VOA慢速英语2010年-Agriculture Report - Housing Plan Thre

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Russia's Pavlovsk Experimental Station houses one of the oldest seed and plant collections in the world. But this month a court agreed to let the Russian Housing Development Foundation take control of the land.

The Russian government established the foundation in two thousand eight. The foundation wants to build housing on the land near Saint Petersburg that the collection now occupies.

Russian officials could still decide to rescue the station. If not, it could be gone within months.

The station would not be at all easy to move, even if enough land could be found quickly. Most of the collection grows in the ground. Agricultural specialists say trying to transplant it would take years.

The Pavlovsk Experimental Station is part of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry. The institute already existed as a research center when plant scientist Nikolai Vavilov reorganized it in the nineteen twenties. The institute was named in his honor in nineteen thirty.

The experimental station includes plants that are not found in any other seed bank. It also has Europe's largest field bank for fruits and berries. More than one hundred varieties each of raspberries and gooseberries grow on its many hectares.

Gardener scientist Svetlana Arbuzova weeds at the Pavlovsk Agricultural Station in Pavlovsk, near St.Petersburg, Russia

The Global Crop Diversity Trust has been working to save the collection since it first appeared threatened. The trust, a food security group, has been urging people to appeal to Russian officials.

An order from President Dmitri Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin could stop the housing development. President Medvedev has started an investigation¹.

The collection has been threatened before. During World War Two, German troops surrounded Saint Petersburg, then called Leningrad. Scientists protected the seeds and plants even as people starved.

The Pavlovsk Experimental Station is one of an estimated one thousand four hundred seed and plant preservation² centers worldwide.

Some have been damaged or destroyed by war, natural disasters and theft. In two thousand eight Norway opened a so-called doomsday vault³ designed to be secure from any threat -- even an asteroid⁴ strike.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is in the side of a mountain. The huge, icy space holds extra copies of seeds from other seed banks. In February, it received its half-millionth seed variety to keep safe

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can read and listen to our programs and get podcasts at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Bob Doughty⁵.

 

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

3 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

4 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

5 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。