夏天到了，又到了吃瓜的季節，如何挑出最甜的西瓜呢？

中國人會告訴你，敲一敲聽聽聲音就知道了，真的是這樣么？

2016年網上貼出一張意大利超市的照片讓“敲西瓜”火了一把。這家超市立了個牌，上面寫道：“尊敬的顧客，請您不要再敲西瓜了，它們是真的不會回應的！！！”

啥？西瓜都不讓敲了？中國網友紛紛表示不服，并表示：沒有被敲過的瓜不是完整的瓜！

還有小伙伴表示……

話說回來，敲瓜達人如何“聽聲辨音”呢

▲ Knocking on watermelon is included in an episode of the Russian cartoon, Nu, pogodi!.

WikiHow suggests a ripe watermelon should give a "full sound" rather than a "dull and deep one" if one taps it with the knuckle.

WikiHow網站指出，當你用指關節敲瓜時，成熟的西瓜應該發出渾厚的聲音而不是悶聲悶氣的低沉的聲音。

若聽聲辨音有難度，試試其它方法

But how to select the best of the batch? Food blogger Emma Christensen recently offered some advice, and it involves a little weight-training. When you examine watermelons in the produce section of your local grocery, you want to look for the heaviest one for its size. The denser the fruit, the more juice it has. That's when it's at its most ripe.

美食博主艾瑪·克里斯滕森近日給出了一些建議，當然你還得有把子力氣才能擔當此任。在當地食品雜貨店的農產品區挑西瓜時，你應該在同等大小的西瓜中挑最重的那一個。西瓜的密度越大，汁水就越多。這也意味著西瓜熟透了。

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 indicator of being ripe.

接下來，看西瓜的底部有沒有“斑”。西瓜在生長過程中接觸地面的地方會形成黃色的斑塊。如果斑塊呈乳黃色，那就說明西瓜熟了。

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

最后，輕輕拍一下西瓜底部，別太用力，以免引起賣家的注意，只要能聽到西瓜聲音是否空洞就夠了。如果發出空空的聲音，那么就是好瓜。如果聲音沉悶，就像碰到一塊實心磚頭一樣，那就說明熟過頭了，把西瓜放下，慢慢地離開吧。

If you're not confident in your watermelon evaluation 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 emulate it the next time you're forced to choose your own produce.

如果你對自己的挑瓜水平沒有信心，你還可以讓賣瓜的人幫你挑。不過你得注意他是怎么挑西瓜的，下次你不得不親自挑選西瓜的時候，可以模仿他的做法。

再告訴你幾個挑瓜妙招

觀色：瓜皮表面光滑、花紋清晰、紋路明顯、底面發黃的，是熟瓜；表面有茸毛、光澤暗淡、花斑和紋路不清的，是不熟的瓜。

看瓜柄：綠色的是熟瓜；黑褐色、茸毛脫落、彎曲發脆、蜷須尖端變黃枯萎的，是不熟就摘的瓜；瓜柄已干枯，是“死藤瓜”，質量差。

看頭尾：兩端勻稱，臍部和瓜蒂凹陷較深、四周飽滿的是好瓜；頭大尾小或者頭尖尾粗的，是質量較差的瓜。

比彈性：瓜皮較薄，用手指壓易碎的，是熟瓜；用指甲劃要裂，瓜皮發軟的，是過熟的瓜。