2006年VOA标准英语-California Heat Wave Could Lead to Higher Price

Washington, DC
28 July 2006
 
watch Heat Wave report

Eleven days of triple digit¹ temperatures in California are taking a toll² on the state's agricultural industry.   Meteorologists expect the deadly heat wave that has killed at least 60 people could subside³ by this weekend. But the relief may be too late for many California farmers.

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Hank Van Exel
   
  
California dairy farmer Hank Van Exel is doing his best to keep his herds⁴ comfortable.  But the effect of the heat on his dairy cows is evident. "She's already sore on her feet. Panting.  If you see cows panting with a lot of saliva⁵ coming out of their mouth you know they're in tough shape."

Van Exel is a second generation dairy farmer. He has lost 14 cows and says milk production is down more than 20 percent.  

 
David Jones 
  
Sacramento Information Officer David Jones says the heat has led to emergency declarations in several counties. "We can't find anything over the last 30 years that indicates that there's been anything like this.  The heat has been unprecedented⁶. It's been oppressively hot at night. All of these factors coming together have made it very challenging for the local community."

Tomato fruit is burnt due to heat
   
  
And California's $50-billion a year dairy industry is not the only victim.  The California Association of Wine and Grape Growers say the heat is decimating its crops.  Steve Heringer tends a vineyard of petite syrah grapes and says the sun is literally⁷ burning the fruit. "They're beyond raisin⁸.  There's nothing left there."

Heringer estimates he will lose more than five percent of his crop to the heat. But he's more concerned about how the scorching⁹ temperatures will affect the taste of his wines.

Over in the tomato fields, Craig Gnos estimates the heat has killed about 15 percent of the blossoms that typically yield 46,000 tons of tomatoes per season.

"Those are the aborted¹⁰ flowers right there that won't make it.  We're obviously losing money as the days continue to be hot."

It's a story repeated in peach orchards¹¹ and walnut¹² groves¹³ and melon patches up and down the state.  Especially in the Central Valley where more than half of California's $33 billion agricultural products are produced.

 
Paul Wenger 
  
Paul Wenger at the California Farm Bureau says it's too early to asses¹⁴ total damages but he predicts consumers will feel the heat in their pocketbooks.

"The consumer deals with it in the prices they're going to pay when they go to the store or when they go to the restaurant."

Parts of Northern Europe also are suffering.  Two weeks of nearly 100 degree temperatures in France, Germany, Spain and Northern Italy are blamed for dozens of deaths and power emergencies across the region.

1 digit   

n.零到九的阿拉伯数字，手指，脚趾

参考例句：

• Her telephone number differs from mine by one digit.她的电话号码和我的只差一个数字。
• Many animals have five digits.许多动物有5趾。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

4 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

5 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

6 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 raisin   

n.葡萄干

参考例句：

• They baked us raisin bread.他们给我们烤葡萄干面包。
• You can also make raisin scones.你也可以做葡萄干烤饼。

9 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

10 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

12 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

13 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

14 asses   

n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人

参考例句：

• Sometimes I got to kick asses to make this place run right. 有时我为了把这个地方搞得像个样子，也不得不踢踢别人的屁股。 来自教父部分
• Those were wild asses maybe, or zebras flying around in herds. 那些也许是野驴或斑马在成群地奔跑。