VOA慢速英语20061219a

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Tall or short. Fat or thin. Real or plastic, or metal. Whatever the choice, two thousand million dollars worth of Christmas trees were sold last year in the United States.

Christmastime in the city brings forests of trees already cut and waiting to be sold. But some people like to drive to tree farms.

Others wait for their tree to come to them. They order one from the pages of a catalog or on the Internet.


Fraser firs, wrapped in plastic, on their way to market as Christmas trees from Pennsylvania

Some say the easiest thing of all is to buy a manmade tree with Christmas lights already on it. No falling needles to have to clean up.

The University of Illinois Extension service says in two thousand two, artificial trees outnumbered real ones in American homes more than two to one. One-third of homes had no tree.

The National Christmas Tree Association says thirty-three million real trees were sold last year, compared to nine million artificial ones. Artificial trees generally cost more, but they can be re-used. Most natural trees are cut up and recycled, but some people buy trees that can be planted.

Most Christmas trees are now grown on farms instead of in forests. Twenty-one thousand tree farmers in the United States grow Christmas trees on more than one hundred eighty thousand hectares. Oregon was the leading producer last year.

The Illinois Extension says the trees take seven to ten years to grow. The most popular pines include Scotch¹, Virginia and white. Other big sellers are Fraser, balsam and Douglas firs.

Twenty-two percent of people who bought real trees last year chose them at a farm. Two percent of those people cut the trees themselves.

The next most popular places were big stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot². Groups like the Boy Scouts³ also sell Christmas trees.

But some people pay nothing for theirs. They steal it.

Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has many pretty evergreens⁴. Some years ago, a university employee found a way to keep them there. A month before Christmas, workers treated them with pink ugly mix.

It contains water, hydrated lime⁵, a tree protectant and red food color. The bright color starts to disappear after about a month. It can take longer, however. Cornell decided⁶ not to use the mix this year, but the idea has spread.

Some places protect their trees another way. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln uses a mixture made with fox urine. The trees smell fine in the cold air, but not in a warm home.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

1 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

2 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

3 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

4 evergreens   

n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The leaves of evergreens are often shaped like needles. 常绿植物的叶常是针形的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pine, cedar and spruce are evergreens. 松树、雪松、云杉都是常绿的树。 来自辞典例句

5 lime   

n.石灰，酸橙，酸橙树，粘鸟胶，钙；vt.施石灰，涂上粘性物质，沾上粘鸟胶

参考例句：

• Lime exists in many soils.许多土壤中都含有石灰。
• A broad avenue of lime trees led up to a grand entrance with huge oak doors.一条栽有酸橙树的宽阔林阴道通向巨大的橡木门的雄伟入口。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。