How to select the best watermelons? Food blogger Emma Christensen recently offered some advice.

如何才能挑出最好的西瓜？美食博主艾玛·克里斯滕森近日给出了一些建议。

When you examine watermelons in the produce section of your local grocery, you want to look for the heaviest one for its size.

在当地食品杂货店的农产品区挑西瓜时，你应该在同等大小的西瓜中挑最重的那一个。

The denser¹ the fruit, the more juice it has. That's when it's at its most ripe.

西瓜的密度越大，汁水就越多。这也意味着西瓜熟透了。

Next, check the underside of the watermelon for the "splotch". That's the yellow patch the watermelon develops by resting on the ground. If it's a creamy yellow, it's also a good indicator² of being ripe.

接下来，看西瓜的底部有没有“斑”。西瓜在生长过程中接触地面的地方会形成黄色的斑块。如果斑块呈乳黄色，那就说明西瓜熟了。

Finally, give the underside a little smack³ - not aggressive enough to draw attention from grocery workers, but enough so that you can determine whether the watermelon sounds hollow.

最后，轻轻拍一下西瓜底部，不要太用力，以免引起杂货店员工的注意，只要能听到西瓜声音是否空洞就够了。

If it does, that's good. If it sounds dull, like you're hitting a solid brick of material, it's overripe; put the watermelon down and slowly back away from it.

如果发出空洞的声音，那么就是好西瓜。如果声音沉闷，就像碰到一块实心砖头一样，那就说明熟过头了，把西瓜放下，慢慢地离开它吧。

If you're not confident in your watermelon evaluation⁴ abilities, there's another option: You can ask the merchant to pick one out for you. Pay attention to what he's doing and then try to emulate⁵ it the next time you're forced to choose your own produce.

如果你对自己的挑瓜水平没有信心，还有另外一个办法：你还可以让卖瓜的人帮你挑。不过你得注意他是怎么挑西瓜的，下次你不得不亲自挑选西瓜的时候，可以模仿他的做法。