Houses Made of Straw

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Today we bring you a new take on an old tale. It's the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf that blew down a house made of straw and one made of sticks. The only house left standing was the one made of bricks. Now there is new evidence to suggest that houses built with bales of straw can be very strong. They are also environmentally friendly.

Pete Walker is a professor at the University of Bath in Britain. He and a team of researchers there have built a house made out of straw bale and hemp material.

During the next twelve months the team will study the effectiveness of these materials in home building. Professor Walker says there are many good reasons for using straw.

PETE WALKER: "One of the benefits is it's a relatively inexpensive renewable material that's readily available."

Professor Walker says straw takes in carbon dioxide as it grows. So it can be seen as having no harmful effects on the environment. He says straw helps the environment in other ways.

PETE WALKER: "The straw bales walls are relatively thick and so all that straw provides very good thermal insulation. So we make buildings that require very little heating in the winter or indeed very little cooling in the summer. So they require very little additional energy."

Professor Walker says this reduces home operating expenses. It also reduces the effect on the environment. He says the current interest in straw bale houses is a direct response to the problem of climate change.

David Lanfear owns an eco-friendly home building service in the United States called Bale on Bale Construction.

He says he laughed when some friends first told him about houses built of straw. But after doing his own research, he learned that building with straw bales makes a lot of sense. He has now helped to build more than ten straw bale houses and says the building material is becoming more widely accepted.

To build the houses, he fills a wood frame with tightly packed bales of straw. Next he coats the walls inside and out with layers of clay plaster. He says the common ideas about straw houses continue, including stories about the threat of fire. Mister Lanfear says straw bale houses have done well when tested for fire resistance. And he says his builders use the same building methods as traditional builders to keep out rain.

DAVID LANFEAR: "We use what we call good shoes and a good hat, and that would be a solid foundation and a really good roof."

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.

今天，我们将向您讲述一个老故事的新版本。这就是三只小猪和一只很坏的狼之间的故事。狼摧毁了用稻草和树枝建造的房子。最后，巍然屹

立的只有用砖建造的房子。现在，新的证据表明，用稻草做的房子非常坚固，对环境也更好。

Pete Walker是英国巴斯大学的教授。他和一组研究人员用稻草和麻建造了一所房屋。

在接下来的十二个月期间，研究小组研究了这些建筑材料的影响。Walker教授表示，使用稻草来建造房屋的理由有很多。

Pete Walker：“其中一些好处是，稻草的成本相对来说更加低廉，可再生，而且比较容易获得。”

Walker教授说，稻草在生长的过程中吸收二氧化碳，所以对环境没有任何不利影响。他说，稻草还以其他方式对环境产生良好影响。

Walker教授：“稻草建造的墙相对来说比较厚，所以，所有的稻草提供了良好的隔热功能。所以，我们建造的房屋在冬季几乎不需要供暖，而

在夏季几乎不需要冷却设施。所以，我们需要的额外能源很少。”

Walker教授表示，这样可以节约家庭开支，还可以减少对环境的影响。他说，目前对稻草屋的兴趣是对气候变化问题所做的最直接的反应。

David Lanfear在美国设立了生态友好房屋建筑服务，名字叫做Bale on Bale Construction。

他说，当朋友第一次告诉他用稻草建造房屋时，他抱着嘲笑的态度。但是，当他自己进行了研究之后，他发现，用稻草建造房屋完全行得通。

现在，他已经帮助建造了十多套稻草房屋。他说，这种建筑材料受到越来越广泛的认可。

稻草房屋的建造过程是，在木质框架中赛满捆扎的很紧的稻草。接下来，在墙的内外表面镀上几层石灰。他说，人们仍然以常规观点来看待稻

草房屋，包括火灾威胁。Lanfear说，稻草房屋在防火测试方面表现良好。他说，他的建筑师用与传统的建造者同样的方法来防雨。

DAVID LANFEAR：“我们使用通常所说的good shoes and a good hat，这将建成坚固的地基和优质的屋顶。”