时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(三月)


英语课
By Peter Fedynsky
Washington
20 March 2007

Rising world oil prices have sparked interest in alternative fuels, such as ethanol, which can be produced from corn. This has raised demand for the grain, which, in turn, has increased its price as food. VOA's Peter Fedynsky reports that higher prices may not be the only cost associated with corn-based ethanol.






People march in Mexico City to protest recent tortilla price increases, 31 Jan 2007


People march in Mexico City to protest recent tortilla price increases, 31 Jan 2007



In January, demonstrators in Mexico converged 1 on the capital to protest the spiraling cost of tortillas, a Mexican national staple 2 made from corn. In response, the country's president, Felipe Calderon, signed an agreement to stabilize 3 tortilla prices.


President Calderon says the 13-point agreement is aimed at protecting Mexican families and the economy from further price hikes on corn.


Mexican tortilla prices have skyrocketed more than 700 percent since 1994. Experts say this is due in part to increased demand for corn to produce ethanol.


Speaking at a recent Capitol Hill news conference in Washington Daniel De La Torre Ugarte, from the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center at the University of Tennessee, warned that price hikes are but one effect of rising demand for corn. He says it can have consequences for agriculture as well.


"Not only because it jeopardizes 4 food security in many countries, but because, at the same time, it also creates a new incentive 5 to expand production to areas that may not be suitable for the crop," said Daniel De La Torre Ugarte. "So, we are going to put undue 6 pressure on natural resources to try to respond with a larger production for corn."


Ugarte is not opposed to bio-fuels as such. Nor is Alexandra Spieldoch, from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But Spieldoch warns of the consequences of over-reliance on a single crop.


"Corn mono-cropping is already eroding 7 U.S. farmland," said Alexandra Spieldoch. "It's water intensive. It increases the amounts of herbicides. It's not considered viable 8 in the long term."


Spieldoch adds, corn prices are not driven by ethanol alone. She says the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, as well as U.S. farm subsidies 9 have forced Mexico - a traditional corn exporter - to import the commodity from the United States.


Former Mexican congressman 10 Victor Quintana says NAFTA has favored corporate 11 agribusiness at the expense of poor Mexican farmers, who then seek a better living across the border.


Quintana says that, for each 30-ton container of corn exported to Mexico, the United States receives two undocumented migrants from the Mexican countryside.


Philip Levy 12, a former member of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers 13 and currently a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, acknowledges the displacement 14 of many Mexican farmers. But he says free trade has helped Mexico as a whole.


"When you're talking about what's good or bad for a country in trade, you have to be careful, and we're seeing this in Mexico right now," he said. "If you are a producer of corn, no matter what the cause, high corn prices are welcome. You want it. If you are a consumer of corn, high corn prices are bad. And you don't want it."


 


Levy says the demand for ethanol could become so high that no American corn will be exported. This, he says, will encourage Mexican corn production to meet the demand for tortillas, so that, in the end, free trade will provide consumers with food and fuel. And Philip Levy agrees with critics who caution that the rush toward ethanol must not come at the expense of the environment.




v.(线条、运动的物体等)会于一点( converge的过去式 );(趋于)相似或相同;人或车辆汇集;聚集
  • Thousands of supporters converged on London for the rally. 成千上万的支持者从四面八方汇聚伦敦举行集会。
  • People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the city. 人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.主要产物,常用品,主要要素,原料,订书钉,钩环;adj.主要的,重要的;vt.分类
  • Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
  • Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。
vt.(使)稳定,使稳固,使稳定平衡;vi.稳定
  • They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
  • His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。
危及,损害( jeopardize的第三人称单数 )
  • If your reckless behavior jeopardizes this mission, you're out! 如果你不注意你的言行,会危及到这次任务你也会被开除!
  • Factionalism now seriously jeopardizes our overall interest. 现在闹派性已经严重地妨害我们的大局。
n.刺激;动力;鼓励;诱因;动机
  • Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中,钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
  • He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。
adj.过分的;不适当的;未到期的
  • Don't treat the matter with undue haste.不要过急地处理此事。
  • It would be wise not to give undue importance to his criticisms.最好不要过分看重他的批评。
侵蚀,腐蚀( erode的现在分词 ); 逐渐毁坏,削弱,损害
  • The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
  • Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是,久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。
adj.可行的,切实可行的,能活下去的
  • The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
  • The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。
n.补贴,津贴,补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )
  • European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
  • Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.(美)国会议员
  • He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
  • The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
n.征收税或其他款项,征收额
  • They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
  • A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。
顾问,劝告者( adviser的名词复数 ); (指导大学新生学科问题等的)指导教授
  • a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
  • She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。
n.移置,取代,位移,排水量
  • They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
  • The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。
学英语单词
acetobutylicum
adverse drug events
after - sale service department
akasic
angelism
anorchus
answering machine
antipodists
antipyrino-caffeinum citricum
auto-Transfusion
Axenfeld's test
Bashir
black-on-black
bolometric method
Bolshevize, bolshevized
Burry Inlet
chopper spectrophotometer
clotbusters
combination carrier
complementary MOS integrated circuit
consolatory
critical magnetic flux density
Current Coupon
decline of water table
detonation wave
diareses
direct coupling system
direito
Doppler navigation system
dot speed
eacc
ECE
Edwin Drood
efficiency expert
electron-pair production
ever-handy
fancy for
feigned issue
fjord oceanography
flax dodder
fordist model
full-louvered door
functional assembly
further development
genus batrachosepss
genus Helipterum
group incentive plan
haulered
home-repair
icteric phthisis
indexlink
infidels
international liquidity units
Isocainide
isogredient
Jewified
longitude difference
major conjugate arc
man made satellite
means of fastening
megahenry
Middendorfa, Mys
minister of economic affairs
Morro, R.
NEC necessary
nonvascular organisms
nuculana husamaru
overlay contact
parameter model
pop-up missile
Pulindas
pump surging
relative degree of development
Republic of Finland
Richard Haldane
running set
Rupert
Ruppia maritima
sack trucks
safety colour
sanitoriums
satellite position
seven-card stud
shaped joist
shoot-em-up
singularity line
splittail
step up n.
superintending
supersalts
swine rearing
talipes planus
Tintigny
transprosed
uncollegiate
ungroup
value broker
waive sb off
X-Machine
You never know your luck.
zinc dichromate