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美国国家公共电台 NPR When Robots Milk Cows, Farm Families Taste Freedom

时间:2018-04-12 02:23:59

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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

On a growing number of dairy farms, people don't decide when the cows need to be milked. The cows do. That's because farmers have called in robots to do the milking - day or night. And for some families - the ones that run small dairies - the robots mean freedom. NPR's Dan Charles reports.

DAN CHARLES, BYLINE1: Carol and Bill Shuler and their two sons, Billy and Wyatt, run a dairy farm near the town of Baroda in southwest Michigan. And for decades, family life revolved2 around milking 40 cows.

BILL SHULER: At quarter to four every morning, the first thing we did - we would clean the barn out.

BILLY SHULER: We fed the cows. We milked the cows. And then at 3:00 in the afternoon, it all started over again. Feed the cows. Milk the cows.

CAROL SHULER: Milking time is kind of like our meal time. You know, we were more likely to be together during milking time than we were during meal time.

CHARLES: That was Bill, Billy and Carol Shuler. There were no weekends off - no holidays. If there was a big family get-together3 like a wedding, Bill Shuler says, they'd get there late or leave early.

BILL SHULER: If you're a small operation and you can't hire help, you're a virtual slave to your farm.

CHARLES: On top of that, recent years have been really tough for dairy farmers. Milk prices have slumped4, as they sometimes do. Farmers are eating into their savings5. Some are giving up on dairying. Bill and Carol Shuler wondered if their two sons really would want this life. Their grandmother, Shirley Shuler, really had her doubts.

SHIRLEY SHULER: You couldn't encourage them because you know it isn't easy. You know it isn't easy.

CHARLES: But a couple of years ago, Billy and Wyatt told their parents they did want to be dairy farmers, and the Shulers decided6 to make a big investment for the future of the farm and the family.

(SOUNDBITE OF MECHANICAL WHIRRING)

CHARLES: There's a big new barn on the farm now. Inside it, a hundred cows spend their days lounging on sawdust. And every once in a while, one of them decides it's her own personal milking time. She strolls down to one end of the barn where there's a small, trailer-sized building.

(SOUNDBITE OF GATE SLAMMING)

CHARLES: She pushes through a metal gate and walks into that building into a special cow-sized chamber7 that holds her in place. A sensor8 reads her ID tag, and a robotic arm swings into action, reaching toward her udder.

BILL SHULER: OK. So here we go.

CHARLES: Yep.

BILL SHULER: The first thing it's going to do is sanitize each teat with an iodine9 solution. Then it'll go back and put the milkers on individually.

CHARLES: I see a little red light. Is that...

BILL SHULER: Those are the lasers.

CHARLES: That's right - lasers. That's how the robot finds the teats. It takes the machine a couple of tries to attach the milkers. A human would do this much faster. But eventually, it succeeds, and milk flows through hoses into a big storage tank. Bill Shuler's sons are usually here, but they don't have to be - at least not every minute. If something goes wrong, they'll get an alert on their phones.

Robots are milking just a small minority of American cows - maybe 5 percent. But the share is growing. Big dairies are buying them to replace workers, often immigrants. Small farms have been getting them to replace family labor10.

BILL SHULER: It absolutely changes your lifestyle. It gives you a life.

CHARLES: There's been a lot of talk lately about robots taking people's jobs. Bill Shuler hopes this robot will help his sons stay in the dairy business.

BILL SHULER: If this technology was available 25 or 30 years ago, I'd still have more friends milking cows today. I have a friend - he's a couple years older than I am. I'm sure he would have robots. He'd still be milking cows today. His son would probably be there with him.

CHARLES: In fact, a small family-run dairy farm like this is rare enough these days, Shuler's turning it into a tourist attraction. Hundreds of people visited last year. Kids love the cows, he says. Older people are amazed by the robots. Dan Charles, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 byline sSXyQ     
n.署名;v.署名
参考例句:
  • His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
  • We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。
2 revolved b63ebb9b9e407e169395c5fc58399fe6     
v.(使)旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 );细想
参考例句:
  • The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
  • The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 get-together 1sWzOV     
n.(使)聚集;(使)集合
参考例句:
  • Well,Miss Huang,we are planning to have a casual get-together.嗯,黄小姐,我们打算大家小聚一番。
  • Will you help me prepare for the get- together of the old classmates?你能否帮我为这次老同学聚会做好准备工作?
4 slumped b010f9799fb8ebd413389b9083180d8d     
大幅度下降,暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 ); 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]
参考例句:
  • Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
  • The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上,疲惫得睡着了。
5 savings ZjbzGu     
n.存款,储蓄
参考例句:
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 chamber wnky9     
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
参考例句:
  • For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
  • The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
8 sensor sz7we     
n.传感器,探测设备,感觉器(官)
参考例句:
  • The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
  • He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。
9 iodine Da6zr     
n.碘,碘酒
参考例句:
  • The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
  • Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。
10 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。

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