华盛顿故乡重造森林

55 华盛顿故乡重造森林

DATE=8-22-01
TITLE=SCIENCE REPORT - Cloning Mount¹ Vernon's Trees
BYLINE=George Grow

（Start at 59' ）This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Science Report.
Tree experts have begun an effort to rebuild (1)forests near the home of America's first president, George Washington. Earlier this month, workers gathered (2)buds from tall, old trees on the grounds of George Washington's home, Mount Vernon.  It is in the state of Virginia, near Washington, D-C.  The experts hope to produce (3)genetic³ copies, or (4)clones, of the trees and plant them on the property.  
Tree experts David Milarch (MILL-ark) and his son, Jared, are leading the efforts.  They gained (5)experience in cloning old trees through the Champion Tree Project.  They started the project to produce genetic copies of the largest trees in the United States.  Over the next ten years, the project plans to provide Mount Vernon with one-thousand trees for planting in nearby wooded areas.  
During the past century, Mount Vernon has lost more than seventy trees that were planted when George Washington was alive. 
As a special project, David and Jared Milarch offered to make clones of the thirteen oldest trees at Mount Vernon.  They are huge, beautiful trees. George Washington (6)supervised the planting of these trees more than two-hundred years ago.
The Milarch family plans to grow fifty copies of each tree in tree (7)nurseries in Alabama and Oregon.  They will return the trees to be planted at Mount Vernon in two years.  Some copies of the trees will be sent to the Arnold Arboretum⁴ at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts for safe keeping.
Grafting⁵ is the name of the process used to clone trees.  It has been done for thousands of years.  A (8)method called the T-bud² (9)technique often is used to copy trees.  
Workers begin by cutting the bark, or covering, on the side of a young tree.  The cut is made in the shape of a cross, or the letter T.  Next, the workers find a bud, or small growth, on the tree to be copied.  A small piece of wood under the bud is carefully removed from the tree.  The bud is then put into the hole on the other tree.  The bud is tightly⁶ tied in place and begins to grow.  
Mount Vernon officials say George Washington was interested in his tree (10)collection.  The officials add that he was a strong (11)environmentalist.  They say the old trees are important because they (12)existed when America's first president was alive. 
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by George Grow.

(1)  forest[ 5fCrist ]n.森林, 林木, <英>御猎场adj.森林的, 住在森林中的vt.植树于
(2)  bud[ bQd ]n.芽, 蓓蕾vi.发芽, 萌芽
(3) genetic[ dVi5netik ]adj.遗传的, 起源的
(4) clone[klEJn]n.无性系, 无性繁殖, 克隆v.无性繁殖, 复制
(5) experience[ iks5piEriEns ]n. vt.经验, 体验, 经历, 阅历
(6) supervise[ 5sju:pEvaiz ]v.监督, 管理, 指导
(7) nursery[ 5nE:sEri ]n.托儿所
(8) method[5meWEd]n.方法
(9) technique[ tek5ni:k ]n.技术, 技巧, 方法, 表演法, 手法
(10)  collection[ kE5lekFEn ]n.收藏, 征收, 搜集品, 捐款
(11)  environmentalist[ in7vaiErEn5mentlist ]n.环境保护论者, 环境论者, 环境论信奉者
(12)  exist[ i^5zist ]vi.存在, 生存, 生活, 继续存在

 

 

 

 

 

1 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

2 bud   

vi.发芽，萌芽；n.芽，花蕾

参考例句：

• Some flowers bud their leaves very early in spring.有些花在春季里很早发出叶来。
• A bad habit in a child should be nipped in the bud.应该尽早把孩子的坏习惯改过来。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 arboretum   

n.植物园

参考例句：

• We can go to the arboretum in the southern suburb.我们可以去南郊的植物园。
• The arboretum is full of exotic flowers and rare herbs.植物园里长满了各种奇花异草。

5 grafting   

嫁接法，移植法

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。
• Burns can often be cured by grafting on skin from another part of the same body. 烧伤常常可以用移植身体其它部位的皮肤来治愈。

6 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。