VOA慢速英语2009年-Agriculture Report - Watching Out for 'Wic

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Just because a plant looks nice does not mean you should eat it. Farmers learn this lesson tragically¹ sometimes when their animals feed on wild plants. In fact, some of the nicest looking plants in the world are best enjoyed from a distance.

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Belladonna

A good example is belladonna. A "bella donna" -- like in the Stevie Nicks song -- is a beautiful woman in Italian. The plant is also beautiful. It has flowers like stars and shiny berries that start out green and turn purple to black. But every part of it is poisonous. Other names for belladonna include devil's herb and deadly nightshade.

Yet just because something is dangerous does not always mean it is all bad. Belladonna and other poison plants have a long history of medical use.

The common or purple foxglove produces pretty flowers along a tall leafy stem² called a spike³. Foxglove can cause heart failure. Yet the plant is part of a group called Digitalis that is used in medicine to treat heart problems.

Plants with names like coast fiddleneck, common cocklebur, low larkspur and common groundsel all present risks to people or animals. Recently there was news that a shopper⁴ at a market in northern Germany found small amounts of groundsel in bags of mixed salad. The average person would probably not have recognized it, but this person knew about poisonous plants.

Many people happily recognize oleander. The evergreen⁵ shrub⁶ produces beautiful flowers -- white, red, pink and other colors. But officials in Southern California say someone recently poisoned more than twenty show horses by mixing oleander in their feed. Local newspapers say the horses have recovered.
　
Amy Stewart

Amy Stewart is a best selling author of books about the good and bad in nature. She lives in Northern California and raises a poison garden of her own. Her newest book is called "Wicked Plants." So which plant does she consider the deadliest of all?

AMY STEWART: "Tobacco has killed more people than any other plant I could find. I mean, ninety million people have died because of tobacco."

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with Faiza Elmasry. Transcripts⁷ and podcasts of our weekly reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty⁸.

1 tragically   

adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地

参考例句：

• Their daughter was tragically killed in a road accident. 他们的女儿不幸死于车祸。
• Her father died tragically in a car crash. 她父亲在一场车祸中惨死。

2 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

3 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

4 shopper   

n.购物者，顾客

参考例句：

• Hong Kong is a shopper's paradise.香港是购物者的天堂。
• She is one shopper who takes responsibility in bagging her own goods.她是一名承担责任把食品装进袋子的顾客。

5 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。

6 shrub   

n.灌木，灌木丛

参考例句：

• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
• Moving a shrub is best done in early spring.移植灌木最好是在初春的时候。

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

8 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。