VOA慢速英语2014 学着在乌干达种植传统食物

 

AS IT IS 2014-08-20 Learning¹ to Grow Traditional Foods in Uganda 学着在乌干达种植传统食物

The Slow Food movement is growing in most of the western world. The movement supports small, local farms. It works² against huge farms led by international food and agriculture companies.

But the Slow Food movement is not growing very fast in Africa.

So a group called Slow Food International has named a Ugandan man to help grow it. Edie Mukiibi will work to help people in Africa create gardens and grow healthy food. But he does not have the support of government officials. Many of them believe large agricultural companies are the answer to Africa’s food security³ problems.

Ten-year-old Solomon Walusimbi is working in his garden. It is next to a small wooden house in Mukono, near Kampala. He is proud of his work.

“This is my garden. I plant so many things, like peas, carrots and maize⁴.”

Solomon also grows cabbage, eggplants and a rare kind of leek⁵. His garden is more colorful than others because Solomon understands the importance of growing many different kinds of crops.

“If you dig, this one will die and this one will, will continue growing, and you will continue eating and getting so many things.”

Edie Mukiibi is working hard to teach that lesson to others in Uganda. Slow Food International wants him to help people create 10,000 gardens like Solomon’s throughout Africa. Many of these gardens will be in schools. Mr. Mukiibi says he hopes the garden will teach young people about the importance of slow food.

“You find little children of three to 15 years having a lot of knowledge about the traditional crops, the local crops, the planting seasons, and such kind of things. This is what we are achieving with the gardens. The gardens project is very important to reconnect young people like Solomon back to the land.”

Mr. Mukiibi was an agronomy⁶ student seven years ago. He learned⁷ how to help farmers plant crops. But he discovered the crops being planted were sometimes not right for the farming environment in Uganda. He began to understand how important local foods were to food security. But, he says, local foods were quickly disappearing.

“These are products which are used to the African conditions, apart from being traditional. When we had a bad season and farmers predicted a bad season, they had a crop for that season. When they predicted an attack of butterflies and insects, they had a potato variety which was resistant⁸ to this pest, and they, everyone was encouraged to plant that. Today we have no choice.”

But Mr. Mukiibi is having a hard time persuading political leaders and scientists to support the slow food movement. They support big farms that can grow large crops and a lot of them. 

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

3 security   

n.安全，安全感；防护措施；保证(金)，抵押(品)；债券，证券

参考例句：

• A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
• There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时，机场的保安措施很严密。

4 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

5 leek   

n.韭葱

参考例句：

• He is always confusing wheat with leek.他对麦苗和韭菜总是辨别不清。
• He said the dumplings with the stuffing of pork and leek were his favourite.他说他喜欢吃猪肉韭菜馅的饺子。

6 agronomy   

n.农业经济学

参考例句：

• The science of agronomy helps farmers obtain larger and better crops.农业经济学帮助农民获得更多更好的农作物。
• Heavy agronomy clique and Si Mi order of believe in nature.重农学派和斯密都信奉自然秩序。

7 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

8 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。