The Future of Food 食物的未来
We used to be a nation of farmers. But now it’s less than two percent of the population in the United States. And so, a lot of us don’t know what it takes to grow food.
Over 12 thousand years ago people began planting and saving seed. Agriculture flowered and civilizations were born. In China thousands of varieties of rice were grown. Over 5,000 kinds of potatoes were cultivated worldwide. In the US alone more than 7,000 varieties of apples were grown in the 19th century. In the 20th century the phase of farming underwent a radical 1 change. The manufacture of nitrogen-based bombs during WWI led to the development of nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers. Nerve gas developed during WWII was slightly modified to make insecticides. DDT was the hero of its generation. New technologies promised higher yields, increased food production, cheaper prices and greater availability. By the mid-20th century these technologies, along with new developments in plant-breeding, led to the Green Revolution.
I think the people who first imagined the Green Revolution had good hearts. Lots of people are starving around the planet. That's long been the case in human civilization. Their thinking was if we could just systematize agriculture like we did industry in the 1800s and bring it worldwide, bring one system that works, we can solve the problems that people have long had with agriculture.
The next several decades saw a remarkable 2 increase in production. Year after year huge fields were planted with only one variety of crop. These monocultures created an ecological 3 vacuum that insects and disease could exploit. This uniformity has led to some of the greatest agricultural catastrophes 4 of mankind. In the mid-1800s very few varieties of potatoes were cultivated in Ireland. When they became diseased, one million people died. When the same potato blight 5 attacked Peru they suffered fewer consequences. Today only 4 varieties of potatoes are widely grown.
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insecticides n. A chemical substance used to kill insects. 杀虫剂
DDT n. Dichloro-diphenyl-tricgloroethane 二氯二苯三氯乙烷, 滴滴涕(一种杀虫剂);
blight n. Any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous 6 wilting 7 and dying of affected 8 parts, especially young, growing tissues. 枯萎病
- The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
- She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。
- She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
- These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。
- The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
- Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.
- Two of history's worst natural catastrophes occurred in 1970. 1970年发生了历史上最严重两次自然灾害。 来自辞典例句
- The Swiss deposits contain evidence of such catastrophes. 瑞士的遗址里还有这种灾难的证据。 来自辞典例句
- The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
- There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。
- It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
- Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。