英语听力：自然百科 加州葡萄酒业
时间：2018-12-26 作者：英语课 分类：自然百科2010年
英语课
In the fertile（肥沃的） valleys of central California, wine-making has grown into a giant industry and many of the family vineyards that helped develop the area still operate today. But in an era when people are increasingly concerned about the effects of development, the region's wine growers face the challenge of keeping the land viable 1 and the multimillion-dollar industry prosperous. The result is a new self-imposed code for sustainable agriculture.
“We have 120 acres that have been in our family for over a hundred years, in an area that is very highly developed. Producing wine is what enables us to keep the land in agriculture.”
The growers hope that the environmental code of farming practices will head off costly 2 state regulations.
“Will we be just bottlers of other people's juice? Or will we be international bottlers of wines coming from other countries? Or will we have, in the face of all the economic and social pressure on California, a very viable and outstanding land? Well, you just can't claim it. You have to do things to ensure it.”
The new code deals with a range of land use topics, from reducing dependence 3 on pesticides 4 to limiting water consumption. But the wine growers are coming under fire for something the code does not address: the rapid growth of the industry.
In Sonoma County alone, vineyards now cover twice as much land as they did in 1977. All over California, vineyard acreage has been steadily 5 increasing, with the latest estimate showing close to 500,000 acres being used for wine production.
But vineyards are just part of the sprawl 6（蔓延） in central California these days. Wine makers 7 are competing for the region's resources with an increasing number of residential 8 communities. And as sprawling 9 vineyards meet urban sprawl, it's important for wine growers to find ways to better use the area's limited resources.
1 viable
adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的
- The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
- The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。
2 costly
adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的
- 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。
3 dependence
n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属
- Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
- He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。
4 pesticides
n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物
- vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
- There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 steadily
adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地
- The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
- Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
6 sprawl
vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延
- In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
- He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。
7 makers
n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）
- The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
- The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 residential
adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的
- The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
- The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。