VOA慢速英语 2007 1225a

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. 

December twenty-fifth is Christmas.  The holiday has many traditions.  Some special trees and plants are part of the Christmas tradition.

One of the most popular is the evergreen¹ tree.  It is usually a pine or a fir.  It remains² green during the cold, dark months of winter in the northern part of the world. Many people buy an evergreen tree for Christmas. They put it in their house and hang small lights and colorful objects on its branches.  Some people buy living trees and plant them after the Christmas holiday. Others cut down a tree or buy a cut tree.

Another popular evergreen plant is mistletoe.  It has small white berries and leaves that feel like leather. The traditional Christmas mistletoe is native to Europe. Mistletoe is a parasite³ plant.  It grows by connecting itself to a tree and stealing the tree's food and water.  It can be found on apple trees, lindens, maples⁴ and poplars. Priests of the Druid religion of ancient Britain and France believed mistletoe had magical powers.  Today, some people hang mistletoe in a doorway⁵ at Christmas time.  If you meet someone under the mistletoe, tradition gives you permission to kiss that person.

 
Poinsettia
One of the most popular plants at Christmas is the poinsettia. These plants are valued for their colorful bracts, which look like leaves. Most poinsettias are bright red.  But they also can be white or pink. Poinsettias are native to Mexico.  They are named after America's first ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett.  He liked the plant and sent some back to the United States.  Many people believe that poinsettias are poisonous. But researchers say this is not true.  They say the milky⁶ liquid in the plant's stem can cause a person's skin to become red.  If children or animals eat the leaves they may become sick, but they will not die.

Two thick, sticky substances from trees have been part of Christmas from the beginning.  They are frankincense and myrrh. Both have powerful, pleasant smells.  Tradition says three wise men carried them as gifts to the Christ child in Bethlehem.

Finally, there are several herbs used in Christmas foods, drinks and decorations.  One is sage⁷.  Its leaves are cooked with turkey or goose.  And sweet-smelling rosemary plants are hung on doors or cut to look like little Christmas trees.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.  We wish all of our listeners happy holidays.  I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

4 maples   

槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木

参考例句：

• There are many maples in the park. 公园里有好多枫树。
• The wind of the autumn colour the maples carmine . 秋风给枫林涂抹胭红。

5 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

6 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

7 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。