英语听力文摘 English Digest 461、红色谷仓缘何而来？

Why Barns Are Red 

Yaël: This was a great idea, Don. It's a beautiful day for a drive to the countryside.

Don: Yep!

Y: Hey, there's a big red barn. An another one, also red. I wonder why so many barns are painted red.

D: I don't have to wonder. I've known why barns are red since I was little.

Y: Did you grow up on a farm?

D: No, I was just a weird¹ kid.

Y: So, what's the scoop?

D: A few hundred years ago European farmers started painting their barns with a mixture of linseed oil, milk, and lime. Believe it or not, the combination made a pretty good paint that protected wood.

Y: So where does the red come from?

D: Sometimes they’d also add ferrous oxide² to the mix.

Y: You mean rust? Why would they add rust to the paint?

D: Because rust kills fungi³ and moss⁴. When they grow on a barn they trap moisture in the wood, which leads to decay. Painting a barn with rusty paint was the best way to keep it strong and dry.

After a while, red barns became a tradition in Europe and over here in America. And even though once commercial paints became available, the tradition continued, since red paint was cheap.

White is the second most popular color for barns, since at some point whitewash⁵ became even cheaper than red paint. But today, you’ll see barns in many different colors.

为什么谷仓是红色的?

Yaël: Don，这主意真的太棒了！今天超适合开着车到郊外兜风！

Don: 赞成！

Y: 看，那里有一个好大的红谷仓哦。哦，还有一个，也是红色的。真想不通，为什么这些谷仓都要被漆成红色的呢？

D: 我倒是不用去想了，因为在我很小的时候我就已经知道各中原因了。

Y: 你是在农场长大的？

D: 那倒不是，我只是个好奇宝宝而已。

Y: 那，来谈谈你的“独家报道”吧！

D: 数百年前，欧洲农民首先使用一种由亚麻仁油、牛奶和石灰混合而成的混合物来粉刷他们的谷仓。信不信由你，这种混合物是很好的涂料，能很好的保护木材。

Y: 那红色又是怎么来的呢？

D: 有时候，他们会在混合物中加入氧化亚铁。

Y: 你是说铁锈？他们为什么会在涂料里加铁锈呢？

D: 这是因为铁锈能除掉真菌和苔藓。如果谷仓里长出了真菌和苔藓，会使得木材变得潮湿，导致木材腐烂。粉刷谷仓时在涂料内加入铁锈是保证其牢固、干燥的最好方法。

没过多久，红色的谷仓便成为了欧洲以及全美的一项传统。其后，油漆开始面向大众，红色谷仓的传统也在延续，因为红色油漆很便宜。

除了红色，最受欢迎的便是白色谷仓。当然，原因很简单，有一段时间，白色油漆降价，比红色油漆还便宜呢。现如今，又完全不一样了，你可以看到五颜六色的谷仓！

 

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 oxide   

n.氧化物

参考例句：

• Oxide is usually seen in our daily life.在我们的日常生活中氧化物很常见。
• How can you get rid of this oxide coating?你们该怎样除去这些氧化皮？

3 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

4 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

5 whitewash   

v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰

参考例句：

• They tried hard to whitewash themselves.他们力图粉饰自己。
• What he said was a load of whitewash.他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。