VOA慢速英语2009-Agriculture Report - Not All Carrots Are Orange

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

We talked last week about growing beets¹. Today we have advice about growing another root vegetable, carrots. Carrots are easy to raise and easy to harvest. They taste good. And they contain a lot of carotene, which the body makes into vitamin² A.

When people think of carrots, they usually picture in their mind a vegetable that is long, thin and orange. But carrots come in many different sizes and shapes. And not all carrots are orange.

For example, Paris Market carrots are about five centimeters around. Imperator carrots are thin and about twenty-five centimeters long. And Belgian White carrots are, as their name suggests, white.

For the best results, carrots should be grown in sandy soil that does not hold water for a long time. The soil also should have no rocks.

To prepare your garden for carrots, dig³ up the soil, loosen⁴ it and turn it over. Then, mix in some plant material or animal fertilizer⁵.

Weather, soil conditions and age will affect the way carrots taste. Experts say warm days, cool nights and a medium soil temperature are the best conditions for growing carrots that taste great.

Carrots need time to develop their full sugar content. This gives them their taste. If they are harvested too early, they will not have enough sugar. But carrots loose their sweetness if you wait too long to pull them from the ground.

The best way to judge if a carrot is ready to be harvested is by its color. Usually, the brighter the color, the better the taste.

Many people do not know that carrots can be grown during the winter months. If the winter is not cold enough to freeze the ground, you can grow and harvest carrots the same way as during the summer months.

If the ground does freeze in your part of the world, simply cover your carrot garden with a thick layer of leaves or straw⁶. This will prevent the ground from freezing. You can remove the ground cover and harvest the carrots as they are needed.

Carrots are one of the world's most popular vegetables. They can be cooked and prepared many different ways. Or, once they are washed, they can be eaten just as they come out of the ground.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. For more agricultural⁷ advice, go to voaspecialenglish.com for transcripts⁸, MP3s and podcasts of our reports. And our e-mail address is [email protected]. I'm Jim Tedder⁹.

1 beets   

甜菜( beet的名词复数 )； 甜菜根； （因愤怒、难堪或觉得热而）脸红

参考例句：

• Beets are Hank's favorite vegetable. 甜菜根是汉克最爱吃的蔬菜。
• In this enlargement, barley, alfalfa, and sugar beets can be differentiated. 在这张放大的照片上，大麦，苜蓿和甜菜都能被区分开。

2 vitamin   

n.维他命，维生素

参考例句：

• Oranges are rich in vitamin C.橙子富含维生素C。
• Vitamin pills make up what you lack in your diet.维生素丸可补充你食物中所缺乏的营养。

3 dig   

v.挖（洞，沟等）；掘

参考例句：

• It is difficult to dig the ground when it is frozen.地面冻住了就不易挖掘。
• In those days we often went to dig for wild vegetables.那时候我们常常出去挖野菜。

4 loosen   

vt.放松，松开，解除（便秘等），放宽；vi.变松，松弛

参考例句：

• I must take some exercise and loosen up my muscles.我必须活动活动使肌肉放松些。
• The medicine may loosen your cough.这种药能减轻你的咳嗽。

5 fertilizer   

n.肥料，化肥

参考例句：

• Fertilizer enriches the soil.肥料使土壤肥沃。
• Get some more fertilizer for the garden.给花园再多施些肥料。

6 straw   

n.稻草，麦杆，吸管；adj.用稻草做的，用来作稻草的，麦杆色的，无价值的，象稻草人的，非正式民意测验所发现的

参考例句：

• The old peasant is twisting pieces of straw into a rope.这位老农民正把稻草搓成绳子。
• May I have a straw for my drink?给我一根喝饮料的吸管好吗？

7 agricultural   

adj.农业的；农艺的

参考例句：

• He was trained for gardening at the Agricultural College.他在农业大学学园艺。
• France once was an agricultural country.法国曾是个农业国。

8 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

9 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