VOA慢速英语2014 冰淇淋使游客们的马里兰农场之旅变得甜蜜

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Ice Cream Sweetens Visits to Maryland Farms 冰淇淋使游客们的马里兰农场之旅变得甜蜜

Americans love to eat ice cream, a milk and sugar based treat. People Maryland can visit dairy farms across the state to get fresh ice cream and enjoy the surroundings. Christopher Cruise tells us the story of the Maryland ice cream trail.

Dairy farms across Maryland welcome visitors to eat ice cream every summer.

Jim Brown is visiting the Rocky Point Creamery, in Frederick County, Maryland -- near the state of Pennsylvania.

“My favorite is chocolate. We love the ice cream here. We drove all the way from 15 miles ((24 kilometers)) away to come to this ice cream.”

Mr. Brown and his family visit the creamery every summer.

“We got one, two, three, four, seven of us here today riding, and we had a big breakfast, and this seems like a perfect way to end it.”

The Rocky Point Creamery is one of eight dairies on Maryland’s Ice Cream Trail. The trail is more than 460 kilometers long.

Ice Cream Trail 'Helps Our Business'

Buddy¹ Hance is the state’s agriculture secretary.  He says the Ice Cream Trail brings valuable attention to the state’s dairy farms.

“We created the Maryland Ice Cream Trail about three years ago and we did that to increase the public’s awareness² of the opportunities of the dairy industry all over Maryland. We have about 476 dairy farms, and, last year, those farms generated about 201 million dollars in gross revenue.”

Each of the 200 cows at Rocky Point Creamery produces 40 liters of milk a day. Some of it is used to make the farm’s 70 different kinds of ice cream. Chuck Fry’s family has operated the farm since 1883.

“The ice cream trail can really help our business. It is a great way for us dairy farmers kind of to stick together and enhance, and show the world what we do.”

Alicia Weiner drove a long way to eat ice cream.

“We drove out here from DC. It’s just a beautiful drive, and we have our ice cream. We walk here around the farm.”

Ms. Weiner says her son learned about dairy farms during the visit.

“He wanted to know all about milking cows before and where milk came from.”

Teaching the Farm Experience

Another dairy farm on the trail -- The South Mountain Creamery -- makes 40 different kinds of ice cream. Visitors can watch cows being milked, and feed young cows with a bottle.  Randy Sowers owns the farm. He says people love feeding the young cows.

“Those draw people in. People like to do it. Kids love it. Four o’clock every day we are busy. We have a lot of people here to feed calves³.”

Jim Brown says he and his family plan to see more of the dairy farms on Maryland’s Ice Cream Trail.

“All the places seem like great places. So we will definitely be riding out to go to see some of these places and try ice cream everywhere.” 

Alicia Weiner plans to do the same.

“This is the first one we’ve tried. So I think this summer we will do a few more.”

The Maryland Ice Cream Trail is open from May to the middle of September.