时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:2012年VOA慢速英语(二)月


英语课

Agriculture Report - Friends With Benefits, in the Plant World


This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Companion planting is the idea that some kinds of plants can help each other grow. Plants that are compatible together generally have similar needs in terms of nutrients 1, soil and moisture levels.

Advice about which plants are compatible is sometimes based more on tradition than proof. But experts say there is evidence to support certain combinations. These can improve harvests, reduce disease and help with pest control by attracting helpful insects.

For example, some kinds of soil bacteria take nitrogen from the air and make it into a form that plants can use. The plants hold the nitrogen in their roots. Legumes are especially good at this nitrogen-fixing. Then any crops that share the same space as the legumes can get the nitrogen as the roots decompose 2.

Beans and potatoes can also share territory well because their roots reach different levels in the soil. Deep-rooted vegetables get nutrients and moisture from lower down in the soil, so they do not compete with plants with shallower roots.

But some plants placed together may harm each other's development. For example, tomatoes do not like wet soil but watercress does, so you would probably want to keep them separated.

Some kinds of produce should be kept apart even after being harvested. This is because of ethylene gas. Ethylene is a plant hormone 3 that can cause some foods to ripen 4 too quickly. Apples release ethylene gas. Apricots, melons and tomatoes also release a lot of ethylene. Some vegetable are easily affected 5 by ethylene, including asparagus, broccoli 6, cabbage and cucumbers.

This risk of ripening 7 too soon is why markets often separate high ethylene-producing foods from those that are sensitive to the gas.

But if you put an apple in a bag with a green banana, the ethylene from the apple will make the banana ready to eat sooner.

What about peaches, plums and nectarines that are too firm to eat? These kinds of fruit do not need any help from an apple -- they release enough ethylene to ripen themselves. But that does not mean there is no way to get the job done faster.

Growers suggest placing the fruit in a fruit bowl or in a paper bag with the top folded over. Keep the fruit at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Once the fruit is soft enough to your liking 8, either use it or put it in the refrigerator to keep it from getting too ripe. Yuck.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Jim Tedder 9.



1 nutrients
n.(食品或化学品)营养物,营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )
  • a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
  • Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 decompose
vi.分解;vt.(使)腐败,(使)腐烂
  • The eggs began to decompose after a day in the sun.鸡蛋在太阳下放了一天后开始变坏。
  • Most animals decompose very quickly after death.大多数动物死后很快腐烂。
3 hormone
n.荷尔蒙,激素,内分泌
  • Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
  • This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
4 ripen
vt.使成熟;vi.成熟
  • I'm waiting for the apples to ripen.我正在等待苹果成熟。
  • You can ripen the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill.把西红柿放在有阳光的窗台上可以让它们成熟。
5 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。
6 broccoli
n.绿菜花,花椰菜
  • She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
  • They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的,而菜花都是白色的。
7 ripening
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的现在分词 );熟化;熟成
  • The corn is blossoming [ripening]. 玉米正在开花[成熟]。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • When the summer crop is ripening, the autumn crop has to be sowed. 夏季作物成熟时,就得播种秋季作物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 liking
n.爱好;嗜好;喜欢
  • The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
  • I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。
9 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
access manager
acquired immune deficiency syndromes
adiabatic curve
ailurophiles
amplified interpretation
Ant-Vireo
Antonia
atomic angular momentum
attachment flange
automatic bypass valve
babyishly
baitshops
Bembridae
bemeant
Blastocladiales
censor out
ciprofibrate
colour-serjeant
comb ... hair
concho-grass
crinkley
daemonophobia
Decaspermum esquirolii
Dryopteris fragrans
eaved
Europa, Pta.de
evaporator strip holder
farras
ferroprotoporphyrin
froth flotation
fuddling
full wave rectifier
genus Placuna
grease pits
half-height drive
have someone's guts for garters
Hawtrey, Mt.
holes in pattern
in-thing
indirect discrimination
indirect-arc furnace
istake measure
japao
katsuwonus pelamiss
keramite (mullite)
license plate
longbeards
lounge around
manual removal
marjayouns
meet sb halfway
methyl p-methyl benzoate
model following
mucopolysaccharide-N-acetylneuraminylhydrolase
none-kin
nonsonorous
odd moment
offskip
oil flinger
on my case
otelo
pancratic lens
Periyār R.
perpetuum mobile of the first kind
piledriver
pole jumps
product introduction
pronouncement of judgment
pulse-phase system
quarion
REA Rural Electrification Administration
recursive descent parser
scabricola ocellata
scheduling model
schlottmann
scurfy
sealing effect
secondary homonym
secondary metal
self-operated control valve
sociology departments
squeeze mouding machine
sridevi
standard hour system
statutory assignee
styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer
sufferances
taper thimble
thin-layer chromatogram
transmission-utilization ratio
trintignant
tubular(tracheal)sound
two-pence
underutilize
unheled
V and T
vapo(u)rizability
Vicia tenuifolia
wagon control computer
wire rope detector
year dot
zabras