In the 17th century few Europeans would have had the chance to taste a banana. Maria Sibylla Merian(1647–1717) described its properties by association: "it is used like an apple and likewise has a pleasant aroma, it is good to eat both raw and cooked, it has a thick skin like a lemon…" In her illustration, she depicts a huge inflorescence bearing male flowers, the red-orange bracts and budding female flowers, and the ripe fruits.
在17世纪，欧洲人很少有机会品尝香蕉。玛丽亚-西比拉-梅里安(1647–1717)用联想的方式描述了它的特征：“它像苹果一样被人食用，同样具有宜人的香气，生食和熟食都很好吃，它有一层像柠檬一样厚的果皮……”在插图中，她描绘了一个巨大的花簇，带有雄花、橙红色苞片、发芽中的雌花以及成熟的果实。
In 1699 Maria and her daughter Dorothea Maria Graff travelled to Surinam to study the insects there and document their appearance. Though their self-financed expedition had been planned to take five years, in 1701 Merian returned to Amsterdam and set about altering her field sketches to prepare them for prints; thereafter, three copperplate engravers made the plates. Thanks to her contacts among Dutch naturalists, twelve subscribers financed the publication of a luxury, hand-colored edition of the work.
1699年，梅里安和她的女儿多萝西娅-玛利亚-格拉夫前往南美洲的苏里南，研究当地昆虫并记录它们的形态。尽管她们的自费探险计划用五年时间，但1701年，梅里安提前回到阿姆斯特丹着手修改她的写生素描，为印刷作准备。此后，三位铜版雕刻家制作了这些版画。多亏了她的朋友中有荷兰的博物学家，共有12位订阅者资助出版了这部作品的豪华手绘版。
Merian’s observations of live insects enabled her to document their appearance at various stages of their development and in their interactions with other animals. Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium is not an exclusively entomological work; Merian and Graff also studied and recorded Amazonian jungle flora, arachnids, amphibians, reptiles, and small birds.
梅里安对活昆虫的观察使她能够记录它们在不同发育阶段的外形，以及与其他动物互动时的形态。《苏里南昆虫形态图谱》不仅是一本昆虫学著作，梅里安和格拉夫还研究记录了亚马逊丛林植物群、蛛形纲动物、两栖动物、爬行动物和小型鸟类。
We present today's painting thanks to theMuseum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów. :)
感谢维拉诺扬三世王宫博物馆与我们分享今天的画作。:)
association [ə.soʊʃi'eɪʃ(ə)n] n.协会；关联；联想；交往
copperplate ['kɑpər.pleɪt] adj.用铜版印刷的；(印刷似地)美丽的(字体) n.铜版体
entomological [ˌentəmə'lɒdʒɪkl] adj.昆虫学的
flora ['flɔrə] n.植物群；微生物区系；菌丛
arachnid [ə'ræknɪd] n.蛛形纲动物（包括蜘蛛、蝎子、螨和蜱）
amphibian [æm'fɪbiən] n.两栖动植物；水陆两用飞机；双重性格的人
reptile ['reptɪl] n.爬行动物adj.匍匐的；爬虫类的；卑劣的
