Dear Diary,

Yesterday was a very special and exciting day. I want to record everything we saw and did so I will remember it in the years to come.

Mum, Dad, Ken and I all went to see the Eden Project Dad drove the car. It was quite a long journey from London. We left home at 7 o’clock in the morning and took the motorway to the West country. The Eden Project is about 30 miles away from Plymouth in Cornwall and it was almost midday by the time we reached there.

The Eden Project opened in 2001 and covers an area of 14 hectares. I did not know what to expect before I got there. Ken thought we were going to an adventure playground but Dad laughed and said, “No, not unless you think Eden is one huge natural playground.”

After Mum had bought the tickets we went first to the visitor centre where our guide met us to tell us what the Eden Project was all about. He told us that in this giant crater, once a china clay mine in Cornwall, science and art meet in a living theatre of plants and people.

He told us there were over 100,000 plants from more than 5,000 species in Eden. Many of these plants could grow outside in the mild climate of Cornwall. But other plants demand different climatic conditions and that is why two gigantic greenhouses are needed — the two vast football-shaped domes, called “biomes”. The largest of these, the Humid Tropics Biome, is 200 metres long, 100 metres wide and 57 metres high. It is the largest greenhouse in the world. The biomes are made of steel in the shape of hexagons and so look like enormous honeycombs made by giant bees. Inside each of these biomes a carefully controlled climate is reproduced to allow plants to grow.

“So now,” said our guide, “let’s explore the worlds of Eden.”

The first greenhouse that we went to was called the “Warm Temperate Biome”. Growing in this world were plants from the Mediterranean, South Africa and California. Plants from this climate need to live in very dry conditions and on thin soils.

Inside this biome I found a wonderful range of plants. I saw citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons, olive groves with trees from which olive oil comes, vines heavy with grapes for making wine and also corks used to close up bottles once the wine is inside them.

The exhibition showed us a lot about the traditional culture of the Mediterranean but also revealed the richness of life in the Californian desert and the colourful beauty of South Africa’s gardens.

The next greenhouse was called the “Humid Tropics Biome”. This was really enormous. Immediately inside this greenhouse I began to feel hot and sticky in the moist air. There was a heavy rich smell in the air of tropical plants. As we walked around I discovered different areas of the world — West Africa, Malaysia, the Amazon jungle and the Oceanic islands. In each area we could see how the people living there use the land to meet their needs while at the same time trying to conserve the environment.

Inside this biome I came across many exotic plants such as bananas, coffee, cocoa and rubber and hardwood trees such as teak and mahogany. I had to nudge Ken and show him a lizard hiding behind a tree. Butterflies flew all around us. In the centre of the dome a large waterfall kept the air very wet and humid.

It felt pleasantly cool outside the biome. We walked around the crescent-shaped terraces to look at plants growing in the open air that we use every day for food and drink, clothes and shoes. We saw tall yellow sunflowers and tea bushes growing in tidy green rows. In this area plants came from such diverse places as China, India, North America and Europe.

After walking around for an hour, we went to sit down in the café. So what had I learned in this second Garden of Eden? I had realized that we all depend in so many ways upon plants. Much of our food, our clothes, our shelter and our medicines come from the plant world.

I realized that we need to treat plants properly and work with them to safeguard the future for us all on Earth.

As Dad drove us back to the big city, and Ken slept in the seat beside me, I thought about all the wonderful sights and sounds I had seen in Eden. In just five hours I had travelled from the dry dusty desert of California to the wet tropical jungle of the Cameroons. The variety of the plants I had seen was amazing. I hope that we can all learn from places like Eden so that our children and our grandchildren can also enjoy such splendid nature. The Eden Project really was a true adventure playground!

