VOA慢速英語: 長期干旱影響美國南部農(nóng)戶（雙語）

Long Drought Affects Farmers in Southwestern US
長期干旱影響美國南部農(nóng)戶
Parts of the southwestern American states of Texas and Oklahoma have experienced severe dry weather for several years. This drought has affected the growth of cotton and grains. The governor of Oklahoma says the state has suffered two billion dollars in agricultural losses since 2011. Some heavy rain fell recently, but for most farmers it did not come soon enough.
美國德克薩斯州西南部很多地區(qū)多年一直遭受嚴(yán)重干旱。干旱影響到棉花和谷物的生長。德克薩斯州的州長發(fā)表講話說該州自2011年以來農(nóng)業(yè)遭受20億美元損失。近來下了幾場大雨，但是對多數(shù)農(nóng)戶來說雨來的還是有點(diǎn)晚。
Matt Muller is a farmer in southwestern Oklahoma.
馬特·穆勒是德克薩斯州西南部的一個農(nóng)場主。
“We were doing very well farming until about 2010, the fall of 2010 (when) it basically stopped raining, and for the past four years we've been in continuous drought.”
“2010年以前，農(nóng)耕情況一直不錯，但到2010年秋天基本上就不下雨了，過去四年一直持續(xù)干旱。”
Mr. Muller was hopeful earlier in the year. Spring was cool and wet, and summer came early. But that hope went away when the rains did not come.
穆勒今年早些時候還充滿希望。春天又冷又濕，而且夏天來的早，但是雨一直沒有來，他的希望破滅。
“Things looked phenomenal because of the mild weather and the showers we were able to catch, but then August 1st, it's like a blowtorch showed up.”
“因?yàn)闅夂驕睾?，我們能夠趕上下一場陣雨，但是形勢異常，8月1號后，就像是有噴燈照耀一樣干旱。”
High temperatures and lack of rain meant most crops did not grow. But that was not the case with mung beans. Mr. Muller says that crop did well because it can grow even when there is not much rain.
高溫、少雨的天氣，非常不利于谷物生長，但是對綠豆生長來說卻沒什么影響。穆勒說即使沒有降很多雨，綠豆仍然能長的很好。
“When it started rain(ing), we jumped in and tried that crop and it was able to beat the heat of August and finish out and make a decent crop before it burned up in August.”
“什么時候開始下雨，我們就迅速采取行動。這種作物能夠抵抗八月的高溫，然后成熟，在八月燒焦之前，我們收獲綠豆。”
Those kinds of crops help farmers survive. Irrigation can also help farms. Irrigation systems use water from underground when there is not enough rain. But crops like cotton are more valuable than mung beans, and it is those kinds of crops that are being hurt by the drought.
這類的作物能讓農(nóng)場主免遭一些損失，灌溉也會起到幫助作用。降水不足時，需要使用從地下抽水的灌溉系統(tǒng)。但是像棉花之類的谷物比綠豆價值要高，也正是這類價值高的作物總是因?yàn)楦珊凳軗p。
Clint Abernathy is a cotton farmer. He has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for machines to help him harvest his crop. He says he has not grown as much cotton in the past few years as he predicted.
克林特·艾伯納西是個棉花農(nóng)場主。他已經(jīng)支付了數(shù)百萬美元，讓機(jī)器幫他收獲作物。他表示過去幾年種植的棉花沒有他預(yù)期的多。
“This year we did have enough rain in June and July to, to grow a crop that, that looks better -- it's, it's and it is better -- but this is ground that we normally would want to make three-bale-an-acre-plus on, and right now we're looking at probably a half to three-quarter (of a bale) cotton crop.”
“今年六七月份時候降雨比較充足，作物長勢不錯，——看著越來越好，但是我們通常想一英畝打包三捆，現(xiàn)在我們看到的也許是一捆棉花的一半到四分之三。”
Mr. Abernathy says before drought struck the area, he grew much bigger plants, and each had more cotton on them.
艾伯納西說這個地區(qū)陷入干旱之前，他種植了一些大葉植物，種植了不少棉花。
“This is a stressed plant that did not produce what, what it had the potential to do.”
“這是是受壓的作物，就無法產(chǎn)出預(yù)期產(chǎn)量。”
He says insurance has helped provide money when his crops fail. But he says what farmers really need is more water and better prices for what they grow.
他說當(dāng)作物收成受損時，保險公司會給他提供資金。但是農(nóng)場主真正需要的是更多的水，以及他們種植的東西能賣個好價錢。
“Even with crop insurance we're still, we're goin' downhill, you know. Our, our insurance yields just keep goin' down every year. Prices of commodities – all commodities except livestock -- they just keep goin' down.”
“盡管有作物保險，但是我們?nèi)匀蛔呦缕侣?。我們的產(chǎn)量保險數(shù)目每年都在下降。商品的價格——除了牲畜價格之外，都在下降。”
Livestock prices dropped a few years ago. That is when the drought forced many ranchers to sell their livestock. But few farmers in the area have anything left to sell now, and that hurts the local economy. So farmers in southwestern Oklahoma are doing what farmers throughout the world havedone for centuries: they are hoping for a better year, next year.
牲畜的價錢幾年前下降過。因?yàn)楦珊?，迫使跟多農(nóng)場主賣掉他們的牲畜。現(xiàn)在幾乎沒有農(nóng)場主有什么牲畜可賣了，這損害了當(dāng)?shù)氐慕?jīng)濟(jì)。因此，德克薩斯州西南部的農(nóng)場主正在做全世界農(nóng)民數(shù)百年來做的事：他們希望來年更好。
I’m Caty Weaver.
我是凱蒂·威爾。