World News for Students of English

25-07-2024 07:00

In Portugal, workers like Carlos Feras harvest cork from trees every summer. They peel the bark without hurting the trees. Cork trees grow their bark back slowly. Farmers can only harvest cork every nine years. Portugal makes more cork than any other country. Cork farming is very important for the country. People want more cork these days because it is a natural material.

Antonio Jose Matos harvests cork for 43 years. He says that the job is hard. But he likes it very much. People use cork for many things like wine corks and insulation. Researchers are finding new ways to use cork. The industry needs more workers, but not many people want to do this job. Cork trees grow slowly, so this work takes patience.

Difficult words: harvest (to pick fruit or other things), bark (the hard part of a tree), insulation (to put a material on something to keep the thing cold or hot), patience (when you can stay calm and not get angry when something takes a long time).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.