环球英语 — 59:Saving Crop Diversity
时间:2019-01-19 作者:英语课 分类:环球英语 Spotlight
Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight 1. I’m Courtney Schutt.
Voice 2
And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
In July 2006, five leaders from five different nations joined together. They met on the islands of Svalbard Norway, just one thousand [1000] kilometres from the North Pole. They came together to lay the first stones of a new project - a large vault 2 that will only hold seeds!
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on “Noah’s Ark of Svalbard.” It will hold all the seeds of all the world’s crops.
Voice 1
The air we breathe. The water we drink. The foods we eat. These are the most important resources 3 for human life. They are things we need to protect.
Voice 2
We can keep the air clean in many different ways. For example, we can burn less coal and oil. They pollute the air.
Voice 1
And we can keep water supplies clean too. We can use fewer chemicals. Chemicals sink into the ground into our drinking water.
Voice 2
But how can we protect our food?
Voice 1
People all over the world enjoy many different kinds of foods. All of these foods were at one time very small seeds. All of the world’s seeds represent 4 crop diversity 5. Crops can be different in their size, height, flower colour, fruiting time, seed size, and taste. But, crop diversity is at risk of disappearing.
Voice 2
For example, in 1949 China grew ten thousand [10,000] different kinds of wheat. By the 1970s there were only one thousand [1000] different kinds left.
Voice 1
In the 1800s, the United 6 States grew seven thousand [7000] different kinds of apples. Now, only three hundred [300] different kinds remain.
Voice 2
Mexico has lost eighty [80] percent of their corn crop diversity. And, India has lost ninety [90] percent of their rice crop diversity. Often this happens when farmers start using new kinds of seeds. The old seeds are lost. They become extinct 7 and disappear.
Voice 1
You see, there are not many ways to protect crop diversity. Climate changes, natural disasters like storms and floods, and disease 8 threaten crop diversity. War threatens crop diversity. Even people threaten crop diversity!
Voice 2
That’s right. World hunger is a serious problem. The earth struggles to supply enough food for people in some areas of the world. And population numbers are rising. There are already about six billion [6,000,000,000] people on earth. Experts believe that by the year 2050 there will be nine billion [9,000,000,000] people on earth. Protecting crop diversity will be important for the future. Crop diversity will be the only way to feed those nine billion [9,000,000,000] people!
Voice 1
But feeding people is just one reason to protect crop diversity. There are other reasons. For example, crop diversity helps protect crops against disease extinction 9. Imagine if there was only one kind of corn. Now imagine if that corn crop got a disease. We would lose corn forever. Crop diversity protects crops from disappearing.
Voice 2
Also, genetically 10 mixing different kinds of crops together can create new crops. Some of these new crops can resist 11 disease. Some can live in cold temperatures. Others can live during times with no water. And some can grow without using chemicals. These new crops will help fight world hunger in the future.
Voice 1
These are the reasons why the Global 12 Crop Diversity Trust has started a new project. People working with the Trust want to create a “biological basis of all agriculture.” That is, they want to hold some of ALL of the world’s seeds inside of a vault. They want to protect the earth’s crop diversity.
Voice 2
The leader of agriculture in Norway is Terje Riis-Johansen. He explains the purpose of the vault.
Voice 3
“The vault’s purpose is to protect the survival 13 of crop diversity in the event of plant diseases 14, nuclear war, natural disasters or climate change. It will also offer the world a chance to restart 15 growth 16 of food crops that may have disappeared.”
Voice 2
Their first duty is to collect all the earth’s seeds!
Voice 1
Just imagine trying to collect all of the world’s different kinds of seeds. This would be a very hard job! Did you know that there are more that one hundred thousand [100,000] different kinds of RICE alone? Now imagine collecting all the different kinds of fruits, vegetables and grains. The Global Crop Diversity Trust hopes to hold over three million seeds in their vault. It seems like an almost impossible job.
