美国国家公共电台 NPR As Wildfires Rage, Smoke Chokes Out Farmworkers And Delays Some Crops

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This summer, smoke from wildfires has blanketed much of the West for days, even weeks. And that smoke has come in between the sun and ripening¹ crops, which has become a worry for farmers. The Northwest News Network's Anna King reports from Washington state.

ANNA KING, BYLINE²: On Mike Pink's farm at dawn, the sun is an angry red ball low in the sky. Farmer Pink watches as his year's work tumbles onto a fast-moving belt into a waiting semi-truck. He's got most of his potato fields yet to harvest, and this smoke makes him nervous.

MIKE PINK: When we're not getting the sunlight like that, the plants aren't growing, and they're just kind of sitting there, doing nothing. And every day that goes by, we lose a day of growth.

KING: Lost sunlight and too much heat lately means his french fry potato crops aren't gaining precious tons. He estimates one week of smoke will cost him around $34,000 for just one of his many fields.

PINK: A couple hundred dollars - $300, $400 an acre that just goes away might be your profit for the year. And when you don't get that profit, I mean, there's always still bills to pay, and so it makes things tough.

KING: At a nearby farm, Alan Schreiber says he's been having to send his 30 workers home around noon. They're wearing masks, but even with them on, the smoke is making people sick with tight chests, itchy eyes and dry throats.

ALAN SCHREIBER: Right now, we're doing a lot of picking. We pick melons and eggplant and peppers and tomatoes. And a tomato's not very heavy, but a five-gallon bucket or a 35-pound crate³ is heavy, and it's aerobic⁴, and we just felt it wasn't safe for them to be out here - period.

KING: The few remaining masked farm workers are washing squeaky bell peppers and boxing them to ship. Schreiber says he's got a labor⁵ shortage now, but this smoke is further complicating⁶ life by delaying harvest on those perishable⁷ peppers and melons.

SCHREIBER: The same is true for tomatoes. If we're out because of smoke one more day, we will be picking crops and throwing them on the ground because of quality issues.

KING: Schreiber says that translates into real money. He just got two pallets of melons rejected because they were too ripe. That's more than $1,400 lost, with many pallets yet to go.

About an hour away in Prosser, Wash., wine grape scientists are trying to figure out what the smoke means long term for this lucrative⁸ northwest crop. In the smoky haze⁹, two postdocs work in a Washington State University experimental vineyard, taking light readings with a sophisticated machine.

ESTHER HERNANDEZ MONTES: The lighting¹⁰ density¹¹ now is 490.

KING: Their supervisor¹² Markus Keller says what his team has found so far is that the smoke particles diffuse¹³ and scatter¹⁴ the light like a photography softbox, lighting and ripening the grapes from all sides at once.

MARKUS KELLER: You can see that the shadows on the floor are very mild right now. If the sun was really strong, they would be almost black.

KING: They keep ripening and sunburn on the fruit is reduced. The only problem - those smoke compounds can get into the leaves and grapes, creating a smoky flavor that's pretty undrinkable. As wildfire smoke becomes more common in the West with climate change, smoke may become a farmer's dependable fifth season.

For NPR News, I'm Anna King outside of Prosser, Wash.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOONCAKE'S "MANDARIN")

1 ripening   

v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成

参考例句：

• The corn is blossoming [ripening]. 玉米正在开花[成熟]。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• When the summer crop is ripening, the autumn crop has to be sowed. 夏季作物成熟时，就得播种秋季作物。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 crate   

vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱

参考例句：

• We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
• The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。

4 aerobic   

adj.需氧的，增氧健身法的，有氧的

参考例句：

• Aerobic exercise helps to build up stamina.有氧健身操有助于增强耐力。
• Aerobic dance is conductive to the health.有氧舞蹈有助于健康。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

7 perishable   

adj.（尤指食物）易腐的，易坏的

参考例句：

• Many fresh foods are highly perishable.许多新鲜食物都极易腐败。
• Fruits are perishable in transit.水果在运送时容易腐烂。

8 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

9 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

10 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

11 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

12 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

13 diffuse   

v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的

参考例句：

• Direct light is better for reading than diffuse light.直射光比漫射光更有利于阅读。
• His talk was so diffuse that I missed his point.他的谈话漫无边际，我抓不住他的要点。

14 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。