(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
An evergreen tree is a Christmas tradition in many American homes. The tree is unusually a pine or fir dressed with lights and other colorful decorations.
Families might buy a cut tree or go to a tree farm and cut one down themselves. Some people bring a live tree in a pot into their home for the holidays and then put it back outdoors.
Some people rent a Christmas tree. Companies might bring the same live tree to the same family year after year. Or the tree might get planted in a park or someplace else where it could help the environment.
There are some trees that can be reused year after year because they are made of plastic or metal. Or, instead of a tree, some people have a small, sweet-smelling rosemary plant, cut to look like a little Christmas tree.
Another popular evergreen this time of year is the mistletoe plant. It has small white berries and leaves that feel like leather. The traditional Christmas mistletoe is native to Europe.
Ancient Druids believed mistletoe had magical powers. The plant can be found growing on apple trees, lindens, maples and poplars. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant. It connects itself to a tree and steals nutrients and water.
Today mistletoe is best known as an excuse to steal a kiss at a Christmas party. Kissing is a tradition if two people stand under mistletoe hung in a doorway.
Another plant that many people connect with Christmas is the poinsettia. Poinsettias are native to Mexico. They can be white or pink, but most are bright red. They are named after the first American ambassador to Mexico. Joel Poinsett liked them enough to send some back to the United States.
Babies or pets that chew on poinsettias might get sick. But experts say the plant is not as poisonous as some people think.
Like millions of other houses, the home of America's first president is decorated for Christmas. George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate is in Virginia.
Visitors can hear stories about what Christmas was like at Mount Vernon in the eighteenth century. The museum where visitors begin their tour is decorated with Christmas trees.
Yet Mount Vernon would not have had Christmas trees during the late seventeen hundreds, when Washington led the country. They did not become popular in the United States until the eighteen hundreds.
Visitors learn that in Washington's time, there was greenery inside the mansion, but that was probably the extent of the decorations.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. I'm Bob Doughty.
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.fir n. 冷杉；枞木
The box is made out of China fir wood.
这盒子是用杉木做成的。
2.mistletoe n. [中医] 槲寄生（一种常用作圣诞节室内悬挂的植物）
The mistletoe plant is a parasite on trees.
槲寄生是寄生于树上的植物。
3.parasitic adj. 寄生的（等于parasitical）
Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?
全球变暖将会意味着热带寄生虫病的传播吗？
4.poinsettia n. 一品红；猩猩木；圣诞红
Do you think we should get couple poinsettia for Christmas?
你觉得我们该不该买几盆圣诞红做耶诞节的装饰?
内容解析
1.The traditional Christmas mistletoe is native to Europe.
native to 原产自…；产自于…
The panda is native to West China.
熊猫产于中国西部。
The ability to swim is native to fish.
鱼生来就会游泳。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
冬青树是许多美国家庭的圣诞节传统，通常是松树或杉树，配有彩灯和其他彩色装饰品。
各家各户会买一棵砍下来的树，或者自己去农场砍一棵。有的人将活着的树种在花盆里搬回家供节日用，然后放回室外。
有的人租一棵圣诞树，公司会每年给一户人家送去同样的一棵树。或者将树种在公园里或其他能帮助美化环境的地方。
还有的树是塑料或金属做成的，所以可以一年年重复使用。或者有的人不用树，而是有一棵小而香的迷迭香，然后剪成小圣诞树的样子。
每年这个时候另一种流行的长青植物是槲寄生，它有小而白的浆果，叶子摸起来像羽毛。传统的圣诞槲寄生源自欧洲。
古人德鲁伊认为槲寄生有神奇的力量，在苹果树、菩提树、枫树和杨树上都能找到槲寄生。槲寄生是一种寄生植物，能将自己寄生到树上，然后吸食营养和水分。
如今众所周知槲寄生可以作为圣诞节聚会上偷吻的借口，两人站在门口挂着的槲寄生下就可接吻，这是个传统。
与圣诞节有关联的另一种植物是圣诞红，圣诞红源自墨西哥，有白色、粉色的，但大多数是亮红色。它们是以首位驻墨西哥的美国大使乔尔·波因塞特命名的，乔尔·波因塞特很喜欢这种植物，回美国时带了一些回去。
婴儿和宠物嚼食圣诞红会得名，但专家说这种植物并非像人们想的那么有毒性。
像数百万其他家庭一样，美国首位总统的住宅也为圣诞节进行了装饰。乔治·华盛顿故居弗农山庄位于弗吉尼亚州。
来访者可能听说过18世纪弗农山庄过圣诞节的故事，游客们从装饰着圣诞树的地方开始参观。
但在17世纪晚期华盛顿领导美国时，弗农山庄可能是没有圣诞树的。圣诞树是直到19世纪才在美国流行起来。
参观者了解到在华盛顿时期，山庄里有绿色植物，但装饰的程度可能也到此为止。
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道，我是鲍勃·多迪。
