时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:2013年VOA慢速英语(五)月


英语课

 



A Flower in Winter: The Story of the Poinsettia


 


From VOA Learning 1 English, this is the Agriculture Report in Special English.


Poinsettias are the best-selling potted flowering plant in the United States. Red poinsettias are a traditional part of Christmas celebrations, which is why almost all of them are sold at wintertime. The Department of Agriculture estimates 2 that Americans bought $250 million worth of poinsettias last year.


The poinsettia is native to Central America and needs warmth to grow. Bright red poinsettias are the best known. But there are about one hundred different kinds, in colors including white, pink, yellow and purple. 


The flowers of the poinsettia are very small. Around the flowers are colorful leaves called bracts. These bracts are what give the plants their beauty.


The poinsettia is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett from South Carolina. In 1825 President John Quincy Adams appointed him as the United States' first minister to Mexico. Poinsett had an interest in plants. He saw the colorful plants growing in the wild. Wild poinsettias can grow up to four meters tall. He liked them so much that he sent some cuttings back to the United States.


The botanical name for the plant is Euphorbia pulcherrima. In Latin 3, that means "most beautiful euphorbia." There are hundreds of related 4 plants, including rubber trees, trees that produce castor and tung oil, and the cassava, a root crop.


People who are allergic 5 to the latex produced by rubber trees can develop a mild skin rash 6 from poinsettia plants. Babies and pets that chew on poinsettias can get sick. But experts say the plant is not as poisonous as some people think.


In the 1920s, Albert Ecke and his son Paul became interested in the poinsettia’s ability to flower in winter. Paul Ecke thought it would be a good plant to display at Christmastime.


They started a farm near Encinitas, California. At first, Paul Ecke, and later his son, grew large plants in fields. Then they sent them to growers by train. Growers would divide the large plants into cuttings, to raise smaller ones in greenhouses 7 until the holidays.


In the 1960s came poinsettias that grew best in containers. The Eckes started to sell cuttings from these new plants. Today Ecke Ranch 8 remains 9 a major supplier in the United States and around the world. In August, Paul Ecke's grandson announced that the company was joining the Dutch-based Agribio Group.




1 learning
n.学问,学识,学习;动词learn的现在分词
  • When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时,常会从车上掉下来。
  • Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。
2 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》
3 Latin
adj.拉丁的,拉丁语的,拉丁人的;n.拉丁语
  • She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
  • Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。
4 related
adj.有关系的,有关联的,叙述的,讲述的
  • I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
  • We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。
5 allergic
adj.过敏的,变态的
  • Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
  • Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏,比如花粉。
6 rash
adj.轻率的;n.(皮)疹,爆发的一连串
  • My skin has broken out in an itchy rash.我的皮肤上突然长出一片让人发痒的皮疹。
  • Don't be rash in making your decision.别轻率做出决定。
7 greenhouses
温室,花房( greenhouse的名词复数 )
  • Cypress and redwood are seldom used in the superstructure of commercial greenhouses. 扁柏和美州红松很少用于商用温室的上部结构。
  • They grew tomatoes in two greenhouses, each with a CD-player inside. 他们在两个温室里种西红柿,每个里面都有一个CD播放机。
8 ranch
n.大牧场,大农场
  • He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
  • The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
9 remains
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
学英语单词
a. perinealis
accrued charge
acoustic magnetic mine
adlecting
administration of internal affairs
Aflogualnum
ai chi
alternative procedure
ampholite
art and part
artificial caving
assidue
base of petroleum
black cottonwood
blue-green bacterium
bursting speed
cascading down
centricdiatom
cloud-bases
complementary scale
consistorial
conventional-arms
counter-cast
Crista sacralis intermedia
Cynwyl Elfed
Daphne holosericea
departmental arrangement and distribution in commodity stock
Direct Copper Blue 2R
disinflations
drip channel
event oriented simulation
eye-serve
factorization method
facular
Fentathienil
flower
geomagnetic periodic variation
go yachting.
group demodulator filter
harpending
hepatitis sequestrans
information management program
initial overburden pressure
insulation varnish
intrapore
inverse beta process
journal box lid hinge
lanatest
light pressure separator
Lothair
megalodiscs
merry-go-round
monoethanolamine(surfactant)
moving current-weighted Passche indexes
neutralizing water tank
new staff
Nihon-maru
non-specified-time relay
nuclear quadrupole spectrum
oil pressure switch
one-cancels-the-other order
orbit maneuver engine
output transfer function
Pare's suture
plain shank
plant hole
poikilosmotic character
preregeneration
progressive wave
pushback
put somebody up to
RCITR
reducing capacity
reductive alkylation
regional index call warrant
RFRNA
Rhodiola wallichiana
Richardson's ground squirrel
rosette phyllotaxy
semi-tractor
sexlessnesses
sgd.
shell tuck
sickling diathesis
simple deterministic language
spaces out
spantik
spread back
sugarcane top
system of gravitational unit
tea-tree
telephone bills
tiled mode
use test
vendibler
vertical decomposition
voltage and frequency response
wear plate
Y ligament
Yang Shiying
zori