(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
Rivers in northwestern Bangladesh rise sharply during the rainy season causing months of flooding on farms and villages. This hurts the rural poor who depend on agriculture to survive. When the floods cover their lands they cannot grow crops or raise animals. But local farmers may have found a way to deal with the seasonal weather. Some are building small farms that float on top of the floodwaters.
Hafiza Khatun is gathering eggs from the ducks that live in what is called a "coop" on her floating farm. The farm is made of bamboo plants and empty oil containers, or drums. It is attached to the bank of a river near the village of Charbhangura. Women also raise fish and vegetables on the floating farm.
25-year-old Hafiza Khatun could not earn money during the rainy season before she had her floating farm. Ms. Khatun has two small children. She does not have any education. Her husband is an agricultural worker. But he does not work when monsoon rains fall from July to October. During that time, the Gurmani river rises at least three meters.
Three years ago, a Bangladeshi non-profit organization called Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha brought small floating farms to the village. The farms are 17 meters long and almost five meters wide. They are made of both recycled and local materials.
Long bamboo rails create places to raise fish in nets. Vegetables such as gourds and beans are grown in plastic containers filled with soil. Shidhulai pays the cost of making the farm.
For Ms. Khatun and other villagers, life is difficult during the flood season.
Ms. Khatun says when the water comes, her house goes underwater. There is no place to go, no place to stay, she says. There is water everywhere.
But now she can grow food on the floating farm and earn money from selling some of it. Five to ten women work on one farm. Depending on the size of the farm, together they can earn about $1,700 a year. That amount of money can buy a lot of food in rural Bangladesh.
Ms. Khatun also rented land with the money she earned. She grows sugar cane on the land. Her family is saving money in a bank for the first time.
Mohammed Rezwan started Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha in 1998 to create schools on boats. The school boats let poor children continue their education even when flood waters block the roads they use to get to their school. Four years ago, he created floating farms so people can still earn money and feed themselves during flood season.
Bangladesh is close to sea level, which means it is greatly affected by climate change that causes flooding and rising sea waters. The difficulties of making money in the rainy seasons often lead rural people to move to cities in Bangladesh. Most cities are very crowded.
Bangladesh is one of the world's most densely populated countries. There are 156 million people in an area that measures 144,000 square kilometers. That is about half as many people who live in the United States. But that country measures about 9.9 million square kilometers.
Mr. Rezwan says there is great demand for answers for areas affected by climate change.
"Bangladesh is on the front line of climate change. We have hundreds of rivers in the country. So this project has big potential to be scaled up in the country and other developing countries, particularly the countries that will be affected by climate change."
Shidhulai has created 40 floating farms that help about 300 women and their families. Mr. Rezwan wants to create 400 more farms in the next few years. He believes the floating farm idea can be used in other developing countries.
"We hope that the idea of on water farming will be replicated in other settings. It helps people adapt to changing climates. It creates jobs. It ensures food security and helps the whole family to adapt to the climate change."
School boats are being used in several other countries, including the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nigeria and Zambia. The group's floating schools have helped more than 70,000 children in northwest Bangladesh go to classes since 2002.
And that's the VOA Learning English Agriculture Report. For more agriculture and environment stories, go to our website: learningenglish.voanews.com.
I'm Marsha James.
词汇解释
1.monsoon n. 季风；（印度等地的）雨季；季候风
In Bangladesh, the monsoons have started.
在孟加拉国，雨季已经开始。
2.block n. 块；街区；大厦；障碍物 vt. 阻止；阻塞；限制 adj. 成批的，大块的；交通堵塞的
Some students today blocked a main road that cuts through the centre of the city.
一些学生今天封锁了穿过市中心的公路。
3.replicate vt. 复制；折叠 vi. 重复；折转 adj. 复制的；折叠的
He invited her to his laboratory to see if she could replicate the experiment.
他邀请她到他的实验室看她能否复制该实验。
内容解析
1.So this project has big potential to be scaled up in the country and other developing countries, particularly the countries that will be affected by climate change.
scale up 按比例放大；按比例增加
We've scaled up production to meet demand.
我们已经扩大了生产以满足需求。
All prices were scaled up ( by ) 10 per cent.
所有价格依比例增加百分之十。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
孟加拉国西北部的河流在雨季高涨，导致农场和村庄被大水淹了数月。这就令依靠农业过活的农村穷人受损，洪水淹没了土地，他们无法种植作物或饲养牲畜。不过当地农民想到对付这种季节性天气的办法，有的在洪水上建造漂浮的小农场。
哈弗莎·可敦正在收集鸭蛋，这些鸭子生活在她的水上农场的笼子里。这个农场是由竹子和空油桶制作的，然后被绑在Charbhangura村附近的河岸上，妇女们还在漂浮农场上养鱼和种菜。
在建造这个漂浮农场之前，25岁的可敦无法在雨季赚到钱。她有两个小孩子，她本人没有接受过教育，她丈夫是个农业工人。但他从7月到10月的雨季不能工作，在此期间，Gurmani河至少上涨了3米。
三年前，孟加拉国一个名叫Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha的非盈利组织给这个村庄带来了漂浮小农场，这些农场有17米长，近5米宽，是由回收材料和当地材料制成。
长竹竿围成的网箱可以用来养鱼，瓜类和豆类等蔬菜种在装满土壤的塑料容器里，该组织支付制造农场的费用。
对可敦和其他村民来说，雨季的生活是艰难的。
可敦说洪水来时，她的房子被淹没，没有地方可去，没有地方住，到处都是水。
不过现在她可以在漂浮农场上种食物了，还能卖些东西来赚钱。5到10个妇女在一个农场工作，根据农场的规模，她们每年总共能赚大约1700美元，在孟加拉国农村，这么多钱可以买很多食物了。
可敦还用赚的钱租了土地，她在土地上种植甘蔗，她家人第一次在银行里存钱。
默罕默德·瑞兹万1998年创建了Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha组织来建造船上的学校，这种水上学校让穷人家的孩子能继续接受教育，即使洪水淹没了上学的道路。4年前，他创建了漂浮农场，这样人们在洪水季节仍能赚钱养活自己。
孟加拉国的海拔很接近海平面，这意味着该国受到气候的很大影响，这种气候能导致洪灾和海平面上升。由于雨季挣钱很难，很多农村居民都搬到孟加拉国的城市，大多数城市都很拥挤。
孟加拉国是全世界人口最稠密的国家之一，在14.4万平方公里的土地上，生活着1.56亿人，相当于美国人口的一半，但是美国的面积为990万平方公里。
瑞兹万说，受气候变化影响的地区急需解决办法。
“孟加拉国处于气候变化的前线，我们国家有几百条河流，所以在本国和其他发展中国家，尤其是将受气候变化影响的国家，该项目有扩展的巨大空间。”
Shidhulai组织建造了40个漂浮农场，帮助300名妇女和她们的家人。瑞兹万希望在未来几年建造400多个，他认为这种漂浮农场的理念也能用到其他发展中国家。
“我们希望水上农场这一理念能在其他环境下得到复制，它能帮助人们应对气候变化，能创造就业，能确保粮食安全，还能帮助整个家庭应对气候变化。”
其他几个国家也在使用水上学校，包括菲律宾、柬埔寨、越南、尼日利亚和赞比亚，自2002年以来，该组织的水上学校让孟加拉国西北部的7万多名学生接受了教育。
这就是美国之音慢速英语教育报道，登陆learningenglish.voanews.com获得更多农业和环境报道。
我是玛莎·詹姆斯。
