This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
George Ballas of Houston, Texas, lived a long life. He was a businessman and property developer. A university lecturer and author. A dancer and dance studio owner whose son Corky and grandson Mark followed in his footsteps into the dance world.
德克萨斯州休斯敦的乔治·巴拉斯（George Ballas）走过了漫长人生。他的身份包括商人、房地产开发商、大学讲师、作家、舞蹈演员和舞蹈工作室老板。他的儿子考基（Corky）和孙子马克（Mark）也都循着他的脚步走进了舞蹈圈。
And Mr. Ballas was the inventor of the Weed Eater.
此外，巴拉斯先生还是Weed Eater这种手持式割草机的发明人。
The man who found an easier way for people to cut grass and weeds died in Houston on June twenty-fifth. He was eighty-five years old.
这位为人们找到了一种更简单的修剪草坪方式的男子于6月25日去世，享年85岁。
George Ballas was born in Louisiana. He joined the military at seventeen. He served in World War Two and the Korean War. After the military, he became a dance teacher and executive in the dance school industry.
巴拉斯出生于路易斯安那州。他十七岁加入军队，曾在二战和韩战中服役。退伍后，他成为一所舞蹈学校的舞蹈教师和行政人员。
In the nineteen fifties, he built a dance studio of his own in Houston. People called it the biggest in the world. Dance City USA had one hundred twenty teachers. Mr. Ballas sold the studio in nineteen sixty- four.
20世纪50年代，他在休斯敦创建了自己的舞蹈工作室。人们称之为全球最大的舞蹈工作室。这家名为美国舞蹈城（Dance City USA）的工作室有120名舞蹈教师。1964年，巴拉斯将其转让。
By the early seventies, he was on to the next big thing. The idea had come to him at a car wash. He watched the needle-like bristles of the brushes as they went round and round against his car. Could a similar idea be used to cut grass in places out of reach of someone pushing a lawn mower?
到了七十年代初，他迈向了人生又一个壮举。他在一次洗车过程中产生了这个想法。他观察到洗车的刷子上像针一样的刷毛不断在车上打转，能否把类似的想法应用到割草上，去清理那些手推式割草机够不着的地方？
To find out, he placed lengths of fishing line through holes in a tin can. He attached the can to the spinning part of a motorized grass edger. The result? A revolution for millions of people who cut grass for a living or just to keep their neighbors happy.
为了找到答案，他把一定长度的钓鱼线穿过锡罐的小孔，然后把这个锡罐固定到机动的草坪修边器的旋转部位。结果如何呢？这对数百万以修剪草坪为生以及修剪自己草坪的人来说是一次革命。
His invention grew into a company which he later sold.
这个发明后来发展成一家公司，后来他将这家公司售出。
George Ballas became known as the "Weed King." As he once told the Houston Chronicle, "A Weed Eater comes along once in a lifetime."
巴拉斯成为著名的“割草大王。”就像他曾告诉休斯敦纪事报的，“手持式割草机这种机会一生中只会出现一次。”
Today the idea lives on in a new generation of string trimmers and edgers that people often call weed whackers.
今天，这个想法已经发展到具有修剪和打边功能，被人们称为weed whackers(杂草克星?)的新一代割草机。
The noise may not be the nicest, but neither is a loud mower. Trimmers work well in corners and along walls and fences. And, as weed expert Bill Curran at Penn State University points out, they avoid the use of chemicals. Or the labor of pulling weeds by hand.
weed whackers割草机的噪音可能不是最低的，但它也不是一种很吵的割草机。它适用于各种角落、围墙和栅栏边。就像宾夕法尼亚州立大学的杂草专家指出的，weed whackers割草机避免了化学品的使用，也避免了手工清除杂草的劳动。
Of course, in the wrong hands, a weed whacker can do damage like any other power tool. The high-speed cutting line can whack pieces out of trees, wood fences, stone surfaces or birdbaths.
当然，如果使用不当，weed whackers割草机也会像其他电动工具一样造成损害。高速旋转的切割绳会把树木、木栅栏、石头表明和水盆砸破。
In nineteen fifty-two, George Ballas married Maria Louisa Marulanda, a Spanish flamenco dancer and film actress. They were together for fifty-nine years until his death.
1952年，巴拉斯和西班牙弗拉门戈舞蹈家、电影演员玛丽亚·路易莎·马鲁兰达（Maria Louisa Marulanda）结婚，他们一起度过了59年，直到巴拉斯去世。
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