时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(三月)


英语课

Hydroponic Farmer Produces Year-Round Harvest


Mary Ellen Taylor sells her produce at weekend farmers markets near Washington, D.C. The heads of lettuce 1, still attached to their roots, are popular and she has many repeat customers.


“The lettuce just tastes fabulous," says Betsy Kulick, one of her regulars. "We can come here year round even in January, February and March. The lettuce is very green and tastes just as good then as it does in summer.”
Taylor grows the lettuce and other salad greens on her family farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, about 80 kilometers from Washington. She grows the food plants in a greenhouse, without any soil, on a diet of nutrient-rich water.
It's called hydroponic farming. Although the technique has been around for thousands of years, it has filled a very small niche 2 in modern agriculture, especially in the United States, where large tracts 3 of land and other resources are available. 
Taylor harvests 4,000 heads of lettuce weekly in her two hydroponic greenhouses all year round. That's why she named her farm Endless Summer Harvest. She has a dozen part-time employees and frequent visitors from around the world. 
“Several weeks ago an investor 4 group from Botswana came to visit with us," Taylor says. "We had farmers from Afghanistan here that were visiting, because this would be an ideal controlled environment to bring to Afghanistan where the climate is so harsh."
Taylor's hydroponic crops are protected from the harsh elements from planting to harvest.
It starts with seeds being planted in the nursery. After they germinate 5, the little plants stay in the nursery for two weeks. Then they're moved to a greenhouse and placed into gutters 6, where they'll grow to market size.
They're nourished sustainably, using recycled water.
“The tank has 600 gallons [2000 liters] of water with nutrients," Taylor says. "It continuously flows in and out of that tank after it has gone through the system and all of the plants’ roots.” 
According to Taylor, the two greenhouses take up a little over 1,000 square meters of land but produce the equivalent of a conventional five-hectare farm.
“We have established that it is so productive on small pieces of land," Taylor says, "that it can be closer to major metropolitan 7 areas.” 
Besides farmers markets, Taylor sells her fresh produce to specialty 8 grocery stores. 
“It is incredibly popular," says Don Rodon, owner of The Organic Butcher of McLean. "We have a great following.” 
At 1789, a restaurant in Washington, D.C., chef Anthony Lombardo uses the hydroponic lettuces 9 in his signature salads.
“They [the clients] really like the salad a lot," he says. "We get a lot of positive feedback about the salad.”
And that's translating into brisk business for hydroponic farmer Taylor.
“People are so into buying local food. Ninety percent of Americans eat lettuce every day. Our business, while other businesses are tanking, is just exploding," she says. "We are a retail 10 farm phenomenon here in America.” 
Taylor, who enjoys being known as "the lettuce lady," plans to double the size of her farm this year.

n.莴苣;生菜
  • Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿,我好做色拉。
  • The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。
n.壁龛;合适的职务(环境、位置等)
  • Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
  • The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。
大片土地( tract的名词复数 ); 地带; (体内的)道; (尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的)短文
  • vast tracts of forest 大片大片的森林
  • There are tracts of desert in Australia. 澳大利亚有大片沙漠。
n.投资者,投资人
  • My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
  • The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。
v.发芽;发生;发展
  • Seeds will not germinate without water.没有水,种子是不会发芽的。
  • Can thin and hollow seeds germinate?瘦瘪的种子能够发芽吗?
(路边)排水沟( gutter的名词复数 ); 阴沟; (屋顶的)天沟; 贫贱的境地
  • Gutters lead the water into the ditch. 排水沟把水排到这条水沟里。
  • They were born, they grew up in the gutters. 他们生了下来,以后就在街头长大。
adj.大城市的,大都会的
  • Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
  • Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。
n.(speciality)特性,特质;专业,专长
  • Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
  • His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。
n.莴苣,生菜( lettuce的名词复数 );生菜叶
  • My lettuces have gone to seed. 我种的莴苣已结子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Are these lettuces home-grown or did you buy them in the market? 这些生菜是自家种的呢,还是你在市场上买的? 来自辞典例句
v./n.零售;adv.以零售价格
  • In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
  • These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。
学英语单词
6-phosphofructo-2-kinase
accident code
agency endorsement
air bubble apparatus
algorithmic processor description
All made fast!
anti-friction alloy
as we all know
atomic number 46s
azatadine maleate
bamboo ferns
bankbooks
bantung
bassem
Bohnābād
bomerang
bridge key
carbamide side cutter
cargo attendant
charge coupling
coarseness-fibred
confermed irrevocable letter of credit
cysteine sulfinic acid
deasphalted oil
DRSG
drug metabolites
drum handling machine
drupaceous
Dry-masonry
electrostatic copying
email thread
entry indicator
epicondylus medialis femoris
extra-period of detention
foundation stones
graphical interpretation
hand-powered
Hawea Flat
Hexamethyleneimines
house trailers
huff and puff method
hypoxathine
instantaneous spectrum
intrinsics
Irvine phosphorus process
ischemic paralysis Volkmann's paralysis
ish
janeth
kalialaskite porphyry
lame under the hat
lecithic
look through the fingers upon
Luce, Henry Robinson
mastre
measuring peg
Medochemie
metromaniac
multiple speech output system
naraingarh
national insurance
nephrogenic zone
no-feer
novac
Novoyur'yevo
overlond relief valve
p.e.d
paraphenetidine
patterned responses
pinus parryanas
polyvinylpyrrolidone
prolixnesses
pseudotechnical
radiochemical analyzer
radioimmunity assay
reclaimed copper
rip box
Semawe
seri
servo lever
session management
should have done
single line source
spray- painted
T3--neogenesis
talked dirty
tap of thread
theoretical plate
Tolkiens
trichloroacetyl chloride
twinkiling
unconvertdr lime
underhung crane
upper hand
useful capacity
Vatyl'ka
vexatory
went so far as
westwego
wing mirror
word-parallel and bit-parallel
zinc-coated steel