时间:2018-11-27 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2009年(十二)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.



A round barn in Illinois


American farmers traditionally keep their animals and equipment in barns that are rectangular 1. But there are hundreds of barns in the Midwest and other parts of the country that are different. They are not longer than they are wide. Or wider than they are long. These buildings are round.


Round barns have a long history in America. George Washington, the nation's first president, had a round barn in the seventeen hundreds. The Shaker religious community at Hancock, Massachusetts, built one in the eighteen twenties.


But the idea did not become popular until years later. Then, in the early nineteen hundreds, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign built three round barns that many farmers copied.


A farmer could save on wood or stone with a round design that needed less material than traditional barns. Experts also believed that farmers could save footsteps, and time, in feeding their animals in a round barn. And round barns stood a better chance against strong winds.


Some round barns are not truly circular. They just look that way, but really are many flat pieces put together side by side.


Early versions were mainly designed with two levels. Cows were kept on the first floor and the one above was used to store hay. Later designs brought a large area in the middle for the hay and feeding stations all around for the cows.


By the nineteen thirties, however, fewer American farmers were building round barns. Some people said it took more time and skill. Others disagreed. In any case, it was not a good time to argue -- it was the Great Depression, and times were difficult.


Also, as electric power came to rural America, there was a school of thought that rectangular barns were easier to wire for electricity. Agricultural experts also reconsidered their ideas about a round barn saving time in feeding animals.


Kathy and Bob Frydenlund own the Round Barn Llama Farm in New Richmond, Wisconsin. The Frydenlunds have a library of architectural plans and drawings and have published books on the subject. Money from their book sales helps them take care of their own barn -- a big one nearly a century old, made of concrete and wood. Bob Frydenlund says having a round barn means keeping alive part of the history of American farming.


And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts 2 and podcasts are at voaspecialenglish.com, and captioned 3 videos are on YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.


 



1 rectangular
adj.矩形的,成直角的
  • He put a rectangular box on the table.他把一个长方形的箱子放在桌子上。
  • The equations are written in rectangular coordinates.这些方程是在直角座标系中写出的。
2 transcripts
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句
3 captioned
a.标题项下的; 标题所说的
  • This paper reviews the production, development and nationalization of the captioned materials. 本文就铜系合金引线框架材料的生产、发展和国产化进程作一论述。
  • Please advise other considerable hotels for this captioned group. 请推荐其它一些高级的旅馆给这一群打标语的人。
标签:
学英语单词
aberrometry
abrotanum
adenomyositis
alaria crassifolia kjellm
allocation strategy module
anderton shearer-loader
Andorf
arab-berber
Artfjeld
ashiko
at the behest of
automatic routine
autophagolysosomes
ball platform scale
bankrupcies
Barkley, Lake
be straight with sb
bleachers
blockader
borrow memory control
cam shaft sprocket
canonical case
chloroserpidine
Choeropotamidae
cock body
cold-sensitive mutant
colors
common peppers
congenital cyst of sublingual gland
conical stiffener
contending passions
control requirement
cramoysen
dediploidization(buller 1941)
doors and windows
drive away at
dumbard
ekiti
fabrication platform
fatty acid activating enzyme
flouncer
flour milling
foundry mould
freestylers
generalized two-phase model
genus botrychiums
Goniothalamus yunnanensis
Hanover County
health-insurance
helicopter land ing gear
heterocarpy
homeware
indifference curve
interfering nuclear reaction
interradial piece
interrogation-inquiry
iron mts.
kalkilya
koevermans
lineae parasternalis
lost ground
magnify oneself against sb.
marching problem
moisture examining instrument
nautical meteorology
newly built
normal reactive force
occult tail
pabulums
Pelagonisou, Diavlos
plan bracing
polyaromatic amide (aramid) pulp reinforcement
put on side
quarantinable diseases
Quercus chingsiensis
rbol
rejiggering
Republic of Moldova
restriction fragment
roll tite hathcover
sctinography
semi-floating axle
serratamolide
share responsibility for
small horse hides
soup-spoon
station pressure
system programmed operator
television relay car
thain
the mode
three-statest
tit fucks
turntabling
uncommerciable
unpieces
veto vacuum unloading gear
virtual O device
voidableness
vriesea carinata
web of Penelope
yakalo