新西兰英语 481 New Zealand Apples for Australia

 　　Biosecurity Australia will now allow New Zealand to export apples to their country. However, Australian apple growers are not happy.

　　To understand more about this, you need to listen to April 15th 2010.

　　Australian apple growers do not want New Zealand apples. They are worried about competition from New Zealand apple growers. NZ has a better climate for growing apples whereas¹ most of Australia is too hot. Apples like a climate where there is a cold winter and warm, dry, sunny days in summer.

　　Some apple growers in parts of Australia are still refusing to allow New Zealand apples into their state. They say they are worried about New Zealand apples spreading the disease² fire blight³ but New Zealand growers say this is impossible. The World Trade Organization said that Australia must allow New Zealand apples.

　　The Australian Minister for Trade said that Australia exports $8bn of goods to New Zealand. It is therefore important to allow New Zealand to export products to Australia.

　　New Zealand does not have many apples to export at this time of year but we can expect more protest⁴ from Australian apple growers next autumn.

　　Questions

　　?Why does Australia have to listen to the World Trade Organization?

　　?What are Australian apple growers really worried about – fire blight or competition?

　　?Why do New Zealand growers want to export to Australia when they have good markets in Europe and Japan?

1 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

2 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

3 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

4 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。