(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
Tea farmers in Kenya are suffering because of low prices for their crop this year. So they have exchanged their tea bushes for a healthy new purple tea that they hope will sell for a higher price. But there may not be a demand for the new kind of tea.
Agricultural workers in green tea fields near Mt. Kenya are gathering the tea leaves. It is beautiful to see. The rows of tea bushes are straight. All appears to be well. But the farmers who planted the bushes are worried.
Nelson Kibara is one of them. He has been growing tea in the Kerugoya area for 40 years. He says the prices this year have been so low that he has made almost no profit. He says he must grow different kinds of tea if he is to survive.
Mr. Kibara and hundreds of other farmers have been removing some of their tea bushes and planting a new kind of tea developed by the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya. Its leaves are purple and brown. When the tea is boiled the drink has a purple color.
Medical researchers have studied the health benefits of the new tea. They say it is healthier than black tea and could be sold for a price that is three to four times higher than the price of black tea.
But Mr. Kibara says he has not received a higher price for his purple tea crop. He says the market for the tea is unstable. And he is often forced to sell his purple tea for the same price as green tea leaves. He says there are not enough buyers willing to pay more for the purple tea than black tea.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency(KTDA) represents small farmers. It says farmers have planted purple tea before a market has been created for it. Vincent Mwingirwa works at the agency.
"What has happened is that purple tea has been developed for the farm. Unfortunately, there was not concurrent research on the market for purple tea. So we are now in a scenario where some of our farmers have planted purple tea, but they do not know where to take it," said Mwingirwa.
Stephen Mutembei works at the Tea Research Foundation. He says farmers quickly changed from growing black tea to growing purple tea. But he also blames tea leaf processors for not making changes more quickly.
But Mr. Mutembei says purple tea is an important crop for the country and its tea farmers. He says Kenya needs to find new products like purple tea to help its tea industry become more stable. Tea is the country's top crop.
Mr. Mutembei says the country's economy is too closely linked to the changing price of black tea. He says tea buyers and drinkers must be persuaded that they should pay more for purple tea than black tea.
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.concurrent adj. 并发的；一致的；同时发生的 n. [数] 共点；同时发生的事件
Galerie St. Etienne is holding three concurrent exhibitions.
圣·艾蒂安美术馆在同时举办3场展览。
2.scenario n. 方案；情节；剧本
The conflict degenerating into civil war is everybody's nightmare scenario.
这场冲突恶化成内战成为每个人的恶梦。
内容解析
1.But he also blames tea leaf processors for not making changes more quickly.
blame for 责备；因……责备
They blamed him for the accident.
他们责备他出了事故。
Careless campers were blamed for starting the forest fires.
粗心大意的野营者应负引起森林火灾的责任。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
由于今年茶叶价格下跌，肯尼亚的茶农们遭受了损失，所以他们将茶树改成一种新型健康的紫茶，希望能卖个好价钱。但对这种新茶的需求并不高。
在肯尼亚山附近的绿茶园里，农业工人们正在采茶。景色看着很漂亮，一排排的茶树很笔直，都看起来不错，但种茶树的农民们很担心。
尼尔森·基巴拉就是其中一个，他在Kerugoya地区种茶40年类了，他说今年的茶叶价格很低，他根本没有收益，他说要想活下来，就必须种别的品种的茶树。
基巴拉和另外数百名农民一直在移除部分茶树，然后种上肯尼亚茶研究基地研发的一种新茶，其叶子是紫褐色，煮茶后水呈紫色。
医学研究者研究过这种新茶的健康益处，称它比红茶更健康，可以卖到黑茶三、四倍的价格。
但基巴拉说，他的紫茶尚未卖到更高价格，他说市场对这种茶的需求不稳定。他经常被迫以绿茶同样的价格卖出紫茶，他说没有多少顾客愿意为紫茶掏更高的价格。
肯尼亚茶叶开发局代表小农户，该机构称农民们是在紫茶市场尚未形成之时就种植了紫茶，文森特·文杰德瓦就职于该机构。
“紫茶是为农场开发的，不幸的是，没有同时对紫茶市场进行调查。所以目前的情况是，一些农民已经种了紫茶，但不知道市场在哪里。”
斯蒂芬·穆特贝就职于茶叶研究基金会，他说农民们很快从红茶改成紫茶，但他指责茶叶加工商未能快速加以改变。
但穆特贝说，紫茶对本国及其茶农来说是个重要的作物，他说肯尼亚需要找到像紫茶这样的新产品来帮助茶叶产业变得更稳定，茶是该国最重要的作物。
穆特贝说该国经济与红茶价格变化的关系过于密切，他说必须说服买茶者和饮茶者，让他们为紫茶付出更多钱。
这就是美国之音慢速英语农业报道，我是凯蒂·韦弗。
