www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

您現在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Normal Speed News  
   
 





 
It's get-off-the-couch time in America
[ 2009-04-09 10:04 ]

Download

It's get-off-the-couch time in America

It's spring, when young men's - and some women's - fancies turn to . . . lawns! Older people's fancies, too. For some American homeowners, a perfect lawn is an obsession, for others an obligation, and for some - who'd rather look at green, weed-free expanses of grass than mow them - a triumph of landscape architecture.

A couple of years ago, we reported that old-fashioned push-style lawn mowers were making a big comeback. The so-called green revolution was in full thrall, and 7 times the number of muscle-powered mowers were being sold than in the 1980s, when power mowers were king.

Even so, millions of sales are still rung up for electric, gas-powered, self-propelled and riding mowers as well.

It's get-off-the-couch time in America

Ted Steinberg, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, has even written a book about lawns and mowers. He comes down on the obsession side of things, asserting that the quest for the perfect lawn has changed the American landscape as profoundly as did tree-clearing in earlier centuries, as the nation spread westward.

Steinberg notes that Americans have 16th-century British aristocracy, with its legions of scythe-wielding gardeners, to blame for the idea that grassy glades should be trimmed with manicured precision.

Showplace lawns became such a status symbol at tract developments in the American suburbs that, as Steinberg points out, the first words that a neighbor had for comedian Alan King when he moved into a subdivision were, Whaddya gonna do about the crabgrass?

It's get-off-the-couch time in America

Then came garden shows and televised golf tournaments, with their immaculate greens, and the stampede for new lawn mowers, trimmers, fertilizers, watering systems and weed-killers was on.

For some Americans, Steinberg points out, lawn care represents the single most important engagement with the natural world. An engagement that, as often as not, the crabgrass wins!

American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn, by Ted Steinberg, is published by Norton and Company.I'm Ted Landphair.

self-propelled: (of a vehicle) propelled by its own engine, motor, or the like, rather than drawn or pushed by a horse, locomotive, etc(自力推進的,機動式的)

westward: toward the west(向西)

immaculate:free from fault or flaw; free from errors(完美的)

Related stories:

'March Madness' betting runs rampant in American offices

FBI director says white collar crimes skyrocket

Student journalists to report from Oscar red carpet

(Source: VOA 英語點津編輯)

 
英語點津版權說明:凡注明來源為“英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創作品,除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外,其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯系;凡本網注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉載,請與稿件來源方聯系,如產生任何問題與本網無關;本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段,版權歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權,請提供版權證明,以便盡快刪除。
相關文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本頻道最新推薦
 
Walking in the US first lady's shoes
“準確無誤”如何表達
英國新晉超女蘇珊大媽改頭換面
豬流感 swine flu
你有lottery mentality嗎
翻吧推薦
 
論壇熱貼
 
別亂扔垃圾。怎么譯這個亂字呀?
橘子,橙子用英文怎么區分?
看Gossip Girl學英語
端午節怎么翻譯?
母親,您在天堂還好嗎?

 

主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产性videostv另类极品 | 成年女人永久免费观看片 | 亚洲免费一区 | 国产系列在线 | 99爱在线精品视频免费观看9 | 亚洲一区二区在线成人 | 性福利视频 | 日本高清专区一区二无线 | 性感美女视频黄.免费网站 性高湖久久久久久久久 | 日本伊人精品一区二区三区 | 日韩在线成人 | 亚洲三级在线视频 | 日韩在线国产精品 | 黄色免费在线网址 | 亚洲99久久久久综合 | 一区二区三区 亚洲区 | 欧美日本一区二区三区生 | 99国产精品久久久久久久日本 | 女人张开双腿让男人桶完整 | 久色乳综合思思在线视频 | 国内精自线一二区 | 亚洲第一区视频 | 一区二区三区在线免费看 | 免费一级毛片不卡在线播放 | jizjiz日本 | 亚洲黄视频在线观看 | 女人把腿劈开让男人桶的网站 | 国产在线精品一区二区不卡 | 国产v视频| 亚洲国产精品a在线 | 大伊香蕉精品视频在线天堂 | 特黄特色一级特色大片中文 | 80日本xxxxxxxxx | 6080伦理久久亚洲精品 | 国产99视频精品草莓免视看 | 精品毛片免费看 | 综合激情网站 | 国产精品亚洲一区二区在线观看 | 精品久久在线观看 | 综合久久一区二区三区 | 日日a.v拍夜夜添久久免费 |