时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2008年(十二)月


英语课
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A new study says almost forty percent of China is losing soil because of wind and water erosion 1. The Chinese government recently announced the results of a three-year study. The study was the largest of its kind since China became a communist nation in nineteen forty-nine.
 






A worker harvests rice in Yunnan province, in southwestern China



Researchers found that China has three and one-half million square kilometers of eroded 2 land. Water has eroded more than one and one-half million square kilometers of that territory. Wind has damaged almost two million square kilometers.

The researchers blamed farming and the clearing of forests for much of the damage. Rural 3 areas are not the only ones losing soil. Land is also being affected 4 in cities and near mines and factories.

The researchers say that every year, four and one-half billion tons of soil are washed or blown away. At that rate, they say, grain production in northeastern China could decrease forty percent within forty to fifty years. The country depends on that area for grain; the northeast is often called China's breadbasket.

The research team estimates 5 that erosion has cost China at least twenty-nine billion dollars in economic losses since two thousand. The team also says that seventy percent of China's poor live in areas damaged by soil loss.

Xinhua, the official news agency 6, reported that the team said China is in a worse situation than many other countries suffering from soil erosion. These include India, Japan, the United States and Australia.

Land sometimes becomes desert and can no longer support plants. This process is called desertification. A study published earlier this year suggested that climate change has been a major cause of this in China. The paper appeared in Earth-Science Reviews in June.

Scientists say more than ninety percent of grasslands 7 in northern China have decreased in quality as a result of desertification. Dried lakes in the north produce most of the dust that affects life for people in cities like Beijing and Tianjin.

Still another problem for China has been flooding along the Yangtze River. Widespread flooding took place in the late nineteen nineties. After that, the government limited tree cutting along the sides of mountains near the river.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Archives of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Jim Tedder 8.



1 erosion
n.腐蚀,侵蚀,磨损,削弱,减少
  • The erosion of beach here is serious.这里海岸的腐蚀很严重。
  • Drought and soil erosion had long been a major problem.干旱和水土流失一直是个老大难问题。
2 eroded
adj.乡下的,田园的,乡村风味的
  • He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
  • We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市,去农村安家。
3 affected
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
4 estimates
估计
  • Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
  • We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后,接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 agency
n.经办;代理;代理处
  • This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
  • He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。
6 grasslands
n.草原,牧场( grassland的名词复数 )
  • Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来,种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 tedder
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
学英语单词
a sleight of hand
ANCOM
antimarxism
Argentodomeykite
army-mccarthy
asset side
balance between income and expenditure
balance statement
barama
BLFT
Blizkovice
caldeira
card programmed computer
chromatize
come on strike
continuity from below
craniocephaloclast
cratering explosion
Daniel, Samuel
deckhead
decortication of lung
disciplinal
earlierest
English ton
Enteropogon dolichostachyus
entropy decoder
equalizing hole
even a little
exponential equations
facade panel
federal taxes
fillet clothing
flexible resilient
free spring
functional density
ground-based missile
helistops
hfx
high-level data link control system support
hot-rolled pipe
howlets
humping track
inanitions
initiative vs. guilt
it should be remembered
joint categories
Kennebec County
korab
local finance
loliginid
macknight
maltokinase
material instrument
Megrez
mitopozide
monadelphus
moortown
moxons
multiple pump circuit
nero
New Agers
northovers
Offence of Destroying Communication Media
Old Zionsville
other intangibles
over-development
overflow device
params
Parapyrenaria multisepala
patrilineal succession
pavement structural composition design
pearlite colony
phytelephas macrocarpa ruiz & pav. carozo nut
ponceau R
preceid
pregastrula
Ptychobarbus conirostris
Pukeamaru
red army
refrigeratories
regulated inflation
reticle alignment
shattering process
singular direct product
space dynamic factors and survival
static tester
sue-ann
surface defects
symbolic pictorial indicator (spi)
taper pipe thread
toe bearing
trend-based forecasting
tyre-mounted tower crane
u.n.e
undiscoverability
valerenal
ventriculopunctur
warm-and-fuzzy
waterfall lake
weight traction
wind harp
woolly daisies