Scientistshaveworkedfortwelveyearstodevelop.doc

Scientists have worked for twelve years to develop what they call Green Super Rice. They say several varieties should be available to farmers about two years from now in parts of Asia and Africa.科学家们已经花费了十二年时间来研制他们所谓的绿色超级稻（Green Super Rice）。他们表示，数个品种可能在2年内提供给亚洲和非洲部分地区的农民。The "green" in Green Super Rice means environmentally friendly. Researchers say it will produce at least as much grain as other rice plants but with fewer inputs. "Super" means the rice is designed to better resist droughts, floods, salty water, insects and disease.绿色超级稻中的“绿色”指的是环保。研究人员表示，绿色超级稻产量至少和其他品种相当，但投入却更少。“超级”指的是这种水稻可以更好的抵御干旱、洪水、咸水、虫害和其他疾病。The developers of Green Super Rice did not use genetic engineering. Instead, they mated hundreds of varieties of rice. That way they avoided the costs as well as the problems connected with getting permission to plant genetically engineered crops.
绿色超级稻的研究人员并未采用转基因技术，而是对数百种水稻品种进行杂交。这样可以避免种植转基因作物的成本和许可问题。The project involves the world's largest rice collection, the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. It also involves the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. And it includes farmers in eight countries in Asia and eight in Africa.
参与该项目的包括位于菲律宾的全球最大的水稻研究机构“国际水稻研究所”，还包括中国农科院，以及亚洲8国和非洲8国的农民。Modern rice plants produce two to three times more grain than was possible before the nineteen sixties. But they also require large amounts of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.现代水稻产量是20世纪60年代以前的水稻产量的两到三倍，但它们也需要更多的水、化肥和农药。In the sixties, the International Rice Research Institute developed "miracle rice" for Asia. Scientists created high-yielding crops that produced bigger harvests in what became known as the Green Revolution. It prevented widespread hunger.60年代时，国际水稻研究所为亚洲研制了“神奇稻”。科学家研制出了这种产量更高的高产作物，这后来被称为“绿色革命”。这种高产作物避免了大范围饥荒。But critics say modern rice plants require too much water and too much use of chemicals that can hurt the environment. And farmers may be too poor to buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides.但批评人士说，现代水稻需要太多的水和太多会损害环境的化肥。而农民可能太穷无力购买化肥和农药。Anna McClung heads a rice-breeding center for the United States Agriculture Department. She says combining many different genes into one plant without genetic engineering requires a lot of plant breeding. Ms. McClung praises the researchers working on Green Super Rice.安娜·麦克朗（Anna McClung）是美国农业部水稻育种中心的负责人。她说，在不使用基因技术的情况下，将许多不同的基因组合到同一植株需要进行多次育种。麦克朗赞扬了绿色超级稻的研究人员。ANNA McCLUNG: "The magnitude of what they are doing is really quite unique and tremendous."麦克朗：“他们所进行的研究工作独具重要性。”Another rice researcher, Jan Leach at Colorado State University, says scientists can find valuable qualities hidden in the rice genome. A genome contains all of the genetic information about an organism.另一位来自科罗拉多州立大学的水稻研究人员简·利奇（Jan Leach）表示，科学家们可以在水稻基因组中发现一些极具价值的隐性性状。基因组包含了一种生物所有的基因信息。JAN LEACH: "Many of the traits are present, but they are not turned on until you get them into the right genetic background, or sometimes in the right environment."麦克朗：“许多性状是存在的，但是只有在适当的基因背景，或适当的环境下，这些性状才会显现出来。”Researchers on the Green Super Rice project continue to combine desirable traits into new varieties to help farmers produce more with less.绿超级稻项目的研究人员仍在继续将一些优良性状结合到新品种上，来帮助农民在投入更少的情况下获得更高的产量。
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.White rice is the world's most popular form of rice. But it goes through a milling process that removes many nutrients. As a result, people who eat a poor diet based on white rice may not get enough vitamin A.Each year an estimated two hundred fifty thousand to half a million children go blind from vitamin A deficiency. The World Health Organization says half of them die within a year of losing their sight. Vitamin A deficiency is a problem especially in Africa and Southeast Asia.So scientists thought of an answer. They combined white rice with plant compounds that the body can change into vitamin A. The rice contains beta-carotene and other carotenoids. These plant colorings give the rice a golden color.The scientists also thought of a plan to give away this Golden Rice for free to poor farmers. But the rice is genetically engineered. They say it cannot be made using traditional methods to breed plants.The scientists worked for ten years, until nineteen ninety, to develop the technology to add genes to rice. Then it took nine more years to get the genes they wanted into the seed.The first field tests took place in two thousand four at Louisiana State University in the United States. Golden Rice is currently being tested in the Philippines. It is still not available for general use.Co-inventor Ingo Potrykus says rice with two added genes will be available in twenty-thirteen. One gene comes from maize, or corn, and the other from a soil bacterium.Mr. Potrykus is retired from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He blames the delays on too many rules about genetically modified crops.Opponents say such crops may cause environmental damage by breeding with conventional plants. Opponents also question the safety of biotech foods.Mr. Potrykus says Golden Rice has never been shown to be unsafe for the environment or people. Many agricultural organizations support the project.But there are also critics, including researchers for the environmental group Greenpeace. Several months ago they questioned whether Golden Rice could do much for vitamin A deficiency. They said releasing genetically modified rice in Asia could permanently change traditional rice varieties and wild ancestors of rice.And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more news about rice research, go to . I'm Bob Doughty.
