博比种子公司筹备125周年庆典

60 博比种子公司筹备125周年庆典

DATE=8-28-01
TITLE=AGRICULTURE REPORT - Burpee Seed Company
BYLINE=George Grow

（Start at 1'01" ）This is Bill White with the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.  
An American company famous for selling plant seeds is observing a major (1)anniversary.  The Burpee Seed Company is one-hundred-twenty-five years old.  
The Burpee Company was (2)established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Eighteen-Seventy-Six.  W. Atlee Burpee started the company with one-thousand dollars he borrowed from his mother.  Company (3)officials say Mister¹ Burpee first planned to sell chickens by mail.  But he soon discovered that Americans wanted seeds for (4)vegetables, flowers and (5)grains.
Over the years, millions of people have seen magazines that describe Burpee products and tell how to buy them.  The company mails these (6)catalogs² to anyone who wants them.   
The catalogs describe different kinds of crops.  For example, the Burpee Company began to offer seeds for (7)iceberg³ (8)lettuce⁴ in Eighteen-Ninety-Four.  It was the first kind of lettuce that remained fresh from the time farmers (9)harvested it to the time people in the cities ate it. Farmers grow many kinds of lettuce in the United⁵ States.  But iceberg lettuce is the most popular.
One reason for the Burpee Company's success was its development of seeds.  Mister Burpee traveled to Europe to collect seeds of plants not grown in the United States.  Also, some farmers offered him seeds from their best crops.
In Eighteen-Eighty-Eight, Mister Burpee bought a farm near Philadelphia where he could test seeds.  Twenty years later, he bought more farmland⁶ in the state of California⁷.  California's warm (10)climate permitted⁸ him to develop products that he could not grow on the East Coast.
The Burpee Company quickly became one of the world's largest seed companies.  By Nineteen-Fifteen, it was sending its catalogs to one-million Americans each year. 
Today, the company sells seeds for more than five-hundred kinds of vegetables and more than six-hundred flowers.  It also offers more than three-hundred kinds of young plants.  
Ten years ago, another American business, the George J. Ball Company, (11)purchased the Burpee Company.  However, Burpee's (12)headquarters remain in Pennsylvania.  The company still publishes catalogs of its products as it did one-hundred years ago.  Many stores sell Burpee seeds.  And, people with computers can buy seeds by using the Internet computer system.  
This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.

 

(1)  anniversary[ 7Ani5vE:sEri ]n.周年纪念
(2)  establish[ is5tAbliF ]vt.建立, 设立, 安置, 使定居, 使人民接受, 确定v.建立
(3) official[ E5fiFEl ]n.官员, 公务员adj.职务上的, 公务的, 官方的, 正式的
(4) vegetable[ 5vedVitEbl ]n.蔬菜, 植物, 生活呆板单调的人adj.蔬菜的, 植物的
(5) grain[ ^rein ]n.谷物, 谷类, 谷粒, 细粒, 颗粒, 粮食
(6) catalog[ 5kAtElC^ ]n.目录, 目录册v.编目录
(7) iceberg[ 5aisbE^ ]n.冰山, 冷冰冰的人
(8) lettuce[ 5letis ]n.[植]莴苣, 生菜, 苦菜类
(9) harvest[ 5hB:vist ]n.收获, 收成, 结果, 成果v.收获, 收割
(10) climate[ 5klaimit ]n.气候, 风土, 思潮
(11) purchase[ 5pE:tFEs ]vt.买, 购买n.买, 购买
(12) headquarter[ 7hed5kwC:tE ]v.以...作总部, 设总公司于...

 

1 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

2 catalogs   

目录，目录册，目录簿( catalog的名词复数 )； [美]大学概况一览； 登记，记载

参考例句：

• Some catalogs provide data on motions, variability, duplicity, etc. 有的星表还提供了运动，是否变光以及双星、聚星等等的资料。
• Yes, here are some catalogs and brochures. 有的，这里是一些目录和小册子。

3 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

4 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

5 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

6 farmland   

n.农田，乡间的土地

参考例句：

• They own 200 acres of farmland.他们拥有200英亩的农田。
• If this wet land was drained,it would be good farmland.如果把这块湿地的水排干，这块地就会成为良田。

7 California   

n.加利福尼亚(美国)

参考例句：

• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。
• We were driving on a California freeway.我们正沿着加利福尼亚的一条快车道驾车行驶。

8 permitted   

允许( permit的过去式和过去分词 )； 许可； 许用

参考例句：

• Radios are not permitted in the library. 图书馆内不许使用收音机。
• Entrance is permitted only on production of a ticket. 出示门票才可进入。