VOA慢速英语2015 国会公墓邀请山羊除草

AS IT IS 2016-01-03 Cemetery¹ Goats Eat Weeds, Save Planet 国会公墓邀请山羊除草

A burial place in Washington, D.C. is using goats instead of poison to remove weeds.

Congressional Cemetery, which opened in the early 1800s, is near Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill is where important buildings and business of U.S. government are located.   

Many former members of the U.S. House and Senate are buried there. The cemetery is also the final resting place of former FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Director J. Edgar Hoover and famous Civil War photographer Mathew Brady.

There are more than 65,000 graves there. Burials still take place today.

In recent years, many weeds have grown in the cemetery. Officials did not want to use poisons, called herbicides, to kill the weeds. The cemetery is near the Anacostia River. Officials have worked for many years to remove pollutants² from the river, which runs through the city.

Lauren Maloy is the program director at the cemetery. She says because it is close to the river, “We are always looking for ways to make sure that we are sustainable, that we are not using pesticides⁴ that might hurt the environment.”

So cemetery officials decided⁵ to use goats. The animals are less costly⁶ than chemicals and do not hurt the environment.

And the goats eat a lot of weeds.

The animals are owned by Mary Bowen, a farmer. She operates a company called Browsing⁷ Green Goats. The cemetery pays her company more than $11,000 to have the goats remove unwanted plants from each hectare of the cemetery. But Mary Bowen says that is about half the cost of using herbicides.

An electronic fence keeps the goats from leaving the cemetery. Mary Bowen says she examines the fence every day. She says she has not lost a goat in five years.

She says the goats do not need to be told what to do, and they only stop eating when they want the food to settle in their stomachs.

Mary Bowen says she hopes the goats will help more people understand that they can keep their property free of weeds without hurting the environment.

Words in This Story

weeds – n. a plant that grows very quickly where it is not wanted and covers or kills more desirable plants

cemetery – n. a place where dead people are buried

grave – n. a hole in the ground for burying a dead body

poison – n. a harmful or deadly substance

herbicide – n. a chemical used to destroy plants or stop plant growth

sustainable – adj. able to last or continue for a long time; involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources

pesticide³ – n. a chemical that is used to kill animals or insects that damage plants or crops

1 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

2 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

4 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》