大学英语综合教程 第三册 1textA

[00:00.00]In America many people have a romantic idea of life in the countryside. Many living in towns
[00:08.12]dream of starting up their own farm, of living off the land .Few get round to putting their dreams into practice.
[00:17.21]This is perhaps just as well, as the life of a farmer is far from easy, as Jim Doherty discovered
[00:25.73]when he set out to combine being a writer with running a farm. Nevertheless, as he explains,
[00:33.46]he has no regrets and remains enthusiastic about his decision to change his way of life.
[00:41.61]MR.DOHERTY BUILDS HIS DREAM LIFEBy   Jim Doherty
[00:48.12]There are two things I have always wanted to do--write and live on a farm. Today I'm doing both.
[00:56.87]I am not in E.B. White's class as a writer or in my neighbors' league as a farmer, but I'm getting by.
[01:05.18]And after years of frustration with city and suburban living,
[01:10.61]my wife Sandy and I have finally found contentment here in the country.
[01:17.27]2 It's a self-reliant sort of life.We grow nearly all of our fruits and vegetables.Our hens keep us in eggs,
[01:27.01]with several dozen left over to sell each week.Our bees provide us with honey,
[01:33.91]and we cut enough wood to just about make it through the heating season.
[01:39.71]3 It's a satisfying life too.In the summer we canoe on the river,go picnicking in the woods
[01:48.25]and take long bicycle rides.In the winter we ski and skate.We get excited about sunsets.
[01:57.60]We love the smell of the earth warming and the sound of cattle lowing.
[02:03.95]We watch for hawks in the sky and deer in the cornfields.
[02:09.52]4 But the good life can get pretty tough.Three months ago when it was 30below,we spent two miserable days
[02:19.55]hauling firewood up the river on a sled.Three months from now,it will be 95 above and we will be cultivating corn,
[02:29.94]weeding strawberries and killing chickens.Recently,Sandy and I had to retile the back roof.
[02:39.37]Soon Jim,16 and Emily,13,the youngest of our four children,
[02:46.61]will help me make some long-overdue improvements on the out-door toilet that supplements our indoor plumbing
[02:55.07]when we are working outside.Later this month,we'll spray the orchard,
[03:01.76]paint the barn,plant the garden and clean the hen house before the new chicks arrive.
[03:09.00]5 In between such chores,I manage to spend 50 to 60 hours a week at the typewriter or doing reporting
[03:17.98]for the freelance articles I sell to magazines and newspapers.Sandy,meanwhile,pursues her own demanding schedule.
[03:27.67]Besides the usual household routine,she oversees the garden and beehives,bakes bread,cans and freezes,
[03:37.16]drives the kids to their music lessons,practices with them,takes organ lessons on her own,does research and typing for me,
[03:46.69]writes an article herself now and then,tends the flower beds,stacks a little wood and delivers the eggs.
[03:55.96]There is,as the old saying goes,no rest for the wicked on a place like this--and not much for the virtuous either.
[04:05.05]6 None of us will ever forget our first winter.We were buried under five feet of snow from December through March.
[04:14.15]While one storm after another blasted huge drifts up against the house and barn,
[04:20.86]we kept warm inside burning our own wood,eating our wen apples and loving every minute of it.
[04:29.19]7 When spring came,it brought two floods.First the river overflowed,covering much of our land for weeks.
[04:38.00]Then the growing season began,swamping us under wave after wave of produce.
[04:44.58]Our freezer filled up with cherries,raspberries,strawberries,asparagus,peas,beans and corn.
[04:54.90]Then our cannedgoods shelves and cupboards began to grow with preserves,tomato juice,grape juice,
[05:04.61]plums,jams and jellies.Eventually,the basement floor disappeared under piles of potatoes,
[05:13.78]squash and pumpkins,and the barn began to fill with apples and pears.It was amazing.
[05:21.15]8 The next year we grew even more food and managed to get through the winter on firewood