VOA慢速英語:Christmas Trees Are Not the Only Hot Plants This Time of Year

[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.81]Agriculture Report. [00:04.83]An evergreen tree [00:07.05]is a Christmas tradition [00:08.72]in many American homes. [00:10.69]The tree is unusually a pine [00:13.74]or fir dressed with lights [00:16.06]and other colorful decorations. [00:18.23]Families might buy a cut tree [00:21.97]or go to a tree farm [00:24.29]and cut one down themselves. [00:26.41]Some people bring a live tree [00:30.01]in a pot into their home [00:32.04]for the holidays and then [00:34.61]put it back outdoors. [00:36.63]Some people rent a Christmas tree. [00:40.62]Companies might bring the same [00:42.96]live tree to the same family [00:46.60]year after year. [00:48.38]Or the tree might get planted [00:52.06]in a park or someplace else where [00:56.26]it could help the environment. [00:58.14]There are some trees [01:00.97]that can be reused year [01:03.40]after year because they are made [01:05.82]of plastic or metal. [01:07.70]Or, instead of a tree, [01:10.28]some people have a small, [01:12.96]sweet-smelling rosemary plant, [01:15.84]cut to look like [01:17.36]a little Christmas tree. [01:19.13]Another popular evergreen [01:22.32]this time of year [01:23.48]is the mistletoe plant. [01:25.65]It has small white berries [01:28.84]and leaves that feel like leather. [01:31.67]The traditional Christmas [01:34.31]mistletoe is native to Europe. [01:37.34]Ancient Druids believed [01:40.02]mistletoe had magical powers. [01:42.69]The plant can be found [01:45.02]growing on apple trees, lindens, [01:48.51]maples and poplars. [01:50.33]Mistletoe is a parasitic plant. [01:53.82]It connects itself to a tree [01:56.45]and steals nutrients and water. [01:59.64]Today mistletoe is best known [02:03.38]as an excuse to steal a kiss [02:06.46]at a Christmas party. [02:08.04]Kissing is a tradition [02:10.40]if two people stand under [02:12.89]mistletoe hung in a doorway. [02:15.62]Another plant that many people [02:18.75]connect with Christmas [02:20.12]is the poinsettia. [02:21.94]Poinsettias are native to Mexico. [02:24.67]They can be white or pink, [02:27.80]but most are bright red. [02:30.14]They are named after the first [02:32.81]American ambassador to Mexico. [02:35.49]Joel Poinsett liked them enough [02:39.19]to send some back [02:40.55]to the United States. [02:41.76]Babies or pets that chew [02:45.04]on poinsettias might get sick. [02:47.88]But experts say the plant [02:50.71]is not as poisonous [02:52.53]as some people think. [02:54.40]Like millions of other houses, [02:57.23]the home of America's first president [03:00.72]is decorated for Christmas. [03:03.14]George Washington's Mount Vernon [03:06.28]Estate is in Virginia. [03:08.00]Visitors can hear stories about [03:11.18]what Christmas was like [03:12.60]at Mount Vernon [03:13.72]in the eighteenth century. [03:15.80]The museum where visitors [03:18.22]begin their tour is decorated [03:20.09]with Christmas trees. [03:21.51]Yet Mount Vernon would not have [03:24.74]had Christmas trees during the [03:26.56]late seventeen hundreds, [03:28.23]when Washington led the country. [03:30.50]They did not become popular [03:33.08]in the United States [03:34.51]until the eighteen hundreds. [03:36.83]Visitors learn that [03:39.56]in Washington's time, [03:40.82]there was greenery inside [03:43.35]the mansion, but that was probably [03:46.03]the extent of the decorations. [03:48.00]And that's the VOA Special English [03:51.88]Agriculture Report. [03:53.15]I'm Bob Doughty.

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