VOA慢速英语2015 缅甸农户种植咖啡代替罂粟
时间：2018-12-08 作者：英语课 分类：2015年VOA慢速英语(七)月
AS IT IS 2015-07-30 In Myanmar, Replacing Poppy Plants with Coffee 缅甸农户种植咖啡代替罂粟
Large numbers of opium 1 poppy plants grow in the mountains of Myanmar’s Shan State. In fact, Shan State is the second-largest opium-producing area in the world.
After a drop in production during the 2000s, the number of poppies has risen in the past eight years. Some experts have linked the increased production to a growing demand for the drug heroin 2 in China. But Myanmar’s poppy farmers are now earning less on their crops.
Now, the United Nations is hoping many will decide to grow coffee instead.
For years, thousands of Shan State farmers have earned more profit from sales of opium poppy than from other crops. But poppy prices fluctuate 3; they may rise one month, but fall the next.
Fifty-four-year-old Long San is a poppy farmer. He was one of 400 growers who last year joined a U.N.-supported crop replacement 4 program. Long San is now growing coffee.
So far, Myanmar’s efforts to cut down on poppy growing have done little to stop the farmers. A U.N. study found that more than 57-thousand hectares of poppy were grown in Shan State last year. That is almost three times the area farmed in 2006.
That has made Myanmar second only to Afghanistan in production.
But drug traffickers can be bad business partners. The U.N.’s Jochen Wiese says farmers have a better choice.
“You have to find something, which is economically is competitive 5, and also sustainable, and we having here the altitudes – between 1,000 and 1,700 meters -- where the main poppy production takes place, and this is just the precise area where you can grow high-quality coffee.”
It will still be a few years before the coffee plants are ready to harvest. But until then, growers continue to receive seeds, tools and training.
There are currently 6 200 hectares of coffee being grown. U.N. officials hope the area could expand to 600 hectares by the end of the year.
A major concern, however, is the struggle for territory between ethnic 7 armed groups and the government.
For now, the young coffee plants occupy just a small part of Shan State’s poppy fields. But they represent hope that this area will one day be known for its coffee, not its opium.
Words in This Story
fluctuate – v. to rise and fall in uneven 8 levels or amounts
eradication 9 – n. the complete destruction of something
sustainable – adj. able to be depended or continued at set rates
altitudes – n. heights
- That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
- Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。
- Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
- Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。
- Prices fluctuate from year to year.物价年年波动。
- Body temperature can fluctuate if you are ill.人患病后体温可能会上下波动。
- We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
- They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
- Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
- These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。
- Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
- Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。
- This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
- The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
- The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
- The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。
- The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
- This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。