时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2007年(五)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.


 
Red imported fire ants cause billions of dollars a year in US farm damage
Farmers in parts of the United States have struggled for years with an invasion 1 of red imported fire ants from Brazil. These insects do major damage, unlike native kinds of fire ants.


Each year they cause an estimated 2 six billion dollars worth of damage in the United States. More than one billion dollars of that is just in Texas.


The ants are thought to have arrived in the southern state of Alabama in the nineteen twenties or thirties. Since then they have spread northward 3 and all the way to the West Coast.


They ruin crops, damage soil and get into animal feed. They also damage electrical equipment and machinery 4. Not only that, they injure animals and workers. So farmers have to deal with medical costs and lost labor 5.


Fire ants get their name because when they sting 6, they inject poison into the skin that causes a feeling of intense 7 burning. Some people suffer life-threatening reactions.


Colonies 8 of red imported fire ants can be found in cities as well as farming areas. They can go deep underground to survive periods of little or no rain. They have no native predators 9, no creatures that like to feed on them.


But one solution could come from the ants themselves, in the form of a virus that some of them carry. This virus may someday help control the population.


Scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture began to work with the virus about five years ago. The researchers observed one hundred sixty-eight nests of imported fire ants in Florida. They found the virus in almost one-fourth of them.


The researchers found that the virus affected 10 every part of fire-ant development, including the eggs. The affected colonies died in about three months.


Now, government researchers want to work with a private company to produce large amounts of the virus. It could then be used as a biological control.


Other natural ways to fight the fire ants are also possible. One is the South American phorid fly. It lays its eggs on fire ants. When the eggs break open, the young flies eat the brains of the ants. But researchers do not know how well the flies would do in North America.


As much as the ants are hated, they do have a few friends among growers of cotton and sugarcane. The ants feed on insects that attack those crops.


And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.



n.入侵,侵略,侵犯
  • They are ready against the possible invasion.他们防备可能的入侵。
  • It is our duty to shield our country from invasion.保卫祖国不受侵犯是我们的责任。
adj.根据估计的
  • She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
  • The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。
adv.向北;n.北方的地区
  • He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
  • I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
vt.激怒,刺痛,刺伤,蛰伤;n.刺痛,刺伤
  • Most flies do not sting.大多数苍蝇不叮人。
  • The scorpion has a sting that can be deadly.蝎子有可以致命的螫针。
adj.认真的,专注的;强烈的;紧张的;热情的
  • Susan was an intense young lady.苏珊是一个热情的年轻姑娘。
  • The quarrel caused her intense unhappiness.争吵令她极其不快。
n.殖民地( colony的名词复数 );(侨民等)聚居区;(动植物的)群体;(来自同一地方,职业或兴趣相同的)聚居人群
  • They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small farms and self-sufficiency. 但就整个殖民地来说,人们主要依靠小型农场,过着自给自足的生活。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面)
  • birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
  • The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
标签: voa 慢速英语
学英语单词
-aneity
abbel
accentuated sound
acoustical pickup
al harmal
antoreinfusion
atmospheric gas burner
barrel-bag
bedin
beet leaf hopper
berceuses
biocalcirudite
blowout pit
cathode spray machine
cathode-ray receiving tube
census family
CNSG
codefest
colloid process
conical refining engine
controllable slip coupling
coplanar line vector
corriente
deadhead kilometres
derate
diffusion junction
direct blow mo(u)lding container
e-piracy
even the score
family Nephropsidae
fibre-optic faced tube
garglings
get sth out of sth
giant pulse holography
glass bead culture system
goodlisome
gun-battles
Gyachung Kang
hatcheted
have an a close eye on
high-energy ignition
hocused
Iris cathayensis
isopulegol acetate
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
leucopaxillus alboalutaceus
local battery signalling
longitudinal wheat brush
lunar volcanism
macaques
marketing domain
Matareca
mitigatest
multiple-decision process
Nakhodka
network simulation
non-ionic catalysis
Ombersley
one way restrictor valve
open coil annealing
optimal feedback control
output method
ozone-resistant rubbber
parentage diagnosis
pigeon lofts
polar-opposite
polymer variable condenser
Pseudoceratites
psychophysicist
Puerto Valdés
rail gage
ramanas
renegadoes
replacement-level
salafis
SAST
scarlet sulfonate
school tuna
serrated disk
service casing
sethen
small hole darning
sound cameras
span chisel
Spare-Tyre
spatially
sponge tent
sportsfests
stability against forcing out during train buckling
stabilizing annealing
stoneboats
sulcus habenularis
surface tillage
tacha
thin film hologram
thiotoluenes
Trumpism
turn-off gain
uncollectible accounts
visargas
water poppy
wien's law of radiation