Last year, a husband and wife in New Zealand thought they had found a record-breaking potato in their garden.
去年，新西兰一对夫妇以为他们在自己花园里发现了一个破纪录的土豆。

A potato is a round root-like food that is eaten as a vegetable and is popular around the world.
土豆是一种可作为蔬菜食用的圆形根状食物，在世界各地都很受欢迎。

Colin Craig-Brown found the potato with his wife, Donna. They dug it up and put it on a scale. It weighed nearly eight kilograms.
科林·克雷格-布朗和妻子唐娜一起发现了这个土豆。他们把它挖出来放到称上。它重达近8公斤。

They even named the potato "Doug," (d-o-u-g) or "dug" (d-u-g) because they "dug it up" from their garden.
他们甚至把这个土豆命名为道格，因为他们是从自己的花园里挖出来的。

Doug, the potato, became famous.
这个名为道格的土豆一举成名。

But then, the two sent some of the potato to the Guinness Book of World Records, based in Britain, to confirm their record.
但随后，两人将一些土豆寄到英国的吉尼斯世界纪录大全，以确认他们的记录。

After months of submitting photos and papers, Colin and Donna recently got some bad news. It turns out what they found in their garden was not a potato, after all.
在提交照片和文件几个月之后，科林和唐娜最近得到了一些坏消息。事实证明，他们在花园里发现的东西最终不是土豆。

It was a different kind of plant. Guinness said they had found the tuber of a gourd.
这是一种不同的植物。吉尼斯说他们发现的是葫芦的块茎。

"For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application," the e-mail from Guinness read.
吉尼斯在电子邮件中写道：“由于这个原因，我们不得不遗憾地取消你们的申请资格。”

So, the existing record still stands. That potato weighed about five kilograms when it was found in Britain in 2011.
因此，现存记录仍然有效。2011年，这个马铃薯在英国被发现时重约5公斤。

Colin said what he found tasted and looked like a potato. But he was not objecting to Guinness's decision. After all, he sent them a sample and the organization tested its DNA.
科林说他发现的东西吃起来像土豆。但他并非反对吉尼斯的决定。毕竟，他给吉尼斯寄了一点样本，该机构检测了它的DNA。

"What can you say?" Colin asked.
科林说道：“你还能说什么？”

A gourd, however, is a kind of decorative fruit with a hard shell. The tuber is a stem that grows out of the gourd.
然而，葫芦是一种具有硬壳的装饰性水果。块茎是从葫芦中长出来的茎。

Even though Doug is no longer the world's largest potato, Colin is still happy to have found such an interesting thing in his garden. Doug is in his freezer.
尽管道格不再是全球最大的土豆，但是科林仍然很高兴在他们的花园里发现了这么有趣的东西。道格存放在他的冰箱里。

He said he still says "good-day" to Doug each morning when he takes food from the freezer.
他说，他每天早上从冰箱里拿食物时仍然对道格说“日安”。

While he was disappointed with the Guinness decision, Colin said he is ready to give it another try during the next growing season.
虽然他对吉尼斯的决定感到失望，但是科林表示，他准备在下一个土豆生长季再试一次。

And this time, it will definitely be a potato.
而这一次，它绝对是个土豆。

I'm Dan Friedell.
我是丹·弗里德尔。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)

Last year, a husband and wife in New Zealand thought they had found a record-breaking potato in their garden.

A potato is a round root-like food that is eaten as a vegetable and is popular around the world.

Colin Craig-Brown found the potato with his wife, Donna. They dug it up and put it on a scale. It weighed nearly eight kilograms.

A large potato sits on a trolly in a garden at Donna and Colin Craig-Browns home near Hamilton, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov 3, 2021. (Donna Craig-Brown via AP)

They even named the potato "Doug," (d-o-u-g) or "dug" (d-u-g) because they "dug it up" from their garden.

Doug, the potato, became famous.

But then, the two sent some of the potato to the Guinness Book of World Records, based in Britain, to confirm their record.

After months of submitting photos and papers, Colin and Donna recently got some bad news. It turns out what they found in their garden was not a potato, after all.

It was a different kind of plant. Guinness said they had found the tuber of a gourd.

"For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application," the e-mail from Guinness read.

So, the existing record still stands. That potato weighed about five kilograms when it was found in Britain in 2011.

Colin said what he found tasted and looked like a potato. But he was not objecting to Guinness's decision. After all, he sent them a sample and the organization tested its DNA.

"What can you say?" Colin asked.

A gourd, however, is a kind of decorative fruit with a hard shell. The tuber is a stem that grows out of the gourd.

Even though Doug is no longer the world's largest potato, Colin is still happy to have found such an interesting thing in his garden. Doug is in his freezer.

He said he still says "good-day" to Doug each morning when he takes food from the freezer.

While he was disappointed with the Guinness decision, Colin said he is ready to give it another try during the next growing season.

And this time, it will definitely be a potato.

I'm Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based a report by The Associated Press.

Have you heard the record New Zealand potato story before? Let us know. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit 51VOA.COM.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Words in This Story

scale –n. a device that measures weight

turn out –v. (phrasal) to happen, end, or develop in a particular way

decorative – adj. used to make something more attractive; used for decoration

stem – n. a main long, thin part of a plant that grows above the ground and usually supports leaves