VOA慢速英语2009年-Agriculture Report - Officials in US L

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Last week our subject was illegal fishing. Now we report on two cases where fish are both the victims and the offenders¹.

The first involves two kinds of Asian carp, bighead and silver. They can grow more than a meter long and weigh up to forty-five kilos. They eat huge amounts of plankton² that other fish need to survive. Silver carp can also jump high and hit boaters.

A silver carp

Asian carp were brought to the United States in the nineteen seventies as a solution. They were imported to eat algae³ and other microscopic⁴ organisms. They were put to work as cleaners at fish farms along the Mississippi River and in wastewater treatment systems.

But now the fish are moving north toward the Great Lakes. They are making their way up a system built years ago to link the Mississippi to Lake Michigan.

The dangers of an invasion are environmental and economic. The destructive carp could spread within the Great Lakes and threaten fishing and trade.

The Army Corps⁵ of Engineers has put an electric fence in the Chicago Sanitary⁶ and Ship Canal. The underwater barrier is meant to shock the carp into turning back. Only one Asian carp was found among many thousands of fish killed with poison while part of the fence was being serviced.

The barrier, however, may not be enough to protect the Great Lakes. There are calls in Congress for emergency action. Officials could close shipping⁷ connections between Lake Michigan and the upper Mississippi River system. But there are no decisions yet.

So that is the situation in the Midwest. Farther west, the problem is with common carp. Officials in Utah want to remove around three-fourths of the carp from Utah Lake. The lake, near the city of Provo, is the largest natural body of freshwater in the state.

The state wants to remove millions of carp to protect an endangered species native only to Utah Lake, the June sucker fish. The carp eat plants that the suckers use as hiding places.

Carp were first put into the lake in the eighteen eighties as a food source. Now there are so many, experts say up to twenty metric tons a day could be removed with nets over a period of several years.

But officials are fishing for ideas about what to do with all those fish, which could get pretty smelly. Ideas include using them to fill land or making them into liquid fertilizer or letting people eat them.

You can share your own suggestions at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Jim Tedder⁸.
 

1 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

2 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

3 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

4 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

5 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

7 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

8 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网