英语博客(A cup of English):076 Spring gardening dialogue.

　　Spring makes Wenatchee come alive. Because there are so many flowering trees, like Dogwoods and Magnolias, the town becomes full of pink and white. There are also lots of orchards¹ still; apple, pear, apricot, and cherry trees are grown in this area, so during the Spring, they too blossom. As we get more sun during the day, and the occasional rain, you see flowers popping out of the ground all over the place. During the weekends, as you drive through neighborhoods, the noise of lawn mowers fills the air, and men and women are in their gardens weeding, pruning³, and planting. As you probably know, a lot of time and effort go into some gardens. It takes knowledge and planning to get the job done properly. I spoke⁴ to a local gardener who takes pride in his garden. Let's listen to what he has to say.
"I know that there is a lot of work involved in keeping a garden up. What are some of the jobs that you have to do?"
"Well, in Spring I aerate⁵ the lawn which gets it ready for the Summer months, and the aerator⁶ puts little plugs in the grass, ah, that opens up the soil to fertilizer, water and air. So it gets the grass growing; it jump starts it in the Spring."
"Right. And what about the trees? What kind of things do people have to do in the Spring?"
"Usually, prune⁷ the dead limbs, uh, shape the tree, so you'll prune certain limbs and some of the old wood off."
"Right. And does that encourage new growth?"
"Yeh. It gets the new, younger wood growing. And, it just makes the tree look nicer, more presentable."
"Okay. And what about vegetables and flowers? Do you grow vegetables?"
"I don't, nor do I grow flowers."
"Okay. What kind of equipment do you use apart from an aerator and a lawn mower²? Any thing else?"
" Well, a weed eater to cut down the weeds and trim the edges of the lawn."
"Is that also what you use to cut the hedge and shape the hedge?"
"No, I use a multi-tool."
As you can see there is a lot of work and equipment involved in keeping the lawns and the gardens nice in this area.

1 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

2 mower   

n.割草机

参考例句：

• We need a lawn mower to cut the grass.我们需要一台草坪修剪机来割草。
• Your big lawn mower is just the job for the high grass.割高草时正需要你的大割草机。

3 pruning   

n.修枝，剪枝，修剪v.修剪（树木等）( prune的现在分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分

参考例句：

• In writing an essay one must do a lot of pruning. 写文章要下一番剪裁的工夫。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A sapling needs pruning, a child discipline. 小树要砍，小孩要管。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 aerate   

v.充气，让空气进入

参考例句：

• It were an aquarium,complete with an air pump to aerate the running water.但最让我难忘的礼物否则玩具，而是唯一带空气泵、能通气的鱼缸。
• Each insect contributes something just as ants aerate the soil.每一种昆虫都贡献了一些事情，就象蚂蚁松土给土壤增加空气一样。

6 aerator   

n.通风装置

参考例句：

• An expert system with multiple objectives programming for aerator selection was established. 介绍一个曝气装置选用多目标专家系统。 来自互联网
• Jet aerator especially self-suction jet aerator can meet the need well. 射流曝气，尤其是自吸式射流曝气就可较好地满足这一要求。 来自互联网

7 prune   

n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除

参考例句：

• Will you prune away the unnecessary adjectives in the passage?把这段文字中不必要的形容词删去好吗？
• It is our job to prune the side branches of these trees.我们的工作就是修剪这些树的侧枝。