英语听力：自然百科 加州葡萄酒业

 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 viable¹ 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 costly² 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 dependence³ on pesticides⁴ 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 steadily⁵ increasing, with the latest estimate showing close to 500,000 acres being used for wine production.

 

But vineyards are just part of the sprawl⁶（蔓延） in central California these days. Wine makers⁷ are competing for the region's resources with an increasing number of residential⁸ communities. And as sprawling⁹ 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

参考例句：

• 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

参考例句：

• 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

参考例句：

• 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

参考例句：

• 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

参考例句：

• 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

参考例句：

• 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）

参考例句：

• 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

参考例句：

• 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。

9 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