(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
Parts of the southwestern American states of Texas and Oklahoma have experienced severe dry weather for several years. This drought has affected the growth of cotton and grains. The governor of Oklahoma says the state has suffered two billion dollars in agricultural losses since 2011. Some heavy rain fell recently, but for most farmers it did not come soon enough.
Matt Muller is a farmer in southwestern Oklahoma.
"We were doing very well farming until about 2010, the fall of 2010 (when) it basically stopped raining, and for the past four years we've been in continuous drought."
Mr. Muller was hopeful earlier in the year. Spring was cool and wet, and summer came early. But that hope went away when the rains did not come.
"Things looked phenomenal because of the mild weather and the showers we were able to catch, but then August 1st, it's like a blowtorch showed up."
High temperatures and lack of rain meant most crops did not grow. But that was not the case with mung beans. Mr. Muller says that crop did well because it can grow even when there is not much rain.
"When it started rain(ing), we jumped in and tried that crop and it was able to beat the heat of August and finish out and make a decent crop before it burned up in August."
Those kinds of crops help farmers survive. Irrigation can also help farms. Irrigation systems use water from underground when there is not enough rain. But crops like cotton are more valuable than mung beans, and it is those kinds of crops that are being hurt by the drought.
Clint Abernathy is a cotton farmer. He has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for machines to help him harvest his crop. He says he has not grown as much cotton in the past few years as he predicted.
"This year we did have enough rain in June and July to, to grow a crop that, that looks better -- it's, it's and it is better -- but this is ground that we normally would want to make three-bale-an-acre-plus on, and right now we're looking at probably a half to three-quarter (of a bale) cotton crop."
Mr. Abernathy says before drought struck the area, he grew much bigger plants, and each had more cotton on them.
"This is a stressed plant that did not produce what, what it had the potential to do."
He says insurance has helped provide money when his crops fail. But he says what farmers really need is more water and better prices for what they grow.
"Even with crop insurance we're still, we're goin' downhill, you know. Our, our insurance yields just keep goin' down every year. Prices of commodities -- all commodities except livestock -- they just keep goin' down."
Livestock prices dropped a few years ago. That is when the drought forced many ranchers to sell their livestock. But few farmers in the area have anything left to sell now, and that hurts the local economy. So farmers in southwestern Oklahoma are doing what farmers throughout the world have done for centuries: they are hoping for a better year, next year.
And that's the VOA Learning English Agriculture Report. I'm Caty Weaver.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.phenomenal adj. 现象的；显著的；异常的；能知觉的；惊人的，非凡的
Exports of Australian wine are growing at a phenomenal rate.
澳大利亚葡萄酒的出口正以惊人的速度增长。
2.blowtorch n. 喷灯，吹管
Aerogel, one of the world’s lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1, 300C.
气凝胶，地球上最轻的固体物质之一，能够承受一公斤烈性炸药爆炸的直接冲击，能够抵御喷灯产生的1300度以上的高温。
3.livestock n. 牲畜；家畜
The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.
大雨和洪水淹死了许多家畜。
内容解析
1."Things looked phenomenal because of the mild weather and the showers we were able to catch, but then August 1st, it's like a blowtorch showed up."
show up 露面；露出；揭露；使难堪
The orange colour shows up well against most backgrounds.
橙色在多数背景下都很能突显出来。
He wanted to teach her a lesson for showing him up in front of Leonov.
他因她在列昂诺夫面前使他难堪而想教训她一顿。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
美国南部的德克萨斯州和俄克拉荷马州的部分地区几年来一直严重干旱，大旱影响了棉花和谷物的生长。俄克拉荷马州州长说自2011年起该州就遭受20亿美元的农业损失，最近下了一些大雨，但对大多数农民来说雨水来得太晚了。
马特·穆勒是俄克拉荷马州的一名农民。
“直到2010年之前，我们的农业生产一直不错，2010年秋季开始几乎没有下雨，过去四年一直是干旱。”
今年早些时候穆勒还抱有希望，春天寒冷且湿润，夏天来得较早。但由于一直没有下雨，穆勒的希望就落空了。
“情况看起来不错，因为天气温和，还有下雨，但到了8月1日就出现了骄阳。”
高温且缺少雨水意味着大多数作物无法生长，但绿豆不是这样。穆勒说绿豆即使在雨水不足的环境下也能生长得不错。
“刚一下雨，我们就种下了绿豆。它能对付8月份的暑热，在被晒死之前就能有收获。”
这种作物帮助农民们存活了下来，灌溉也能帮助农场。在缺少足够的雨水时，灌溉系统使用地下水。但像棉花这样的作物比绿豆要脆弱，这类作物受到了干旱的打击。
克林特·阿伯内西是一位棉农，他花了数十万美元来买帮助他收获作物的机器。他说过去几年他种植的棉花没有预想的那么多。
“今年6月和7月份的雨水充足，这看起来很好。但是这块地一般能收获3大捆棉花，现在我们只能收获二分之一到四分之三捆的棉花。”
阿伯内西说在该地区干旱之前，他种植的是较大的棉花，每棵上面都结了很多棉花。
“这种作物受到干旱的影响，未能发挥出可能的潜力。”
他说当作物收成不佳时，保险公司能提供资金。但他说农民们真正需要的是更多的水和跟好的价格。
“即使是有了保险，我们仍在走下坡路。要知道，我们的保险收益每年都在下降，除了牲畜外所有商品的价格都在下降。”
几年前牲畜的价格下降了，当时干旱迫使很多牧民出售牲畜。但目前该地区还有东西可卖的牧民寥寥无几，这就影响了地方经济。所以俄克拉荷马州西南部的农民们开始像全世界农民们几百年来做的那样：他们希望明年能有个好收成。
这就是美国之音慢速英语农业报道，我是凯蒂·韦弗。
