新西兰英语 698 Frost damages grape vines

 　　Although it is Spring now, the last few days have been very cold in parts of New Zealand. In some grape growing areas, the temperatures have dropped to minus 5 degrees at night. During the spring, new leaf buds¹ develop on the vines³ and frost can kill the buds.

　　In the South Island, Central Otago grape growers said that about 10% of their grape vines were damaged by the frosts this week. This area is famous for Pinot Noir. Probably the price of Pinot Noir will increase with the next harvest.

　　Hawkes Bay in the North Island is also a famous wine producing area. They produce other kinds of red wine like Merlot but also white wines like Chardonnay. Hawkes Bay has also had frosts in the last few days.

　　Grape growers use many different methods to stop frost damage. They use helicopters and wind machines to bring the warm air from above, down into the cooler vineyard. Some growers use oil heaters. Others use sprinklers to spray⁴ water on the plants. All these methods are expensive.

　　Wine is one of our top 10 exports. It brings more than $1bn into the New Zealand economy.

　　Vocabulary

　　?vine² (n) – a plant which climbs

　　?harvest (n) – when the grapes are picked; also a verb

　　?Pinot Noir is a popular red wine

　　?to produce (v) – make; verb has stress on second syllable⁵; noun⁶ (= crops) has stress on first syllable

　　?vineyard (n) – place which grows grapes for wine. Note pronunciation: vine (long i) but vineyard (short i)

　　?sprinklers (n) –send out a fine spray of water

1 buds   

芽( bud的名词复数 )； 苞； 半开的花； 未长大的叶

参考例句：

• the first buds appearing in spring 春天的初芽
• Willow trees breaking out into buds foretell the coming of spring. 柳枝绽青报春来。

2 vine   

n.葡萄树；蔓；藤

参考例句：

• The vine twines round the tree.这藤盘绕在树干上。
• There is a vine yard before the hill.山前有一个葡萄园。

3 vines   

n.藤本植物，藤( vine的名词复数 )；葡萄树

参考例句：

• Melons grow on vines. 瓜长在藤上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Grape vines overarched the garden path. 葡萄藤在花园小路上方形成了拱形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spray   

v.喷，(使)溅散；n.浪花，飞沫；喷雾

参考例句：

• The liquid came out of the bottle in a spray.液体从瓶子里呈雾状喷出。
• We were wet with the sea spray.我们被海水的浪花溅湿。

5 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

6 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。