VOA标准英语2010年-Farming has Superstars, Too

You can learn about them at agriculture's very own hall of fame

Ted¹ Landphair | Washington, DC 20 May 2010 
You name it. If it's a piece of farm machinery², it's probably in the Ag Hall of Fame's museum, or outside.

Just about every sport has a hall of fame, where its stars are enshrined and visitors can see exhibits related to the game. 

But people also pull off the road to visit other halls of fame that honor everything from teachers to greyhound dogs. And just as you'll find Elvis Presley enshrined at the Rock-'n'-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, you'll see exhibits honoring the giants of the Farm Belt at the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in the little town of Bonner Springs, Kansas.

U.S. president Thomas Jefferson called yeoman farmers the chosen people of God. Jefferson himself is enshrined in the ag hall of fame, as is his fellow farming president, George Washington.

When a farmer climbs up on a tractor, it was a climb, even in the early days.

President Abraham Lincoln's an honoree, too, and not for his legendary³ woodchopping skills. He signed laws opening the West to homesteading, created the national department of agriculture, and established colleges in rural areas. 

Most U.S. visitors recognize some of the other figures, too, including legendary plant geneticist Luther Burbank and John Deere, whose steel plow⁴ vastly increased farm production.

But even rural schoolchildren need some help identifying some of the other hall of famers like Stephen Babcock, who made it possible to determine the butterfat content of milk; and Marion Dorset, a chemist who developed a serum⁵ to prevent hog⁶ cholera⁷.

There's only one thing wrong with this old-fashioned one-room schoolroom at the Ag Hall of Fame: The U.S. flag has 50 stars!

The Agriculture Hall of Fame was chartered by Congress in 1960 but is privately⁸ funded. It's full of farm equipment, displays of rural artwork, and - outside, on the 100-hectare grounds - a model farm town, circa 1900. The town features a blacksmith shop, poultry⁹ hatchery, train depot¹⁰, and a one-room schoolhouse to which children from throughout the Midwest are brought for a day quite unlike the one most of them experience in their modern, air-conditioned classrooms.

All in all, the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame is a one-stop glimpse into America's rural heritage. One person we met there called it a passport to simpler times.
 

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

3 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

4 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

5 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

6 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

7 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

10 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。