Voice 2
But, one hundred [100] countries support the idea of the vault. They are interested in storing and protecting their country’s seeds. So, many people are cooperating 17 to collect their seeds. With so many people working together, the job does not seem as difficult.
Voice 1
The Trust decided 18 to put its vault on Svalbard, a group of Norwegian islands. These islands are very far north, near the North Pole. First, people working for the Trust will drill 19, or dig 20 a tunnel 21 seventy [70] metres into a mountain. The vault will be inside of the mountain.
Voice 2
Second, they plan to keep temperatures at a cool negative eighteen [-18] degrees. But, what if there is a power failure? Then, the seeds may die. But, that is why the Trust chose Svalbard. Even if the power fails, the vault temperature will not rise above freezing. That is because the mountain is covered with permafrost. Permafrost is soil that stays frozen 22 all year. So, it is like the mountain is frozen. Permafrost will help keep the vault cold. In cold temperatures seeds can survive for thousands of years.
Voice 1
Third, the Trust will build two large steel doors to protect the vault. Only a remote control in Sweden can open these steel doors. They will only open if a person in Sweden turns a particular control key.
Voice 2
And finally, the Trust plans to protect the vault in one other way. They plan to let nature take control! You see, Svalbard is home to many polar 23 bears. These large white animals walk free on the islands. They hunt for food. And you can be sure that the bears will chase 24 away people trying to harm the vault.
Voice 1
Each seed that people plant has its own story. The seed will grow into a fruit, into a vegetable, or into a grain. Families will eat their own crops. Or they will sell it in a market for other people to eat. Some crops travel across the world before people eat them. But, every piece of food that you eat started its story as a seed. Protecting crop diversity is important to continue the story of seeds. Not only that, but crop diversity is important to continue the story of people too.
- This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
- The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。
- The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
- The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。
- The world's resources are rapidly diminishing. 世界资源正在迅速减少。
- a policy to equalize the distribution of resources throughout the country 使资源在全国分布均衡的政策
- I'll represent to him the risk he is running.我要向他指出他所面临的险境。
- We selected her to represent us.我们选她作为我们的代表。
- Our party believes in encouraging cultural diversity,not diversion.我们党鼓励多种文化,而不是文化分歧。
- His object is to gather as great a diversity of material as possible.他的目标就是尽可能多地搜集各种材料。
- The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
- The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。
- All hopes were extinct.所有希望都破灭了。
- Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。
- The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
- He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。
- The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
- The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。
- All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
- Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物
- It is vain to resist.抵抗是没用的。
- I couldn't resist telling him the secret.我忍不住把那个秘密告诉了他。
- A global environmental meeting is going to be held here.一个全球环境会议将在这里举行。
- The report takes a global view of the company's problems.这份报告对公司的问题作了综合性的论述。
- The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子,说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
- The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。
- Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
- The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。
- Restart the computer in Safe mode or VGA mode.重新启动计算机在安全模式或VGA模式。
- After the restart the program continues to run automatically.重启后,程序仍然自动运行。
- All living things depend on the sun for their growth.万物靠太阳生长。
- Youth is the time of physical growth.青年时期是长身体的时期。
- We have abundant experience in cooperating with a lot of companies. 我们拥有与大量公司合作的丰富经验。
- The interview will generally center round managing and cooperating skills. 访谈将围绕管理和合作技巧展开。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- He used a drill to bore a hole in the door.他用钻在门上钻孔。
- You should drill some manners into the boy.你应该教这孩子懂点礼貌。
- It is difficult to dig the ground when it is frozen.地面冻住了就不易挖掘。
- In those days we often went to dig for wild vegetables.那时候我们常常出去挖野菜。
- They will have to block up the entrance to the tunnel.他们将不得不封闭通往隧道的入口。
- The train passed through a tunnel.火车通过了一条隧道。
- He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上,他被冻死了。
- The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。
- It's very cold in the polar regions.南北极地带是很寒冷的。
- Love and hatred are polar feelings.爱与恨是完全相反的感情。