AGRICULTURE REPORT - Cranberries: A Little Fruit With Growin

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Cranberries¹: A Little Fruit With Growing Appeal
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Cranberries are a little red fruit native to North America. They are raised on more than sixteen thousand hectares across the northern United States and Canada. And they supply a growing market.

cranberries
Over two hundred eighty million kilograms of cranberries are grown in the United States each year. Wisconsin is the biggest producer, followed by Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey³ and Washington State.

The hard berries² are boiled with sugar to make cranberry⁴ sauce, a traditional part of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. They are also eaten dried, made into spreads, baked into treats, mixed with other flavors⁵ and pressed into juice. In fact, that juice represents more than sixty percent of purchases of cranberry products at markets.

Cranberries are one of only a few fruit native to the United States and Canada. The Cranberry Institute says a Revolutionary War veteran⁶ named Henry Hall started to grow them for sale in Massachusetts in eighteen sixteen.

Cranberries are harvested in September and October. They can be picked by a machine that strikes the plant to loosen⁷ the berries. These are usually sold fresh.

But cranberries are more commonly picked from their low-growing vines⁸ in a way that saves a lot of labor⁹. This method is possible because cranberries naturally grow in wetlands.

Many farmers grow the vines in areas that are lower than the surrounding land. At harvest time, the beds are flooded. A machine strikes the vines. The berries break free and float on the water. Then they are moved to one end of the flooded beds and gathered by machine. These berries are usually processed.

Harvesting cranberries the wet-harvest way
Cranberries have a long history. The Cranberry Institute notes that Native Americans used them in ceremonies and as food and medicine. Today marketers point to research findings¹⁰ that suggest that cranberries can help prevent some kinds of infections.

But cranberry growing has raised some environmental concerns. The Environmental Protection Agency¹¹ says wetlands are being destroyed in some cases to expand production. Other concerns involve the use of farming chemicals that could enter water systems.

Yet even critics agree that cranberries are better than some other kinds of development. Farmers usually protect their cranberry beds with surrounding forestland. And that means a place for wildlife to live.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter.  I'm Steve Ember.

1 cranberries   

n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tart flavour of the cranberries adds piquancy. 越橘的酸味很可口。
• Look at the fresh cranberries. 你看这些新鲜的蔓越橘。 来自无师自通 校园英语会话

2 berries   

n.浆果( berry的名词复数 )；（葡萄，番茄等）浆果；干果仁；干种子

参考例句：

• Birds feed on nuts and berries in the winter. 鸟类靠坚果和浆果过冬。
• We went here and there looking for berries. 我们四处寻找浆果。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

5 flavors   

n.味( flavor的名词复数 )；韵味；特点；香料v.给…调味( flavor的第三人称单数 )；给…增添风趣

参考例句：

• He goes for its full,delicious flavors. I go for its economy. 他欣赏它的浓郁和可口的味道。我则欣赏它的便宜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The different kinds of quarks or leptons are known technically as flavors. 夸克和轻子的这些个同种类，从技术上看是有特色的。 来自辞典例句

6 veteran   

n.老兵；经验丰富的人，老手

参考例句：

• My grandfather is a veteran of the Second World War.我祖父是二战时的老兵。
• We often asked the veteran workers for advice.我们常常向老工人求教。

7 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。

8 vines   

n.藤本植物，藤( vine的名词复数 )；葡萄树

参考例句：

• Melons grow on vines. 瓜长在藤上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Grape vines overarched the garden path. 葡萄藤在花园小路上方形成了拱形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

11 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。