AGRICULTURE REPORT - Pumpkins: Not Just for Halloween

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Pumpkins²: Not Just for Halloween
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, November 01, 2005

I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Many Americans celebrated³ Halloween on Monday by placing pumpkins outside their homes. A Halloween tradition is to cut a face into the big, round squash.

 
Pumpkins are also an important part of the Thanksgiving holiday in late November. Tradition says early settlers ate pumpkin¹ pie, or something similar to it, with the Native Americans during the first celebration.

Pumpkins are members of the gourd⁴ family. They are related to melons, cucumbers and squashes. They are, like all of their relatives, fruit, not vegetables. Pumpkins have firm flesh, seeds in the center and a shell that is usually orange. And they contain more vitamin A than almost any other fruit.

Pumpkins have been grown for thousands of years in North and Central America. They have been grown for so long, in fact, it is unclear what wild relative the plant has. Pumpkins grow on vines or bushes. Most pumpkins weigh a few kilograms, but some have reached well over four hundred fifty kilograms.

Pumpkin flowers are usually fertilized⁶ by bees. The insects carry reproductive material called pollen⁷ from the male to the female flowers. No fruit will grow if the female flower is not pollinated at the right time.

Closely related squashes and gourds⁸ can also fertilize⁵ pumpkins. This cross-pollination will show itself not in the current year's pumpkins, but in seeds grown the following year.

Pumpkin is used in pies, breads, cakes and other baked goods. Baked pumpkin seeds are also a popular food. Pumpkin filling for pies is produced industrially.

Pumpkins are very low in acid, unlike many fruits. This makes canned pumpkin a place where the bacteria that causes botulism food poisoning can grow. For this reason, experts say it is not a good idea to can crushed pumpkin at home. Whole pumpkins, however, store well in cool, dark places for weeks.

Less than one percent of the American pumpkin supply is imported or exported. Most pumpkins are used in the states where they are grown. Prices can be very different from place to place.

American farmers grew over four hundred fifty million kilograms of pumpkins last year. The crop was valued at about one hundred million dollars.

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

1 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

2 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

3 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

4 gourd   

n.葫芦

参考例句：

• Are you going with him? You must be out of your gourd.你和他一块去？你一定是疯了。
• Give me a gourd so I can bail.把葫芦瓢给我，我好把水舀出去。

5 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

6 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

7 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

8 gourds   

n.葫芦( gourd的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Dried gourds are sometimes used as ornaments. 干葫芦有时用作饰品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The villagers use gourds for holding water. 村民们用葫芦盛水。 来自《简明英汉词典》