新西兰英语 446 Wool Week

 　　Wool Week opened early yesterday morning in Wellington with a display of sheep shearing¹ at the railway station. Then children brought in their pet lambs. People on their way to work stopped to watch. Then there was a fashion parade of woolen² clothes made by top New Zealand fashion designers and another fashion parade in the evening.

　　The reason? To remind people that wool is a wonderful fibre. Before the days of synthetic³ fabrics⁴ like polyester, people all over the world dressed in wool, bought woolen carpets and sofas made with woolen covers, and used woolen blankets on their beds. New Zealand had a very good export market in wool. Sheep farmers made good money.

　　Today the cost of shearing is sometimes more than the price that the farmer gets from selling the wool.

　　In the 1980s, there were 60 million sheep in New Zealand. Our population was just over 3 million people, 20 sheep for every person. Today there are 33 million sheep and a population of just over 4 million people, about 8 sheep for every person.

　　Prince Charles was one of the people to start this idea of reminding people about wool. Last month there was a wool week in London. Wool is a natural fibre, he said, whereas⁵ synthetics⁶ use oil products. Wool is a renewable fibre. Every year sheep grow new wool. It does not burn easily so is safer near fire or when someone is cooking food. Wool is warm, it breathes, and people sleep well with wool. It is especially good for babies in their beds or prams⁷. Wool is biodegradable when put in the rubbish.

　　New Zealand now has a good market in fine wool like merino but 95% of the wool produced is strong wool, suitable for carpets and other products. Most of our wool is exported so we need to remind buyers overseas to think about buying wool.

　　Vocabulary

　　? Shearing – cutting the wool off the sheep

　　? Synthetic – the fibre is made in a factory. It is not a natural fibre

　　? A fibre is a thin thread used to make cloth. Cotton, silk and wool are natural fibres.

　　? Biodegradable – it decays⁸ naturally and does not cause any pollution

　　? Merino is a kind of sheep which produces fine soft wool. Merino sheep do well on South Island high country farms but not in places where it rains a lot.

　　Questions

　　What are some of the disadvantages of wool?

　　Do you wear woolen clothes? Have a look at the clothes you are wearing. What are they made of?

1 shearing   

n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切

参考例句：

• The farmer is shearing his sheep. 那农夫正在给他的羊剪毛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The result of this shearing force is to push the endoplasm forward. 这种剪切力作用的结果是推动内质向前。 来自辞典例句

2 woolen   

adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的

参考例句：

• She likes to wear woolen socks in winter.冬天她喜欢穿羊毛袜。
• There is one bar of woolen blanket on that bed.那张床上有一条毛毯。

3 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

4 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

5 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

6 synthetics   

n.化学合成物

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• It is a universally applicable thickener for printing on the synthetics. 特别适合用做纺织印染工业中人造合成纤维的印染增稠剂。

7 prams   

n.（手推的）婴儿车( pram的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In order to offer guests convenience, our company hires out prams. 本公司出租小孩推车，为旅客提供便利。 来自互联网
• Oh, no; girls, you know, are much too clever to fall out of their prams. 没有啊，你知道，女孩子太机灵，不会从儿童车里掉出来的。 来自互联网

8 decays   

v.（使）腐烂，腐朽( decay的第三人称单数 )；衰败，衰退，衰落

参考例句：

• A specimen which is much thicker than the penetration depth decays exponentially. 一个比穿深透度厚得多的样品，按指数律衰减。 来自辞典例句
• The nucleus decays into three particles which go off in separate directions. 这个核衰变成飞向不同方向的三个粒子。 来自辞典例句