时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(十一月)


英语课

 


Efforts Mount to Conserve 1 Wild Turkey Breeds



A sprinkle of corn, and Rachel Summers' turkeys come running. She raises a small flock of a breed called Standard Bronze at Crowfoot Farm, about an hour from Washington.


These are birds with history, Summers says. "They are what you would have found in colonial barnyards."


And you'll find them today in re-creations of those 17th and 18th-century barnyards, like the ones here at Claude Moore Colonial Farm outside Washington, where workers in period costumes are chopping wood for the fire. Summers started volunteering at the farm when she was just 11. It was here, she says, she grew to love and appreciate these uncommon 2 birds.


"When I started learning more about their history and their place in the world now, I realized how rare they are and how important it is to preserve them," Summers noted 3.


Julie Long is a turkey researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She says today's commercial birds were bred for size, then crossed with white-feathered varieties to produce unblemished skin.


"The heritage breeds are at risk simply because they are not being used commercially," Long explained. "Those birds became very popular in about the [19]50s and just took over the market at that point."


And heritage breeds nearly disappeared. Today there are fewer than 10,000 Standard Bronze turkeys left, according to the American Livestock 4 Breeds Conservancy.


Local livestock breeds are threatened in many parts of the world. One reason is that efficiency is trumping 5 diversity in order to meet the growing demand for animal protein.


But Long says it would be a mistake to lose the heritage breeds.


"It's best to keep these around, sort of as an insurance policy," Long added. "You may never need those genetics. But if you do and they're gone, then you're out of luck."


That genetic 6 "insurance policy" could provide tolerance 7 for harsher environments brought on by climate change. Or resistance to new diseases. Or better ability to forage 8 for themselves as the cost of commercial feed goes up.


One key to saving these rare breeds, experts say, may be found in the kitchen. John Critchley is executive chef of Urbana Restaurant in downtown Washington. He prefers heritage birds to the standard supermarket variety.


"To me it has a better mouthfeel," said Critchley. "It has a richer taste. A more buttery finish to it."


A growing number of chefs and consumers are seeking out flavors they say have been lost in modern agriculture.


Sales of heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving are up. And Rachel Summers hopes this niche 9 market will help preserve not just the flavor, but all the other useful traits of these heritage birds.


"I'm not just raising these turkeys to sell for Thanksgiving," said Summers. "I want to have them be available as a resource to the world, if needed. Just our few turkeys. We're just preserving a little piece of that here on our little farm."


Just as Thanksgiving is about tradition, heritage turkeys are about keeping tradition alive.




vt.保存,保护,节约,节省,守恒,不灭
  • He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
  • Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力,你会用得着的!
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的
  • Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
  • Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
n.家畜,牲畜
  • Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
  • The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。
v.(牌戏)出王牌赢(一牌或一墩)( trump的现在分词 );吹号公告,吹号庆祝;吹喇叭;捏造
  • Reality has a way of trumping art, and human-climate change is very real indeed. 现实总有它的王牌艺术,受人类影响的气候变化的确成了事实。 来自互联网
  • This quirky aversion may be a case of psychological security trumping physical comfort. 这种奇怪现象可能是缘于一个心理上的安全感战胜生理上的舒适感的例子。 来自互联网
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差
  • Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
  • Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。
n.(牛马的)饲料,粮草;v.搜寻,翻寻
  • They were forced to forage for clothing and fuel.他们不得不去寻找衣服和燃料。
  • Now the nutritive value of the forage is reduced.此时牧草的营养价值也下降了。
n.壁龛;合适的职务(环境、位置等)
  • Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
  • The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。
学英语单词
abbreviated argument
ability to harden
absorbed manufacturing expense
acid-fast nonphotochromogen
aerial transparency
an Antarctic expedition
Anamniota
aposteme
as-yet-unknowns
badly-designeds
badmouthed
ball socket adjuster
bopeep
C.I.G.S.
cheer
chlodwig
christmas pyramid
chromidium
cobblestone
compound tide
concurrently-shared resource
crushed zone
culpable homicide
cyclophorus formosaensis
daily traffic flow
dame barbara hepworths
desulfurases
developpes
Diemel
EABV
fiducial point
financial-service
fishing basket
floribundas
fourty equivalent unit
front vertex focal distance
fuel lifetime
General Foods Co.
genus cronartiums
global schema
gnawing at
golden clematiss
gotten cracking
grave's
half duty
hannemann
hide sorter
high volume account
homeappliance
homoveratric acid
humanas
husbands
hypabyssally
i-swowen
immunological unresponsiveness
index servo
integrative
inter-bourse
interabangs
joint cummulative distribution function
knob gobblers
Kyamepromazine
land use capability survey
Lutefium
marchia barclayana
mathematical modeling
metromalacia
mishent
movement picture
orthogonality conditions
painted sandgrouse
pallidoidosis
pandurata
pharmacons
pomatuming
profit ratio of paid-in capital
pseudomones sp.
pulsus
QBE
recovered solvent
roller comnveyor
rotation of the Earth
scolopendrium
side-draw
silvertipped
songfully
spallanzani
Still water runs deep
supported type abutment
sync non-linearity
thiomerin
Tukulan
two-liter
undefined
unexpended ammunition
Unified Threat Management
vacuum tube modulator
ventriculus mesencephalicus
waterslides
whatsernames
whrinny
Yalutsangpu River