VOA慢速英语2019 屋顶花园:造福人类与环境（在线收听）

Green Roofs Benefit People, Environment

Water is a necessity of life. Rain, especially, helps plants grow and stay green. But too much rain -- especially in cities -- can lead to flooding. That can cause waste water systems, like sewers, to overflow and send pollutants into rivers and other waterways. To fight the problem, several cities in the United States are starting programs like rooftop gardens.

水是生命的必需品。尤其是雨水，能够帮助植物生长和保持郁郁葱葱。但是过量的雨水——尤其是在城市——会引发洪水。这会导致污水系统，如下水道溢水并将污染物带入河流和其他水道中。为了解决这个问题，美国的几座城市开设了屋顶花园等项目。

A labor of love

爱心努力

A team at the University of the District of Columbia in the nation’s capital has created a garden on the top of one school building. The garden holds many kinds of plants to help absorb rainwater… and grow food at the same time.

美国华盛顿哥伦比亚特区大学的一个研究小组在某学校的楼顶建造了一座花园。这个花园种了很多植物来吸收雨水。同时还种植着粮食。

Architect David Bell has designed five “green roofs" for the university. He says he is excited about the project because “it meant doing something more than just dealing with storm water management.”

建筑师大卫·贝尔（David Bell）为校园设计了五个“绿色屋顶”。他说，他对这个项目感到兴奋，因为“这意味着要做的不仅仅是处理有关雨水的问题。”

“It took advantage of a resource above the city that you see all over where you have these flat roofs that aren’t doing anything and it really made it something that was about urban agriculture.”

“它利用了城市上空的资源，你会发现到处都是这种没有任何用途的平屋顶，它真正成为了城市农业的一部分。”

Rainwater is collected in large containers and sent through a system that waters the rooftop garden.

雨水被收集在一个庞大的容器内，并通过一个灌溉屋顶花园的系统输送出去。

The roof is filled with green life that appeals to insects.

屋顶花园生机盎然，吸引着各色昆虫。

Urban agriculture

城市农业

In cities, “you don't have that many spaces to choose from and so rooftops are just (unused) space,” says Caitlin Arlotta. She is a student in the school's Urban Agriculture program.

在城市，“你没有那么多的空间可以选择，所以屋顶只是（未开发的）空间，”凯特琳·阿洛塔（Caitlin Arlotta）说道。她是该校城市农业项目的一名学生。

The project is part of a research program to see which plants do well on rooftops. The researchers are looking at plants including strawberries, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

绿色屋顶项目是一项研究计划的一部分，目的是研究什么样的植物最适合屋顶环境。研究人员正在研究包括草莓、西红柿和红薯在内的植物。

“We have the same experiment running with tomatoes as we do with strawberries, so we’re doing variety trials and we're trying just to see which variety grows the best in a green roof setting.”

我们用西红柿和草莓做了同样的实验，所以我们在做品种试验，我们想看看哪个品种在绿色屋顶的环境下生长得最好。”

Community involvement

社区参与

The university also has other green spaces.

这所大学还建有其他绿地。

“We also have our own farm experiments,” Arlotta said. “Within each of those growing systems, we want to be able to tell people which sorts of these crops grow the best.”

阿洛塔说：“我们也有自己的农田实验”。“在这些生长环境中，我们希望能够告诉人们哪种作物生长得最好。”

One goal of the program is food justice; or in Arlotta’s words, “bringing fresh food into cities where you wouldn't necessarily have that access.”

这个项目的主要目标是实现“食品公平”；阿洛塔说：“城市中原本很难接触到新鲜食物，而绿色屋顶恰好能为城市带来新鲜农产品。”

And that includes produce that might be more recognizable to immigrant members of the community.

这也包括为社区中的移民们提供新鲜农产品。

“In the U.S., it may not seem very common to use hibiscus leaves and sweet potato leaves as food, but in many places around the world it is.”

阿洛塔说：“在美国，用芙蓉叶和红薯叶做食材似乎很少见，但在世界其他很多地方却习以为常。”

Surprisingly productive

成效显著

Sandy Farber Bandier helps run UDC’s Master Gardener program. It seeks to improve cities and make them beautiful by training people to become Master Gardeners.

桑迪·法伯·班迪尔（Sandy Farber Bandier）帮助运行哥伦比亚特区大学的园艺大师项目。该项目旨在通过培训人们成为园艺大师来改善环境，美化城市。

She says she’s been surprised by the garden’s output.

她说，她对屋顶花园的产量感到吃惊。

“My biggest surprise was that we produced 4,250 pounds of produce the first year and was able to disseminate that to people in need."

“我最惊讶的是，第一年我们生产了4250磅的农产品，并且能够将其分发给需要帮助的人。”

Spreading the wealth

分享收获

She likes being able to show people who live in D.C. and others beyond the nation's capital what -- and how -- food can be grown on a rooftop.

她喜欢向生活在华盛顿特区以及美国首都以外地区的人们展示，屋顶可以种植什么植物以及如何种植粮食。

“This is the future for food. What we have established here at this college is food hub concept of you grow it here, you prepare it in a commercial kitchen, you distribute through farmers markets, food trucks, and then you recycle.”

“这是食品的未来。我们在学院里建立了食品中心的概念，你在这里种植农产品，然后可以回家处理准备用于烹饪，当然你也可以把它们送入商业厨房，还可以通过农贸市场或是食品卡车分发这些食材，甚至也能回收利用。”

Words in This Story

rooftop – n. the top of a building

absorb – v. to soak up liquid

management - n. the skill of organizing people and events

advantage - n. something (such as a good position or condition) that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others

urban – adj. in a city area

access - v. a way of being able to use or get something

disseminate - v. to cause (something, such as information) to go to many people

distribute - v. to give away to people