學(xué)術(shù)英語理工課文翻譯

1、學(xué)術(shù)英語理工課文翻譯1.If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party, bringup the topic of geneticallyModifiedfoods. For many people, the concept of genetically altered, high-tech cropproduction raises all kinds of environmental, health, safety and ethicalquestions. Particularly in countries with long

2、 agrarian traditions - and vocalgreen lobbies - the idea seems against nature. 如果你想在某次晚宴上挑起一場激烈的爭論，那就提出轉(zhuǎn)基因食品的話題吧。對許多人來說，高科技的轉(zhuǎn)基因作物生產(chǎn)的概念會帶來諸如環(huán)境、健康、安全和倫理等方面的各種問題。特別是在有悠久的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)傳統(tǒng)和主張環(huán)保的游說集團的國家里，轉(zhuǎn)基因食品的主意似乎有悖自然。2. Infact, genetically modified foods are already very much a part of our lives. Athird of the co

3、rn and more than half the soybeans and cotton grown in the USlast year were the product of biotechnology, according to the Department ofAgriculture. More than 65 million acres of genetically modified crops will beplanted in the US this year. The genetic is out of the bottle. 事實上，轉(zhuǎn)基因食品已經(jīng)成為我們生活重要的一部分。

4、根據(jù)農(nóng)業(yè)部的統(tǒng)計，美國去年所種植玉米的13，大豆和棉花的一半以上都是生物技術(shù)的產(chǎn)物。今年，美國將種植6500多萬英畝的轉(zhuǎn)基因作物。基因妖怪已經(jīng)從瓶子里跑出來了。3.Yet there are clearly some very real issues that need to beresolved. Like any new product entering the food chain, genetically modifiedfoods must be subjected to rigorous testing. In wealthy countries, the debateabout

5、biotech is tempered by the fact that we have a rich array of foods tochoose from - and a supply that far exceeds our needs. In developing countriesdesperate to feed fast-growing and underfed populations; the issue is simplerand much more urgent: Do the benefits of biotech outweigh the risks?但是，顯然還有一

6、些非?，F(xiàn)實的問題需要解決。就像任何一種要進入食物鏈的新食品一樣，轉(zhuǎn)基因食品必須經(jīng)過嚴格的檢驗。在富裕的國家里，由于有大量豐富的食品可供選擇，而且供應(yīng)遠遠超過需求，所以關(guān)于生物技術(shù)的爭論相對緩和一些。在迫切想要養(yǎng)活其迅速增長而又吃不飽的人口的發(fā)展中國家，問題比較簡單，也更加緊迫：生物技術(shù)的好處是否大于風(fēng)險呢?4.The statistics on population growth and hunger are disturbing.Last year the worlds population reached 6 billion. And by 2050, the UNestimates, i

7、t will probably near 9 billion. Almost all that growth will occurin developing countries. At the same time, the worlds available cultivableland per person is declining. Arable land has declined steadily since 1960 andwill decease byhalf over the next 50 years, according to the InternationalService f

8、or the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).關(guān)于人口增長和饑餓的統(tǒng)計數(shù)字讀來令人感到不安。去年，世界人口達到了60億。聯(lián)合國預(yù)測，到2D0年，這個數(shù)字很可能將接近90億，而增加的人口幾乎都來自發(fā)展中國家。與此同時，世界人均耕地正在減少。國際農(nóng)業(yè)生物工程應(yīng)用技術(shù)采購管理局(ISAAA)稱，自1960年以來，耕地面積一直持續(xù)下降，并將在今后50年減少一半。5The UN estimates that nearly 800 million people around theworld are undernourished. The

9、effects are devastating. About 400 million womenof childbearing age are iron deficient, which means their babies are exposed tovarious birth defects. As many as 100 million childrensuffer from vitamin A deficiency, a leading cause of blindness.Tens of millions of people suffer from other major ailme

10、nts and nutritionaldeficiencies caused by lack of food.聯(lián)合國估計，世界上有近8億人口營養(yǎng)不良。它產(chǎn)生的效應(yīng)是破壞性的。大約有4億的育齡婦女體內(nèi)缺鐵，也就是說，她們的嬰兒將可能有各種天生的缺陷。數(shù)量多達1億的兒童缺乏維生素A，這是導(dǎo)致失明的主要原因。還有數(shù)千萬的人患有因食物匱乏而導(dǎo)致的其他嚴重疾病和營養(yǎng)不良癥。6How can biotech help? Biotechnologists have developedgenetically modified rice that isfortified with beta-carotene -

11、 which the body converts intovitamin A - and additional iron, and they are working on other kinds ofnutritionally improved crops. Biotech can also improvefarming productivity in places where food shortages are causedby crop damage attribution to pests, drought, poor soil and crop viruses,bacteria or

12、 fungi.生物技術(shù)對此能做些什么呢?生物技術(shù)專家已經(jīng)培育出了含有胡蘿卜素(身體可將之轉(zhuǎn)化為維生素A)和更多鐵元素的轉(zhuǎn)基因水稻，目前正在研究培育其他一些增進營養(yǎng)成分的農(nóng)作物。生物技術(shù)還可以幫助提高因蟲害、干旱、土壤貧瘠和作物病毒、細菌或真菌導(dǎo)致作物減產(chǎn)而出現(xiàn)食物匱乏的地區(qū)的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)率。7Damage caused by pests is incredible. The European corn borer,for example, destroys 40 million tons of the worlds corn crop annually, about7% of the total.

