VOA标准英语2011--American Cowboys Bring Beef Cows to Russ

 American Cowboys Bring Beef Cows to Russia

 

After the collapse¹ of the Soviet² Union, Russians ate most of their beef cows as the system of reproduction broke down. Now American ranchers are working to rebuild Russia's herd⁴.
Darrell Stevenson, an American cowboy and cattle rancher, is not riding the black earth country of Russia to film a western movie.
He is bringing American-bred beef cattle, American ranching⁵ technology, and American cowboy knowhow to Russia.
After the Soviet Union collapsed⁶, beef production in Russia also collapsed. People just ate the herds⁷ as the system of sustaining the cattle broke down. Today, Russia, the world's largest nation, imports most of its beef.
Right now, Russia's beef herd is less than one percent the size of the American herd, despite - as Stevenson points out - the country's abundant land and water.
"[There is a] tremendous opportunity in this country in terms of the vast resources," noted⁸ Stevenson. "[There exists a] tremendous amount of available ground, whether it is tilled or not."
Last year, Stevenson imported by ship and by air cargo⁹ jet 1,400 black Angus cows from Montana, in America's west.
A few months ago, they had their first calves¹⁰, born in the black earth country of Russia.
Stevenson, along with two Russian businessmen, has set up a ranch³ with the goal of establishing a commercial beef herd in southern Russia.
Stevenson says Russia's long term goal is to achieve self sufficiency in meat production - pork, chicken and beef.
"We are helping¹¹ establish a local beef herd, a regional beef herd, and eventually a national beef herd," added Stevenson. "With that comes the sideline of educating a labor¹² force."
Viktor Korovkin grew up near here and saw a string of outsiders come and strip assets from the village's old collective farm. When the American-Russian joint¹³ venture started here, he was hired as a guard. Now, he is the head ranch hand.
He says the American ranching technology is more modern than the Russian technology he is familiar with.
Ekaterina Zimina grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city. Trained as a veterinarian, she worked last year on Darrell Stevenson's Montana ranch to learn American artificial insemination and calving techniques.
She says Russians are used to working with dairy cattle confined in barns, not beef cattle on the open range.
"It is really hard to find good enough people who can work with beef cattle," said Zimina. "Russia is world-known as dairy country. We have lots of dairy herds, dairy cows, but managing dairy and beef cows is a totally different thing."
With Russia determined¹⁴ to become self-sufficient in food, more and more investors¹⁵ are making the drive south of Moscow to see this new American-run ranch.
With plenty of cheap land and a longer growing season than much of American cattle country, Ekaterina believes many more Russians will soon be riding the range.
"We can show these people that this is not something from the movie: cowboys really exist and it's a really hard job, and it is possible to do this in Russia," added Zimina.
As Russia works to regain¹⁶ its food independence, Russians soon will be eating steaks from Black Angus raised here on the black earth of southern Russia.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

4 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

5 ranching   

adj.放牧的

参考例句：

• They cleared large tracts of forest for farming, logging and ranching. 他们清除了大片的森林以经营农耕、采伐与畜牧。
• This is a trade center in a ranching and oil-producing region. 这是一个牧场与产油区的贸易中心。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 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。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

10 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 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。

13 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

14 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

15 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

16 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。