VOA慢速英语2011--An American Cowboy Aims to Help Russia's

Agriculture Report - An American Cowboy Aims to Help Russia's Beef Herd¹

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
(SOUND)
Twenty years ago, when the Soviet² Union collapsed³, so did beef production in Russia. Breeding and management programs for beef cattle fell apart. Today, Russia imports much of its beef. Cattle are raised mostly for dairy.
Instead of beef, Russians have expanded poultry⁴ and pork operations. These are faster and less costly⁵ to start. But there is some new investment in beef production. And one of those involved is an American rancher and cowboy named Darrell Stevenson.
He sees plenty of room for growth -- Russia's beef herd is less than one percent the size of the American herd.
DARRELL STEVENSON (0:20): "Tremendous opportunity in this country in terms of the vast resources. Tremendous amount of available ground, whether it is tilled or not.”
In late two thousand ten, Darrell Stevenson began sending cows, bulls, horses and equipment to Russia. He sent more than fourteen hundred animals. About a third of them traveled by ship. The others came by plane.
Mr. Stevenson has two Russian partners in what they call the Stevenson-Sputnik Ranch⁶. The ranch is located on almost six thousand hectares of land in Voronezh in the black earth area of southern Russia.
The Angus and Hereford cattle came from ranches⁷ in his home state of Montana. The imported cows have given birth to their first calves⁸.
DARRELL STEVENSON (0:09): “We are helping⁹ establish a local beef herd, a regional beef herd, and eventually a national beef herd.”
Ekaterina Zimina grew up in St. Petersburg and trained as a veterinarian. She worked last year on Darrell Stevenson's ranch in Montana to learn American methods. She says Russians have a lot of experience with dairy cows in barns, but not with beef cattle on open rangeland.
EKATERINA ZIMINA: "Because it is really, really hard to find good enough people in Russia that can work with beef cattle, because Russia is world-known as dairy country. We have lots of dairy herds¹⁰, dairy cows. But managing dairy and beef cows is a totally different thing.”
Darrell Stevenson is not the only American involved in projects to build a high-quality beef herd in Russia. Reaching that goal will take time -- and a lot more cows. But Ms. Zimina says the ranch in Voronezh can help show Russians about life on the range.
EKATERINA ZIMINA: "We together can show these people that this is not something from the movie, that cowboys really exist, and it is a really hard job and that is possible to do this even in Russia.”
(SOUND)
And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. I’m Jim Tedder¹¹.
___
Contributing: James Brooke and Jerilyn Watson

1 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

5 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

6 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

7 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

8 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

11 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网