仙台 えいごの教室

 

 

   This summer, a very nice looking fruit plate appeared in our garden.

 　

  I know — it looks fun, right? … but it’s not for people. Can you guess what this plate is for? Believe it or not,¹ it’s for butterflies!

 

  Will read in an article² somewhere that in the summer butterflies sometimes have a hard time finding³ enough food.

 

  We could also tell⁴ that when we looked around in our garden. It was too hot for flowers to keep blooming⁵. That means that there was little⁶ food for them.

 

  Will followed the instructions⁷, and prepared the fruit plate for the butterflies. He used some old fruit(it’s best if it’s almost rotten⁸), and sugar water as well⁹. We often fed humming birds when we went to Seattle, but Will said sugar water for butterflies is much less sweet. (Humming birds flap¹⁰ their wings so forcibly¹¹, so maybe they need more energy from the same ammount of suger water.)

 

  One more important thing is how we present it. That is really cute! They love vivid loud colors, so we gathered some bright-colored things from the house, like a small dish and a candle holder. (Just for your information, humming birds also like bright red!)

 

  Will put it in the garden around Obon, so I bet that someone must have thought that it is some Western religious¹² ritual¹³.

 

  There’s less rain now and it seems like there are more butterflies. I hope the butterflies can enjoy our free buffet¹³!

 

 

◆1 Believe it or not, : (信じるか信じないか、スゴイ話があるんだけど)