英語聽力文摘461 紅色谷倉緣何而來？
Yaël: This was a great idea, Don. It's a beautiful day for a drive to the countryside.
Don: Yep!
Y: Hey, there's a big red barn. An another one, also red. I wonder why so many barns are painted red.
D: I don't have to wonder. I've known why barns are red since I was little.
Y: Did you grow up on a farm?
D: No, I was just a weird kid.
Y: So, what's the scoop?
D: A few hundred years ago European farmers started painting their barns with a mixture of linseed oil, milk, and lime. Believe it or not, the combination made a pretty good paint that protected wood.
Y: So where does the red come from?
D: Sometimes they’d also add ferrous oxide to the mix.
Y: You mean rust? Why would they add rust to the paint?
D: Because rust kills fungi and moss. When they grow on a barn they trap moisture in the wood, which leads to decay. Painting a barn with rusty paint was the best way to keep it strong and dry.
After a while, red barns became a tradition in Europe and over here in America. And even though once commercial paints became available, the tradition continued, since red paint was cheap.
White is the second most popular color for barns, since at some point whitewash became even cheaper than red paint. But today, you’ll see barns in many different colors.
為什么谷倉是紅色的?
Yaël: Don，這主意真的太棒了!今天超適合開著車到郊外兜風(fēng)!
Don: 贊成!
Y: 看，那里有一個(gè)好大的紅谷倉哦。哦，還有一個(gè)，也是紅色的。真想不通，為什么這些谷倉都要被漆成紅色的呢?
D: 我倒是不用去想了，因?yàn)樵谖液苄〉臅r(shí)候我就已經(jīng)知道各中原因了。
Y: 你是在農(nóng)場(chǎng)長(zhǎng)大的?
D: 那倒不是，我只是個(gè)好奇寶寶而已。
Y: 那，來談?wù)勀愕?ldquo;獨(dú)家報(bào)道”吧!
D: 數(shù)百年前，歐洲農(nóng)民首先使用一種由亞麻仁油、牛奶和石灰混合而成的混合物來粉刷他們的谷倉。信不信由你，這種混合物是很好的涂料，能很好的保護(hù)木材。
Y: 那紅色又是怎么來的呢?
D: 有時(shí)候，他們會(huì)在混合物中加入氧化亞鐵。
Y: 你是說鐵銹?他們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)在涂料里加鐵銹呢?
D: 這是因?yàn)殍F銹能除掉真菌和苔蘚。如果谷倉里長(zhǎng)出了真菌和苔蘚，會(huì)使得木材變得潮濕，導(dǎo)致木材腐爛。粉刷谷倉時(shí)在涂料內(nèi)加入鐵銹是保證其牢固、干燥的最好方法。
沒過多久，紅色的谷倉便成為了歐洲以及全美的一項(xiàng)傳統(tǒng)。其后，油漆開始面向大眾，紅色谷倉的傳統(tǒng)也在延續(xù)，因?yàn)榧t色油漆很便宜。
除了紅色，最受歡迎的便是白色谷倉。當(dāng)然，原因很簡(jiǎn)單，有一段時(shí)間，白色油漆降價(jià)，比紅色油漆還便宜呢?，F(xiàn)如今，又完全不一樣了，你可以看到五顏六色的谷倉!
