普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语必修4 Unit 2 Working the land

 Some people thought Jia Sixie was a lucky man. He had worked for the emperor and when he got old, he was able to go to his hometown to relax. Jia Sixie, however, had other plans. He had always been interested in agriculture and intended to do something to make Chinese farming¹ even better.

     Jia Sixie lived in the sixth century AD.He was born in Yidu in Shandong Province and worked in Gaoyang, which is also in Shandong. As he rode through the countryside on his journeys for his work he looked out at the fields. Some of them were greener and had more crops than others. Some cows and sheep looked healthier than others too. He was lost in thought. What could a farmer do to get good crops from his fields? Surely² there must be rules that would help them. He thought he could use his knowledge to find out the best ways for farmers to grow crops and then write a book to help them. In doing so he collected information from farmers who did well, studied it and did experiments to find the best way.
     For example, he studied ways of keeping seeds and advised farmers to choose seed-heads which had the best colour. Then he told them to hang them up to dry all winter. The next spring the seeds should be knocked out of their seed-heads and planted. He studied how to improve the soil. He advised farmers to clear weeds from the ground before planting crops. They could either let the animals eat the weeds or turn the soil over so that the weeds were covered and would rot³. Then he gave advice on turning over the soil. The first time each year, farmers should dig⁴ deeply⁵, but the second time should be less deep. Therefore the autumn ploughing⁶ of the soil should be deeper than the spring ploughing. He suggested changing crops in the field every year: rice one year and wheat the next so that they would always get good harvests. They should also grow different plants next to each other in the field. He also gave advice on how to fish, keep a garden and even make wine.
     He wrote down his advice in a book called “Qi Min Yao Shu”, which was considered an important summary of the knowledge of fanning. For centuries after Jia Sixie died, it was studied by Chinese farmers and students of agriculture.

1 farming   

n.农事；耕作

参考例句：

• He lives by farming.他靠务农过活。
• He is farming in Africa.他在非洲经营农场。

2 surely   

adv.确实地，无疑地；必定地，一定地

参考例句：

• It'should surely be possible for them to reach an agreement.想必他们可以达成协议。
• Surely we'll profit from your work.我们肯定会从你的工作中得到益处。

3 rot   

n.腐烂，腐蚀，败坏；vi.腐烂，烂，堕落，憔悴；vt.使腐烂，使腐朽，使堕落

参考例句：

• Dead plants rot and become part of the soil again.枯死的植物腐烂，又成为土壤的一部分。
• Much rain will make the fruit rot.这么多雨会使水果腐烂。

4 dig   

v.挖（洞，沟等）；掘

参考例句：

• It is difficult to dig the ground when it is frozen.地面冻住了就不易挖掘。
• In those days we often went to dig for wild vegetables.那时候我们常常出去挖野菜。

5 deeply   

adv.深刻地，在深处，深沉地

参考例句：

• I do feel deeply the strength of the collective.我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
• We're deeply honoured that you should agree to join us.您能同意加入我们，我们感到很荣幸。

6 ploughing   

v.耕作；犁耕；耕翻

参考例句：

• The more ploughing and weeding, the better the crop. 一分耕耘， 一分收获。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They will finish ploughing the fields in less than three days. 用不了3天，他们就可以把地全部耕完。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》