美国国家公共电台 NPR Your Dilapidated Barn Is Super Trendy. Just Ask HGTV

Your Dilapidated Barn Is Super Trendy. Just Ask HGTV 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0003:51repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: 

Reclaimed² barnwood - it's big these days. The business of deconstructing old barns and selling the wood for fancy, new homes and condos is booming. Kristofor Husted, of member station KBIA in Missouri, reports that trend has a secondary effect.

KRISTOFOR HUSTED, BYLINE³: Drive anywhere out in the country, and you're likely to see lots of old, wooden barns, empty and crumbling⁴ in place. For most farmers, these barns have lost their function. But for contractors⁵ and designers, there is some stuff worth salvaging⁶. Old barnwood is so hot right now that it has its own show.

MARK BOWE: My name is Mark Bowe. And I'm the host of the DIY show "Barnwood Builders."

HUSTED: Bowe takes old barns apart for customers willing to pay top dollar for the wood, turning barn siding into brewery⁷ bars or restaurant tables.

BOWE: Most people want the accent pieces, you know? They want to have those pretty beams in the ceiling or they want to have, you know, the barnwood walls or the tables and the furniture.

HUSTED: Bowe says we're in the midst of a barnwood frenzy⁸ right now, but it can't go on forever. And every barn that's torn down, changes America's farm landscape. Danae Peckler is an architectural historian with the National Barn Alliance. She says these barns tell stories.

DANAE PECKLER: Preservation⁹, in the past, has really sought to preserve the great, grand mansions¹⁰ of important white men. But we are so far beyond that, now, as a discipline. And we start to look at average, individual landscapes that really tell the American story, and the farm is one of those.

HUSTED: Peckler hopes people at least take time to document their barn's history before razing¹¹ it.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Singing) It's a beautiful morning.

HUSTED: Workers are taking down Larry Gerdes' barn today in central Missouri. It's about the size of a three-car garage, but stands much taller. Its exterior¹² is gray, and there's a gaping¹³ hole looking out from the hayloft. Gerdes figures the barn is about a century old and would cost him tens of thousands of dollars to fix up.

LARRY GERDES: It doesn't fit into the modern farming, unless you got two cows to let them loaf inside. Nothing fits, and it's just obsolete¹⁴.

HUSTED: So Gerdes hired Mike Hudson who deconstructs dilapidated barns for a living and sells the salvage¹⁵ to homeowners. And while he's taking down the Gerdes barn for free today, he sometimes has to pay for the privilege.

MIKE HUDSON: These were built with a lot of two-by-sixes, a lot of two-by-fours. Everything is rough sawn for the roof, truss. And that all looks to be oak.

HUSTED: Hudson says it costs him about $500 a day to pull apart a barn by hand using nothing but hammers and crowbars. Even this small barn will take two weeks. He'll sell the wood for between five to $10 a square foot, depending on species, size and condition - black walnut¹⁶ fetches the highest price. Once the wood is sold, Hudson might earn a few thousand dollars profit. He says he respects the craft and history of old barns. And he takes pains to photograph each one.

HUDSON: That's the thing that we take into consideration when we come in because we're just as passionate¹⁷ about bringing it down properly, respectfully, as the pioneers were back then to build it.

HUSTED: Hudson says only a few years ago, most farmers didn't understand the value of their own barns. Today, they know the dilapidated structure taking up space on their farm is worth something to people who cherish old wood and want a piece of Americana. For NPR News, I'm Kristofor Husted in Columbia, Mo.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MONTAGNE: And that story comes to us from Harvest Public Media, a public radio reporting project that focuses on agriculture and food production issues.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

5 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 salvaging   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的现在分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• A shipping company has made a claim for the cost of salvaging a sunken ship. 某轮船公司要求赔赏打捞沉船的费用。（make a claim 要求）
• It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has made a claim for the cost of salvaging a sunken ship. 航运公司为打捞沉船的费用而提出要求，这并非奇闻。

7 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

8 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

9 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

10 mansions   

n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fifth Avenue was boarded up where the rich had deserted their mansions. 第五大道上的富翁们已经出去避暑，空出的宅第都已锁好了门窗，钉上了木板。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Oh, the mansions, the lights, the perfume, the loaded boudoirs and tables! 啊，那些高楼大厦、华灯、香水、藏金收银的闺房还有摆满山珍海味的餐桌！ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

11 razing   

v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Years of war culminated in nothing less than a brutal razing of the city. 经年的战争给这座城市带来的不亚于灭顶之灾。 来自互联网

12 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

13 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

15 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

16 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

17 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。