VOA慢速英语 200707170041

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Heat and drought are threatening some of America's most productive¹ farmland.

The Department of Agriculture says an early summer heat wave across the West has increased demand for water to save dry crops. But in many areas, water supplies are limited. Water is also needed to fight wildfires in western states like California, Nevada and Washington.


An Alabama farmer holds corn from his farm damaged by drought

Temperatures have reached about thirty-eight degrees Celsius² recently in parts of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. The Agriculture Department says temperatures averaged several degrees above normal.

Some people in the West say they cannot remember a time with less rain in half a century. But drought conditions have been most severe in the South.

The northern part of Alabama is described as the driest in about one hundred years. With grasslands³ damaged, many farmers in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee have no hay to feed their cows. So they have sold up to half of their cattle early.

In southern Alabama and northern Tennessee, farmers also suffered through a dry period last year. Some were hoping for a big corn crop this year to sell for ethanol fuel. But the government says most of their crop is in poor or very poor condition.

Experts say soybeans and cotton look better -- but not very much. Federal officials have declared all counties in Alabama a drought disaster area. That means farmers can get low-cost emergency loans. But they are asking Congress for an additional seventeen million dollars in aid.

Ten million would go to drilling for water and regrowing pasture⁴ lands. The other money would go to cattle producers to help them recover their losses from selling early.

But drought is not the only weather problem right now for American agriculture. Recently, too much rain fell for some crops in the southeastern Plains. Heavy rain and flooding in the lowlands damaged wheat planted in the winter.

To the east, rains of twenty-five centimeters or more in areas struck the western Gulf⁵ of Mexico. The rains washed out fields and flooded lowlands.

But farmers welcomed heavy rainfall in early July from the Mississippi River Delta⁶ to the southern Atlantic coastal⁷ area. Farmers have also received some welcome rains along the Corn Belt. This area includes the Ohio Valley and parts of the Upper Midwest.

Summer crops in the Midwest have been mainly free of the drought suffered in other areas this summer.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

1 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。

2 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

3 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pasture   

n.牧场，牲畜饲养

参考例句：

• This is the place where they used to pasture.这就是他们过去经常放牧的地方。
• The boy got up very early every morning to pasture cattle.这男孩每天起得很早去放牛。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。