新西兰英语 221 Indoor Dairy Farms

　　Three companies want to build big dairy¹ farms in the centre of the South Island called the Mackenzie Country. This is a beautiful part of New Zealand with lakes and mountains. It is near Mt Cook, Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau. If you drive through that area on the way to Queenstown from Christchurch, you will see some sheep on the farms.
This is a cold part of New Zealand. Green grass does not grow well in this area because there is not much rain and sometimes snow covers the ground. Brown tussock grass grows on the land but cows do not eat tussock.
These companies have asked Environment Canterbury for permission² to build sheds³ for the cows. They plan to keep the cows indoors⁴ for eight months of the year, and then for the other four months the cows would stay indoors for 12 hours a day. They also plan to have nearly 18,000 cows in these sheds.
This is very different from the usual dairy farms in New Zealand where the cows are outside all day, every day and they eat the grass on the land. Such big farms are also different from the usual family farms. However, dairy farmers are getting such good prices for milk these days so it is not surprising that companies want to try different ways of farming⁵.
They still have to get permission from Environment Canterbury. Many people will protest⁶ against the plans: the Green Party, Animal Rights groups, exporters and tourism⁷ groups who advertise⁸ our clean and green country, and other people who do not want this kind of farming in New Zealand.

1 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

2 permission   

n.许可；同意；许可证

参考例句：

• You were wrong to take the car without permission.你未经许可就把车开走是不应该的。
• With your permission I'll leave now.有你的允许，我这就离开。

3 sheds   

n.棚，库( shed的名词复数 )v.流出( shed的第三人称单数 )；流下；蜕皮；树叶脱落

参考例句：

• The firemen pulled down some nearby sheds to stop the fire spreading. 消防队员们把附近的一些棚子拉倒，不让火势蔓延。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The present sheds a backward light on the world's previous processes. 现在给我们以启迪，使我们了解过去世界的种种进程。 来自哲学部分

4 indoors   

adv.(在)室内，(在)户内

参考例句：

• Because of the coldness of the weather we stayed indoors.我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。
• It is very cold outside,you'd better come indoors across the board.外面很冷，你们所有人最好都进屋。

5 farming   

n.农事；耕作

参考例句：

• He lives by farming.他靠务农过活。
• He is farming in Africa.他在非洲经营农场。

6 protest   

v.反对，抗议；宣称；n.抗议；宣称

参考例句：

• I can't pass the matter by without a protest.我不能对此事视而不见，我要提出抗议。
• We translated his silence as a protest.我们把他的沉默解释为抗议。

7 tourism   

n.旅游，观光；旅游业，观光业

参考例句：

• The city is finally realizing its tourism potential.该市终于让旅游潜力得到发挥。
• The country's economy is dependent on tourism.该国经济依赖于旅游业。

8 advertise   

v.做广告，登广告，发告示；宣传，宣扬

参考例句：

• It pays to advertise.做广告是值得的。
• Are lawyers allowed to advertise?准许律师做广告吗？