13、 Incorporatingpest-resistant genes into seeds can help restore the balance. Intrials of pest-resistant cotton in Africa, yields have increased significantly.So far, fears that genetically modified,pest-resistant crops might kill good insects as well as badappear unfounded.蟲害帶來的損失令人難以置信。例如，歐洲玉米螟每年毀掉4

14、000萬噸玉米，占世界玉米總產(chǎn)量的7。把抗蟲害的基因植入種子可以幫助避免這一損失。在非洲進行的抗蟲害棉花試驗中，棉花的產(chǎn)量已大幅度提高。有人擔(dān)心，抗蟲害的轉(zhuǎn)基因作物不僅將害蟲殺死，而且有可能連益蟲也一起殺死，但到目前為止，這種擔(dān)心似乎沒有根據(jù)。8Viruses often cause massive failure in staple crops indeveloping countries. Two years age, Africa lost more than half its cassavacrop - a key source of calories - to the mosaic

15、virus. Genetically modified,virus-resistant crops can reduce that damage, as can drought-tolerant seeds inregions where water shortages limit the amount of land under cultivation.Biotech can also help solve the problem of soil that contains excess aluminum,which can damage roots and cause many stapl

16、e-crop failures. A gene that helpsneutralize aluminum toxicity in rice has been identified.病毒常常在發(fā)展中國家造成主要糧食作物的大面積歉收。兩年前，花葉病毒使非洲損失了超過一半的木薯，而這種作物是當(dāng)?shù)厝说闹饕澄?。轉(zhuǎn)基因的抗病毒作物可以減少這種損失，就像抗干旱種子在可耕地面積因缺水而受到限制的地區(qū)起到的作用一樣。含鋁過高的土壤會損傷作物的根系并使許多主要作物歉收，對于這種問題生物技術(shù)也能幫助解決。目前，研究人員已經(jīng)識別出一種有助于中和水稻里鋁的毒性的基因。9Many scientists believe

17、 biotech could raise overall cropproductivity in developing countries as much as 25% and help prevent the lossof those crops after they are harvested.許多科學(xué)家認為，生物技術(shù)能夠把發(fā)展中國家的農(nóng)業(yè)總產(chǎn)量提高25，并且?guī)椭乐棺魑锸崭詈笤馐軗p失。10Yet for all that promise, biotech is far from being the wholeanswer. In developing countries, lost cr

18、ops are only one cause of hunger.Poverty plays the largest role. Today more than 1 billion people around theglobe live on less than 1 aday. Making genetically modified crops available will not reduce hunger iffarmers cannot afford to grow them or if the local population cannot afford tobuy the food

19、those farmers produce.盡管具有這么多潛力，生物技術(shù)還遠遠不能解決全部問題。在發(fā)展中國家，作物歉收只是造成饑餓的一個原因。貧窮才是罪魁禍?zhǔn)?。今天，全世界有超過10億人口每天靠不到1美元維持生計。如果農(nóng)民沒錢種植轉(zhuǎn)基因作物或當(dāng)?shù)厝速I不起農(nóng)民種出的糧食，培育轉(zhuǎn)基因作物就無法減少饑餓。11Nor can biotech overcome the challenge of distributing food indeveloping countries. Taken as a whole, the world produces enough food to feedeveryone

20、 - but much of it is simply in the wrong place. Especially incountries with undeveloped transport infrastructures, geographyrestricts foodavailability as dramatically as genetics promises to improve it.此外，生物技術(shù)也無法克服在發(fā)展中國家分配糧食的難題。從整體上看，世界生產(chǎn)的糧食足夠養(yǎng)活所有人，但大部分糧食卻不是在需要的地方。尤其在運輸基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施落后的國家，地理條件對食物供給的限制正如遺傳學(xué)為食物

21、供給帶來的希望一樣大。12Biotech has its own distribution problems.Private-sector biotech companies in the rich countries carry out much of theleading-edge research on genetically modified crops. Their products are oftentoo costly for poor farmers in the developing world, and many of those productswont even rea

22、ch the regions where they are most needed. Biotech firms have astrong financial incentive to target rich markets first in order to help themrapidly recoup the high costs of product development. But some of thesecompanies are responding to needs of poor countries. A London-based company,for example,

23、has announced that it will share with developing countriestechnology needed to produce vitamin-enriched golden rice.生物技術(shù)也面臨自身的“分配”問題。許多轉(zhuǎn)基因作物方面的尖端研究都是富國的私營生物技術(shù)公司進行的。對發(fā)展中國家的窮苦農(nóng)民來說，這些公司的產(chǎn)品通常顯得過于昂貴，而且這些產(chǎn)品中的大部分甚至無法到達最需要的地區(qū)。強大的經(jīng)濟刺激促使生物技術(shù)公司把富裕國家的市場作為第一目標(biāo)，以便能夠盡快回收產(chǎn)品開發(fā)的高額成本。不過，有些公司已開始對貧窮國家的需要做出反應(yīng)。例如，一家總部在倫敦的公司已經(jīng)宣布，它愿意和發(fā)展中國家一起分享生產(chǎn)維生素增強型的“金水稻”所需的技術(shù)。13More and more biotech research is being carried out indeveloping countries. But to increase the impact of genetic research on thefood production of those countries, there is a need for better collaborationbetween government a