VOA慢速英语2012 Agriculture Report - Growing a Farm With Crowd-Sourced Money

 

Agriculture Report - Growing a Farm With Crowd-Sourced Money

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Kickstarter is a website where people give money to support creative projects. It started in two thousand nine, mostly to help artists and musicians. Now, inventors, people starting businesses and a growing number of farmers are raising money on this site for crowd-sourced funding.

Josh Brill and Meadow¹ Squire² grow vegetables and rice in Tinmouth, a town in the northeastern state of Vermont. Last year they used Kickstarter to raise more than six thousand dollars to increase their rice production.

JOSH AND MEADOW BRILL: "Hi, I'm Josh, and I'm Meadow -- and we want to grow you rice! [Dog bark]"

Seventy-six people watched the couple's six-minute video and believed enough in their dream to send them money.

Another farmer in Vermont, Scott Nelson, raised almost nine thousand dollars. He wanted to document the growth and development of his farm to teach others who are interested in organic farming, as a video explained.

VIDEO: "At the end of the season, we will compile³ it all into a film documentary⁴."

Bigger ideas have raised much more for some farmers among the projects on Kickstarter. In all, on a recent day, there were forty-five hundred creative projects seeking money on the site. Site officials reported three million dollars in weekly pledges⁶.

To raise money on Kickstarter, people need to think of a project with a clear goal. Then they need to get the project approved by the site. Many project creators make a video to explain what their project is and why people should support it.

Projects have a time limit, generally about thirty days, to meet their funding goal. Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding method. Projects do not get any money unless they meet their goal. Kickstarter gets five percent of the money raised, but only if the goal is met. Amazon.com takes another three to five percent for credit card processing fees.

To get people to pledge⁵ money, projects also include a list of thank-you gifts for different levels of support. Josh Brill and Meadow Squire gave supporters rice, seeds and, for fun, "good karma" points. They say they are happy with their experience using the site to raise money for their new rice paddies.

JOSH BRILL: "One of the key things that Kickstarter allowed us to do was reach out -- having the video online and being able to link with Facebook."

MEADOW SQUIRE: "It really was free advertising⁷ for us -- you know, so many people now know we're growing rice and they know more about our farming practices because we do a lot of alternative agricultural practices. And there's already so much anticipation⁸ about the rice coming that we would not have had if we just had gotten a loan from a bank."

Josh Brill says one promise of money came all the way from New Zealand.

JOSH BRILL: "When someone is willing to put up their money for your farm, that means something. It's like you would feel bad if you couldn't succeed for them."

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. You can read, listen and learn English with our stories at www.voanews.cn. I'm Christopher Cruise⁹.

1 meadow   

n.草地，牧草地

参考例句：

• The children ran free across the meadow.孩子们在草地里自由地奔跑。
• The meadow is peopled with wild flowers.草地长满了野花。

2 squire   

n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅

参考例句：

• I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.我告诉他乡绅是世界上最宽宏大量的人。
• The squire was hard at work at Bristol.乡绅在布里斯托尔热衷于他的工作。

3 compile   

vt.编辑，编制，搜集

参考例句：

• It takes years of hard work to compile a good dictionary.编辑一部好词典需要数年的艰苦工作。
• In order to compile the military history,he has read many materials.他为了编写军史而查阅了很多材料。

4 documentary   

adj.文献的；n.纪录片

参考例句：

• This case lacked documentary proof.本案缺少书面证据。
• I watched a documentary on the Civil War.我看了一部关于内战的纪录片。

5 pledge   

n.保证，誓言，抵押，抵押品；vt.保证，誓言，举杯祝...健康

参考例句：

• Take this ring as a pledge of our friendship.收下这枚戒指当作我们友谊的信物。
• The old man is willing to pledge for him.那位老人愿意为他担保。

6 pledges   

保证( pledge的名词复数 )； 抵押； 信物； 保人

参考例句：

• Although they had not made love, they had secretly exchanged solemn vows and pledges, bearing their hearts to each other. 虽未成双，却也海誓山盟，私传表记，已有无限的风情了。
• Philip pledges support and offers to help in any way that he can. 菲利普保证给予支持，并主动提出尽其所能提供帮助。

7 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

8 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

9 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。