It is Luen's third month in New York. As a Chinese student, Luen values every chance to learn and use English. One day, when he was going to the store, his neighbor Sam asked him to buy some green onions. He readily agreed.
After Luen entered the store, he felt worried. He checked all the onions carefully but none of them were in green! There were red, white, purple, and even brown onions. Luen was about to call Sam when an idea suddenly jumped into his mind. "Maybe the color of the onion doesn't only refer to its outside part!", he thought. So he peeled (剥) some onions to check the color inside. Luckily, the white onion had a little bit of green inside. Luen relaxed. "Okay, I finally found green onions." Then he gladly headed home with them.
Sam was very puzzled as soon as he saw the onions brought back by Luen. "These are the closest I was able to find. What's wrong?" Luen asked curiously. Sam laughed and explained that a green onion is a different kind of onion. It is a young onion with green shoots. Its white bulb end has not fully developed.
Luen finally knew what a green onion was. He also learnt that some English words didn't mean what they appeared to be. For example, an "eggplant" has nothing to do with eggs. A "hot dog" is not a dog. It's a sausage.
Luen's face turned red after hearing Sam's explanation, but he was also pleased to learn a lesson about English words.
