美国国家公共电台 NPR--On little strips of land, Kenyans grow everything from roses to azaleas to gardenias

On little strips of land, Kenyans grow everything from roses to azaleas to gardenias¹

Transcript²

As he moves on from Africa to take up his next posting in Mexico, NPR's Eyder Peralta has one last love letter to a favorite part of Nairobi, Kenya: roadside plant nurseries.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For the past six years, NPR international correspondent Eyder Peralta has taken us all around the African continent. He's now moving on to report for NPR from Mexico. But before leaving his post in Nairobi, Kenya, Eyder wrote a love letter to one of his favorite parts of the city - the roadside plant nurseries.

(SOUNDBITE OF CARS HONKING)

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE³: Nairobi tends to be a chaotic⁴ city.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN)

PERALTA: It's a sprawling⁵ metropolis⁶, so the streets are a jumble⁷ - people, buses, police, goats, cows. On the side of the road, you can buy anything from a samosa⁸ to furniture to a puppy. But my favorite thing is that on the side of almost every street, you find a nursery. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Kenyans commandeer little strips of land, and they grow everything from roses to azaleas to delicate gardenias.

GEORGE JENGA: I'm George Jenga. When you translate Jenga, it comes George builder.

PERALTA: Nearly 20 years ago, unable to get a job, George went into the forests of the outskirts⁹ of Nairobi and started collecting seeds. Since then, he's turned this bit of roadside into paradise. He walks me through his garden, a smile on his face. He has learned as much as he can about all of his plants.

JENGA: Like, this one is called Podocarpus falcatus. This one is good for timber.

PERALTA: He picks a hard, round seed.

JENGA: This pod, it germinate¹⁰ within one year and eight months.

PERALTA: Most of the plant sellers in Nairobi sell flowers. They grow quick, and it is what people want, but not George. What George loves are indigenous¹¹ trees. So he waits years for a pod to turn into a seedling¹² to turn into a tree.

JENGA: Our generation is not for the trees. They are going after quick money. And quick money, you cannot get it while you are in a garden.

PERALTA: George moves fast past his flowers. They're just not his thing. But about trees, he can talk for days.

JENGA: This is Vitex keniensis. In English, it is called Meru oak. This one, it is called Calodendrum capense. The seed has a lot of oil.

PERALTA: For wrinkles, he says. He keeps calling out names and uses. But as we move away from the road, his nursery becomes an oasis¹³. We start hearing birds. He dodges¹⁴ bamboo, skips over rocks, and suddenly, we hit a stream. This is the source of life for his plants.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER FLOWING)

PERALTA: This is the most charming part of Nairobi, that in the middle of all the chaos¹⁵, there is always beauty. It's a place where you discover that the aphids making your roses brown also attract hummingbirds¹⁶, so you let them be.

I can see why you like this.

JENGA: You know, a wise scholar said when you treat the nature the well, the nature will reward you. I’ve been rewarded

PERALTA: He's in good health. His kids have gone to school off these plants. And it's not lost on him that as Nairobi becomes a mega city and climate change ravages¹⁷ the Earth, at least hundreds of thousands of trees have passed through his hands. Sometimes, he says, he sees some of his seedlings¹⁸ around town.

JENGA: I walk there. I see a tree. I laugh myself. This has come from my hand.

PERALTA: (Laughter) So that's a good feeling.

JENGA: Yes. I feel...

PERALTA: Yeah.

JENGA: Yes.

PERALTA: Yeah. You're fulfilled.

JENGA: Yes. I have done my part.

PERALTA: He shakes his head. He didn't graduate high school, he tells me, but he has done his part. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Nairobi.

1 gardenias   

n.栀子属植物，栀子花( gardenia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her favorite essence smells like gardenias. 她喜欢的香水闻起来象栀子花。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her favourite essence smells like gardenias. 她喜欢的香水闻起来像栀子花。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

5 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

6 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

7 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

8 samosa   

n.煎饺

参考例句：

• He likes to eat samosa very much.他非常喜欢吃煎饺。
• We want samosa for breakfast.我们早餐想吃煎饺。

9 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

10 germinate   

v.发芽；发生；发展

参考例句：

• 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？

11 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

12 seedling   

n.秧苗，树苗

参考例句：

• She cut down the seedling with one chop.她一刀就把小苗砍倒了。
• The seedling are coming up full and green.苗长得茁壮碧绿。

13 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

14 dodges   

n.闪躲( dodge的名词复数 )；躲避；伎俩；妙计v.闪躲( dodge的第三人称单数 )；回避

参考例句：

• He tried all sorts of dodges to avoid being called up. 他挖空心思，耍弄各种花招以逃避被征召入伍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Those were the dodges he used to escape taxation. 那些是他用以逃税的诡计。 来自辞典例句

15 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

16 hummingbirds   

n.蜂鸟( hummingbird的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious. 蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• Why do hummingbirds and gorillas both have backbones? 为什么蜂鸟和大猩猩都有脊骨？

17 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。

18 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》