亲爱的日记：

昨天是个非常特殊而令人兴奋的日子。我想记下我们所看到和所做的一切，以使我在未来的岁月里还能够记起。

爸爸、妈妈、肯和我都去参观了伊甸园工程。爸爸开车。那里离伦敦很远。我们早上7点离家，走高速公路去西部郊区。伊甸园工程位于康沃尔，距普利茅斯大概30英里，我们到那儿的时候已是正午了。

伊甸园工程于2001年开放，占地14公顷。到那儿之前，我想不出它会是什么样。肯觉得我们要去的是一个冒险游乐场，但爸爸笑着说：“不，不是那样，除非你把伊甸园想成是一个巨大的天然游乐场。”

妈妈买了票以后，我们首先来到了游客中心。在那儿，导游接待了我们，介绍了伊甸园工程的情况。他告诉我们康沃尔的巨大弹坑曾经是一个瓷土矿，在这个植物和人类共同生存的舞台上，科学和艺术交融在一起。

导游告诉我们伊甸园有5000多个品种的10万多株植物。这些植物当中有很多能够在康沃尔室外温和的气候中生长，但其他植物则要求不同的气候条件，这就是为什么需要两座巨大的温室——两座巨大的足球形圆顶，叫做“生态区”。其中最大的一个是潮湿的热带生态区，长200米，宽100米，高57米，是世界上最大的温室。生态区是钢制六边形建筑，因此看上去就像是巨型蜜蜂筑成的大蜂巢。每一个生态区内都小心地营造出某种气候，以便植物生长。

“那么现在，”导游说，“让我们去探索伊甸园的世界吧。”

我们去的第一个温室叫做“温带生态区”。在这个世界里生长的是来自地中海、南非和加利福尼亚的植物。从这种气候来的植物要求生长在很干燥的条件下以及较薄的土壤里。

在这个生态区里，我发现了一系列奇妙的植物。我看见了诸如橙子和柠檬之类的柑橘类的果实，可提取橄榄油的橄榄树林，挂着沉甸甸的用来酿酒的葡萄和用来制作软木塞以便在瓶子装满酒以后塞住瓶口的葡萄藤。

展品向我们展示了很多地中海的传统文化，呈现了加利福尼亚沙漠丰富的生物，以及南非花园五彩缤纷的美景。

接下来的这个温室叫做“潮湿热带生态区”。这个区真是庞大无比。一进入这座温室我就感到空气潮湿，身上又热又粘。热带植物使空气中有种浓郁的气味。当我们四处参观时，我发现了世界上不同的区域——西非、马来西亚、亚马逊森林和大洋洲岛屿。在每一个区域，我们都能看到在那儿生活的人们是怎样利用土地满足自身的需要并努力保护环境的。

这个生态区内，我发现了很多奇异的植物，如香蕉、咖啡、可可、橡胶和诸如柚木、桃木之类的硬木树。我用手肘推了推肯，让他看一只躲在树叶后面的蜥蜴。蝴蝶绕着我们飞舞。在生态区的中心，一幅大瀑布使空气保持着湿润。

出了这个生态区，我感到舒适而凉爽。我们绕着新月形的梯田行走，参观露天种植的植物，我们每天以它们为食物和饮料，做衣物和鞋袜。我们看到高大的向日葵和一排排生长整齐的茶树。这一区域的植物来自不同的地方，如中国、印度、北美和欧洲。

四处步行了一个小时之后，我们在咖啡厅小坐。我在伊甸园中学到了什么呢？我认识到我们所有人在很多方面都依赖着植物。食品、衣物、住所和药品很多都来自于植物界。

我认识到我们需要正确对待植物，并和它们一道努力保护地球上所有人的未来。

爸爸开车带我们回到大都市，肯在我旁边的座位上睡着了。那时，我回想着在伊甸园的奇妙见闻。短短5个小时里，我游览了加利福尼亚干燥而尘土飞扬的沙漠，也穿越了喀麦隆潮湿的热带雨林。我所见到的植物品种之多令人惊讶。我希望大家都能从伊甸园这样的地方受到教育，以使我们的子孙能够欣赏到美妙的大自然。伊甸园工程的确是一个冒险游乐场！