VOA慢速英语2018 究表明温室气体使食物缺乏营养

 Study: Planet-Warming Gasses Make Food Less Nutritious 1

A new study shows that rising levels of planet-warming gases may reduce important nutrients 2 in food crops.

一项新的研究表明，温室气体可能会减少粮食作物中的重要营养物质。

Researchers studied the effects of one such gas -- carbon dioxide -- on rice. The researchers grew rice plants in a controlled environment. They set carbon dioxide levels to what scientists are predicting for our planet by the end of the century. They found that the resulting rice crops had lower than normal levels of vitamins, minerals and protein.

研究人员研究了其中一种气体--二氧化碳对水稻的影响。研究人员在一种受控环境中种植水稻。他们将二氧化碳设置为科学家预测的世纪末地球上的二氧化碳水平。他们发现由此种出来的水稻作物的维生素、矿物质和蛋白质都低于正常水平。

The researchers said the effects of planet-warming gasses would be most severe for the poorest citizens in some of the least developed countries. These people generally eat the most rice and have the least complex diets, they noted 3.

研究人员表示，对一些最不发达国家的贫民来说，温室气体的影响尤为严重。他们指出，这些人通常食用了最多的大米，饮食结构最简单。

A report on the study was published in the journal Science Advances.

该研究报告发表在《科学前沿》杂志上。

In the experiment, scientists grew 18 kinds of rice in fields in China and Japan. They pumped carbon dioxide gas over the plants in an effort to create the atmosphere of the future.

在实验中，科学家们在中国和日本的田间种植了18种水稻。他们将二氧化碳吹过这些作物，以创造未来的大气环境。

Rice grown under high carbon dioxide conditions had, on average, 13 to 30 percent lower levels of four B vitamins and 10 percent less protein. The crops also had 8 percent less iron and 5 percent less zinc 4 than rice grown under normal conditions.

在高浓度二氧化碳条件下生长的水稻含有的四种维生素B平均下降了13%到30%，蛋白质下降了10%。与正常条件下生长的水稻相比，这些作物的铁含量低了8%，锌含量低了5%。

However, vitamin E levels increased by about 13 percent on average.

但是维生素E含量提高了大约13%。

The results are bad news, "especially for the nutrition of the poorer population in less-developed countries," said the University of Tokyo’s Kazuhiko Kobayashi, who helped to write the report.

这些都是坏消息，”尤其是对欠发达国家贫困人口的营养来说。“帮助撰写报告的东京大学的小林和彦（Kazuhiko Kobayashi）这样表示。

That includes about 600 million people in Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Laos and other nations, mainly in Southeast Asia, the report said.

报告称，这包括印尼、柬埔寨、缅甸、孟加拉国、老挝和其它国家的6亿人，主要集中在东南亚。

Other studies have shown that higher temperatures from climate change and weather extremes will reduce food production. But scientists are finding that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gasses threaten food quality.

其它研究表明，气候变化和极端天气造成的高温将会降低粮食产量。但是科学家们开始发现，二氧化碳等温室气体浓度提高会威胁粮食质量。

Earlier studies showed that wheat, maize 5, rice, field peas and soybeans grown under high carbon dioxide conditions all had lower levels of protein and minerals. Scientists estimated that almost 150 million people might be at risk of having too little protein or zinc in their diet by 2050.

之前的研究表明，在高浓度二氧化碳条件下生长的小麦、玉米、水稻、豌豆和大豆蛋白质和矿物质含量都有所降低。科学家们估计，到2050年，有将近1.5亿人可能面临饮食摄入蛋白质和锌不足的风险。

One of the scientists is Sam Myers of Harvard University in the American state of Massachusetts. He said that findings like this are an example of the surprises climate change creates.

其中一位科学家是美国马萨诸塞州哈佛大学的萨姆·迈尔斯（Sam Myers）。他说，这类发现是气候变化带来意外的一个例子。

"My concern is, there are many more surprises to come," he said.

他说：“我担心会有更多的意外来临。”

Myers noted that pollution, loss of some species 6, destruction of forests, and other human activities are likely to produce unexpected problems. He said that you cannot completely change all the natural systems that living organisms have grown to depend on over millions of years without having effects come back to affect our own health.

迈尔斯指出，污染、某些物种的丧失、森林破坏以及其它人类活动可能会产生意想不到的问题。他说，人类没法在改变生物数百万年以来赖以生存的自然体系的情况下而不影响我们自己的健康。

The new study suggests a way to lower the nutritional 7 harm of climate change.

这项新研究指出了降低气候变化造成的营养危害的办法。

One way, Kobayashi said, is to grow different forms of rice that have shown to be more resistant 8 to higher carbon dioxide levels.

小林和彦表示，其中一种办法是种植对高浓度二氧化碳已经表现出更强抗性的各种水稻。

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

journal - n. a magazine that reports on things of special interest to a particular group of people?

species - n. a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus