[00:04.88]Lesson 93 1 Dialogue
[00:10.63]Dick lives in the west of England.He is a farmer.
[00:15.91]He is always busy with his farm work.
[00:19.96]Today he is working in the fields with Tim,who's helping him.
[00:25.81]It's a beautiful day today.
[00:29.28]Yes.Did you listen to the weather report on the radio?
[00:34.53]Yes,it's going to be dry and sunny for the next two days.
[00:40.78]That's good.I think I'll sow my carrot seed tomorrow.
[00:46.52]What's the weather going to be like at the weekend?
[00:51.17]They say it's going to be wet and windy.
[00:56.03]Then we'd better pick the rest of these cabbages before the weather changes.
[01:02.59]Lesson 94 Reading
[01:14.14]Read the title and the first sentence of each paragraph
[01:19.18]to find out what the passage is about.
[01:23.62]Then close your books and tell the rest of the class.
[01:28.79]A FARMING PIONEER (1)
[01:33.54]China was one of the first countries in the world to study the science of farming.
[01:40.21]It was the earliest research centre for agriculture.
[01:45.46]While people in other countries in the world were trying to catch wild animals
[01:51.52]and birds and were still collecting seeds and nuts,
[01:57.26]farmers in China were developing the science of agriculture.
[02:02.62]One of the pioneers of farming was Jia Sixie,who lived in the sixth century AD
[02:10.48]He was born in Yidu,in Shandong Province and worked in Gaoyang,
[02:16.83]which is also in Shandong.
[02:20.28]For many years he worked in the government.
[02:24.35]Then he returned home and spent his time on research into agriculture.
[02:30.60]He collected information,studied it,
[02:34.75]did experiments and learnt from the experiences of farmers.
[02:40.71]He studied ways of keeping seeds.
[02:45.38]He advised farmers to choose the best seed-heads,
[02:50.24]the ones that had the best colour.
[02:53.90]Then he said that they should be hung up to dry.
[02:58.44]In the following spring,
[03:02.00]the seeds should be knocked out of the seed-heads and sown.
[03:07.45]He studied how to improve soil conditions.
[03:11.92]He learnt how to clean rough ground before planting crops.
[03:17.17]He pointed out that it was important to remove weeds
[03:22.03]before sowing seed in the soil.
[03:26.16]He advised farmers first to let sheep or cows walk on the land.
[03:32.92]The animals would then destroy the weeds or eat them.
[03:38.25]The soil should also be turned over with a fork
[03:42.64]so that the weeds would be destroyed.
[03:46.77]He also said it was important to plant wheat close together.
[03:52.41]Other scientists
[03:56.07]had said that wheat should be planted with space between the plants.
[04:01.53]However,Jia Sixie did experiments and showed that his way was better.
[04:08.08]He wrote a book called QiMinYaoShu during the years 533--544.
[04:16.94]The book,which has 110,000 characters,is about both farming and gardening.
[04:25.09]It includes advice on the following subjects:
[04:29.53]growing green vegetables and fruit trees,keeping cows and sheep,
[04:35.77]and keeping fish in lakes.
[04:39.85]There are also instructions for making wine.
[04:44.21]This book was considered to be an important summary of the knowledge of farming.
[04:51.29]For centuries after Jia Sixie died,
[04:56.15]it was studied by Chinese farmers and students of farming.
[05:02.08]Lesson 95 1 Reading
[05:13.23]A FARMING PIONEER (2)
[05:17.99]Here are five pieces of advice collected from Jia Sixie's book Qi Min Yao Shu:
[05:28.75]1.Do things at the right time of year.
[05:34.03]If you sow seed and grow young plants in the fields at the correct time of year,
[05:40.98]your work will be less and the results will be better.
[05:46.54]But if you go against nature and do things at the wrong time of year,
[05:53.59]you will have to do more work and the results will not be so good.
[05:59.37]2.Examine the soil on your farm carefully.
[06:05.82]If the condition of the soil is not good,you should improve it.
[06:11.15]3.When you plough the soil,
[06:16.01]plough deeply the first time and less deeply the second time.
[06:21.78]So the autumn ploughing should be deeper than the spring ploughing.
[06:27.13]4.Change the crops in your fields.
[06:32.59]Do not plant,for example,rice year after year in the same field.
[06:38.84]But if you plant rice in a field one year and wheat in the field the next year,
[06:45.50]you will harvest good crops.
[06:49.47]5.Grow different plants next to each other in the same field |