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Today we will talk about some good things to eat. If something is new and improved, we say it is the best thing since sliced bread. In the past, bread was only sold in loaves in baked goods stores. Today, American supermarkets sell sliced bread in plastic bags. Many people thought this was easier because you did not have to cut the bread yourself. The person who makes the most money in a family is called the breadwinner.今天，我们将讲述一些好吃的东西。如果某件东西是新出或改进的，我们常说它是the best thing since sliced bread（有史以来最好的东西）。在过去，面包烘烤店只卖成块的面包。如今美国超市出售袋装的切面面包，很多人认为这方便了很多，因为不用自己再去切面包（这就是the best thing since sliced bread这种说法的来源）。家庭中赚钱最多的那位被称为breadwinner（家庭经济支柱，赚钱养家者）。Bread and butter issues are those that are most important to Americans and affect them directly – like jobs and health care.
Bread and butter issues（民生问题）指的是那些对美国人最重要，影响最直接的事情--例如就业和医保。Half a loaf is better than none means that getting part of what you want is better than getting nothing at all. If you know which side your bread is buttered on, then you know what your best interests are and will act to protect them.Half a loaf is better than none（聊胜于无）意思是得到部分你想要的东西总比什么都得不到好。如果说you know which side your bread is buttered on，意思是说你知道什么才是你最大的利益，并将尽力保护它。Many Americans like their bread toasted. Toast is cooked with dry heat until it starts to turn brown. But you are in big trouble if someone tells you you're toast.许多美国人喜欢烤面包。烤就是加热直到其即将变黄。但如果有人告诉你 you're toast，意思是你有大麻烦了。If you say something is a piece of cake, it means something is really easy, like a test you take in school. Cakes are often covered with a sweet topping, called icing. Icing on the cake means something good that happens in addition to another good thing. Another expression says you can't have your cake and eat it, too. This means you cannot have everything your way, especially if two wishes oppose each other. 如果你说什么事情是a piece of cake（小菜一碟）。意思是这事很简单，就像学校的一次考试。蛋糕表面通常覆盖了一层被称为糖衣的甜馅料。Icing on the cake意思就是锦上添花。另一句短语说you can't have your cake and eat it, too.（鱼与熊掌不可兼得），意思是不可能凡事都随你愿，尤其是两者互相矛盾的情况下。Hotcakes are also called pancakes. They contain flour, eggs, milk and baking powder. You cook them in a frying pan and eat them with fruit or a sweet topping. If a new product is popular and selling well, you might say it is selling like hotcakes.烤饼也称为煎饼，这种饼是用面粉，鸡蛋，牛奶和发酵粉做成。我们用平锅煎这种饼，并配以水果和甜馅料一起食用。如果一种新产品很受欢迎销量火爆，我们就说它selling like hotcakes（畅销）。But if a friend of yours did something bad, you might stop being friends with him immediately or drop him like a hotcake.但如果你的朋友干了坏事，你可能迅速与他绝交（drop him like a hotcake）。Flat as a pancake describes something that is, well, really flat.Flat as a pancake（平坦）用来形容某些东西特别平坦。A tough cookie is not something you want to eat. It is a person who is difficult to deal with, and would do anything necessary to get what he or she wants. This person could be a sharp cookie or someone who is not easily fooled. Very often things do not go the way we planned. Instead of getting angry or sad, you might just accept it and say that's the way the cookie crumbles. a tough cookie不是指你想吃的什么东西，而是指一个很难对付的人，你会做任何必要的事情来达其所愿。这种人可能还是a sharp cookie，也就是说很难愚弄的人。很多时候事情发展得并不如愿，这个时候你只能接受现实说一声that's the way the cookie crumbles（这就是生活，这就是现实），而不是生气或难过。Many pies are also good to eat. If something is easy to do, you could say it is easy as pie. But if you do something wrong or bad, you might have to apologize and show you are sorry. In other words, you might have to eat humble pie.很多馅饼也很好吃。如果什么事情容易办到，你可能就会说这件事是easy as pie（易如反掌）。但如果你做错或搞砸了什么事，你可能就需要道歉并显示出你的歉意。换句话说，你可能就需要eat humble pie（赔礼道歉，忍声吞气）。
If you have an idea or plan that is not really possible, someone might say it is pie in the sky. If something is really easy to do, you might say it is like taking candy from a baby. But that would not be a very nice thing to do!如果你有一个不切实际的想法或计划，有人可能就会说那是 pie in the sky（空想、空中楼阁）。如果事情真的容易办到，你可能会说这就像taking candy from a baby（就像抢娃娃的糖果，当然意思是说容易办到）。但抢娃娃的糖果可不是件光荣的事哈哈！