VOA慢速英语20061107a

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Cheese Culture Grows and Grows in VermontBy Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Tuesday, November 07, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The United States produces twenty-five percent of the world's cheese. A trade group, the Dairy Export Council, says producers made more than four million metric tons of it from cow's milk last year.

And the industry is growing. Cheese production increased by more than ten percent from two thousand one through the start of this year.

The state of Wisconsin in the Midwest leads the country in cheese production. Wisconsin faces strong competition from California. But another notable¹ cheese-making state is Vermont.


Daniel Hewitt holds a wheel of sheep cheese at his Three Owls² Farm, one of the stops along Vermont's Cheese Trail

Vermont is already famous for maple³ syrup⁴. But local experts say that per person, it has the largest number of cheese-makers of any state. Vermont is a small state in the Northeast, on the border with Canada.

Cheese-makers in Vermont make more than one hundred kinds of cheese with milk from cows, sheep, goats and water buffalo⁵. Cheeses made the traditional way use raw milk. The producers say the milk tastes better without going through the heating process of pasteurization.

Almost forty cheese-makers are along the Vermont Cheese Trail around the state. Many welcome visitors. The huge Cabot Creamery in Montpelier has a visitors center and offers guided tours.

In the fall, when many people come to Vermont to watch the leaves change color, Cabot may give as many as four hundred tours daily. Even in winter, about fifty to one hundred groups see Cabot's cheddar cheese in the making.

At the Three Owls Farm, visitors can pay to watch cheese being made from sheep's milk. They can even milk a sheep.

The University of Vermont offers classes in cheese-making through the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese. Teachers include visiting experts from other countries. Some recent classes were on English cheddar and Italian cheeses.

A man named Consider Bardwell built Vermont's first cheese factory in eighteen sixty-four. Today, the Consider Bardwell Farm still produces goat cheese.

The arrival of railroads long ago opened new markets to cheese from Vermont. Cheese traveled better than milk without the cold storage that came later. Refrigerated train cars meant that Vermont farmers could market their products widely.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For transcripts⁶ and MP3 files of our reports, go to www.unsv.com. I'm Bob Doughty⁷.

1 notable   

adj.值得注意的，著名的；n.名人，要人

参考例句：

• His achievement is very notable.他的成就是非常显著的。
• He wrote and published the essay under notable's name.他假托名人写文章发表。

2 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

3 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

4 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

5 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

7 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。