.

④Repeat step 3 twice a day（每天兩次）. Step 4 lasts for（持續(xù)） about two to five days.

⑤Wait for your beans to grow more than 1 cm. Wash them. Your bean sprouts are ready！