‘To end our special news bulletin,’said the voice of the television announcer,‘we're going over to the macaroni fields of Calabria. Macaroni has been grown in this area for over six hundred years. Two of the leading growers, Giuseppe Moldova and Riccardo Brabante, tell me that they have been expecting a splendid crop this year and harvesting has begun earlier than usual. Here you can see two workers who, between them, have just finished cutting three cartloads of golden brown macaroni stalks. The whole village has been working day and night gathering and threshing this year's crop before the September rains. On the right, you can see Mrs. Brabante herself. She has been helping her husband for thirty years now. Mrs .Brabante is talking to the manager of the local factory where the crop is processed. This last scene shows you what will happen at the end of the harvest: the famous Calabrian macaroni-eating competition! Sign or Fratelli, the present champion, has won it every year since 1991. And that ends our special bulletin for today, Thursday, April 1st. We're now going back to the studio.’
New words and expressions 生词和短语
fool(title)/fu:l/n.傻瓜
bulletin(1.1)/'bvlətin/n.新闻简报
thresh(1.9)/θreʃ/v.打(庄稼)
announcer(1.2)/ə'nvnsə/n.(电视、电台)播音员
process(1.11)/'prəvses/v.加工
macaroni(1.3)/'mækə'rəvni/n.通心面,空心面条
Signor(1.13)/'si:njɔ:/n.(意大利语)先生
leading(1.4)/'li:diŋ/adj.主要的
present(1.13)/'prezənt/adj.目前的
grower(1.4)/'grəvə/n.种植者
splendid(1.5)/'splendid/adj.极好的
studio(1.14)/'stju:diəv/n.播音室
stalk(1.8)/stɔ:k/n.梗
Notes on the text 课文注释
1 April Fools' Day,愚人节,4月1日。根据西方国家的风俗,这一天人们往往以愚弄别人作为乐事,本文所述的通心粉长在地里便是一个例子。