时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2007年(十二月)


英语课

By Tetiana Vorozhko
Washington, D.C.
21 December 2007
 
Christmas trees in the United States are not only a holiday tradition but big business as well. Every year Americans buy some 30 million live trees. They are grown at special farms like the 'Peper'mint Christmas Tree Farm in Virginia. VOA's Tetiana Vorozhko and Ruslan Petrychka recently went to the farm in search of the perfect tree. Jim Bertel narrates 1


Joann Bartlett and her husband Bill grew up in Washington, D.C.  As children both dreamed about farming. In 1972, they bought some land in Culpepper, Virginia -- just a two-hour drive from the nation's capital.  


"We thought it would be nice to plant some Christmas trees for family and friends to come and cut,” Joann tells us. “And as we planted more trees we found out that we had more trees than friends and family." 


The Bartletts, along with their three sons, opened their "choose and cut" Christmas tree business to the public in 1994. Now the 'Peper'mint farm has 6,000 pine and fir trees.


It is an average-sized tree farm compared to their competitors in the area. Joann says the competition is rather friendly, but the income is not great, especially because sales have dropped this year.  "I guess that Christmas trees are a luxury 2 that you can go without," she thinks


The first two weekends of December are the busiest time for selling trees.  However, clients 3 are welcome anytime. One Bartlett is always by the phone. On this day, the weather is mild. The firs and pines are waiting for the first customers of the day. Joann Bartlett takes advantage of the lull 4 to create Christmas garlands, talk on the phone, and patiently wait. Her husband Bill arrives just in time for the first buyers.


One family always buys live trees but has never cut one down before. The first step is finding 5 the perfect tree. Cutting down the tree is not easy. So why do it? Dad says, "For the kids, so he can see it. For the smell that goes around the house. It is just a new thing to do really. An adventurous 6 thing [to do]." 


But there is more to do than cut trees. Once the Christmas tree is safely secured 7 on the car, the family spends time with the farm's pony 8 and goats. There is even free candy for the children.


Bill Bartlett loves his job. "We meet so many nice people right here. We don't make any money but we make great friends. Nice little kid."






Heading for home to decorate and enjoy their tree


Heading for home to decorate and enjoy their tree



Caring for the farm would be impossible for the Bartlett's without the help of their family, including grandson John and his girlfriend. He says he tries to help as often as he can. "We come down like three- four times a year to help out." 


But today -- just a few days before Christmas -- they were also choosing a tree of their own.



v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )
  • It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
  • Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网
n.难得享受到的愉悦;奢侈,奢华的生活
  • He invited me to his suite. The luxury takes your breath away.他请我到他的套房里去,那豪华的气派真会令你吃惊。
  • The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods.政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。
n.顾客( client的名词复数 );当事人;诉讼委托人;[计算机]客户端
  • a lawyer with many famous clients 拥有许多著名委托人的律师
  • She understood the importance of establishing a close rapport with clients. 她懂得与客户建立密切和谐的关系的重要性。
v.使安静,使入睡,缓和,哄骗;n.暂停,间歇
  • The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
  • Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后,地面战又突然爆发了。
n.发现,发现物;调查的结果
  • The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
  • That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 
  • I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
  • He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。
adj.小型的;n.小马
  • His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
  • They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。
学英语单词
a man of no fixed abode
ability of anti-nuclear-radiation
adell
admissible character
alabama cotton
alimenting
Ancyrognathus
aqueductus
assubjugating
back pain
benchmarkable
beneathness
bookkeeping typewriter
buying clerk
characeeristic component
chipware
clavicular line
coaxial speaker
cochealed
congenital bilateral dislocation of knee joints
cordles
deianira
depa
developing bacteroidal tissue
direct labour basis
drum operation system
economic extinction
effective discharge
eitner
electrooptic modulation
enter into a partnership with
enzyme action
ethyl sulfate
Excelgrow
facemailed
falchion
falls asleep
fisher-price
floating storage
fluoroorotic
forensic linguistics
general stockholders' meeting
Ghom
globular stage
greenidea brideliae
hardenablity
have not a dry thread on one
high quality
Hollywood science
Hyoscyamus pusillus
index number of retail prices
interim reform package
Iosopan
ITS-90
jugerum
kanzo
knotter disc
Kora Nehir
Lindside
lineariss
lunar communication
Morozovskiy
near-diffraction-limited mirror
NSF check
ohio-based
ophiernus
ora coleopterorum
passholders
peripatecians
peroryctid
personal life
Phlebotomus stantoni
pile fabric
Plush-Capped
political entities
postvaccine
precision machine tool
provided on four sides
put to shame
reaction control agent
refusals
rivergod
sammarai
sanitary
semi-chemical pulping process
shelf-stable
skew arch
slip-tube shaft
soil skeleton
Soton
subcutaneous injury
subiodide
sudachi
tanker ship
tertiary stem villus
took the stage
top hat frames
unilateral hemianopsia
unviewable
v-jointeds
Wallhausen
zea mays indentatas