VOA慢速英语20060815a

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Indian Ban on Lentil Exports Causes Price JumpBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, August 15, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.


Classic lentils, left, and red lentils

Staple¹ crops provide foods that are an important part of the diet. For example, rice is a staple crop in much of Asia. An Eastern European staple is the potato. The lentil is just such a crop for many South Asians.

The lentil plant is known for its seeds, which grow inside a protective covering, or pod. Lentils, or dal, are extremely important to Indian cooking. Soups and other foods are made with dal.

In the United States, prices for Indian lentils have increased by one hundred percent or more in recent months. Some stores sold all their lentils and have been unable to get more.

A poor harvest has been blamed for the shortage² of dal in India. Reports say people started to hold back supplies. Recently, the Associated Press reported that prices for things like lentils and sugar rose more than twenty percent in India.

Rising prices caused the Indian government to ban exports of lentils in June. India is not expected to end the ban until next year.

India's effort to control inflation³ has not only led to high prices in the United States. Reports from Bangladesh say that country is also experiencing higher prices for lentils. Many South Asian communities around the world also have been affected⁴.

India and Canada are the world's biggest producers of lentils. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations says India produced about one million metric tons last year. But Indian farmers grow many different kinds that are not grown in other countries. That is why many people of Indian ancestry⁵ want to cook with Indian dal instead of other lentils.

People have grown lentils for more than five thousand years. The plant is probably native to southwest Asia and then spread to Egypt and East Asia.

Lentils are a very healthy food. They contain up to twenty-five percent protein. Because of this, they are extremely important in cultures that do not eat meat. Lentils are also good for the soil. Their roots are home to bacteria that put nitrogen, an important plant food, into the soil.

In India, lentils are usually planted in November. After harvest, the lentil plant makes excellent fertilizer. Often, other crops are planted on the same fields as part of a crop rotation⁶.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts⁷ and archives of our reports are at www.unsv.com. To send us e-mail, write to [email protected]. I'm Shep O'Neal.

1 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

2 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

3 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

6 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

7 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句