学术英语理工课文翻译

1、学术英语理工课文翻译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场激烈的争论，那就提出转基因食品的话题吧。对许多人来说，高科技的转基因作物生产的概念会带来诸如环境、健康、安全和伦理等方面的各种问题。特别是在有悠久的农业生产传统和主张环保的游说集团的国家里，转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. 事实上，转基因食品已经成为我们生活重要的一部分。

4、根据农业部的统计，美国去年所种植玉米的13，大豆和棉花的一半以上都是生物技术的产物。今年，美国将种植6500多万英亩的转基因作物。基因妖怪已经从瓶子里跑出来了。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，显然还有一

6、些非常现实的问题需要解决。就像任何一种要进入食物链的新食品一样，转基因食品必须经过严格的检验。在富裕的国家里，由于有大量丰富的食品可供选择，而且供应远远超过需求，所以关于生物技术的争论相对缓和一些。在迫切想要养活其迅速增长而又吃不饱的人口的发展中国家，问题比较简单，也更加紧迫：生物技术的好处是否大于风险呢?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).关于人口增长和饥饿的统计数字读来令人感到不安。去年，世界人口达到了60亿。联合国预测，到2D0年，这个数字很可能将接近90亿，而增加的人口几乎都来自发展中国家。与此同时，世界人均耕地正在减少。国际农业生物工程应用技术采购管理局(ISAAA)称，自1960年以来，耕地面积一直持续下降，并将在今后50年减少一半。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.联合国估计，世界上有近8亿人口营养不良。它产生的效应是破坏性的。大约有4亿的育龄妇女体内缺铁，也就是说，她们的婴儿将可能有各种天生的缺陷。数量多达1亿的儿童缺乏维生素A，这是导致失明的主要原因。还有数千万的人患有因食物匮乏而导致的其他严重疾病和营养不良症。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.生物技术对此能做些什么呢?生物技术专家已经培育出了含有胡萝卜素(身体可将之转化为维生素A)和更多铁元素的转基因水稻，目前正在研究培育其他一些增进营养成分的农作物。生物技术还可以帮助提高因虫害、干旱、土壤贫瘠和作物病毒、细菌或真菌导致作物减产而出现食物匮乏的地区的农业生产率。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.虫害带来的损失令人难以置信。例如，欧洲玉米螟每年毁掉4

14、000万吨玉米，占世界玉米总产量的7。把抗虫害的基因植入种子可以帮助避免这一损失。在非洲进行的抗虫害棉花试验中，棉花的产量已大幅度提高。有人担心，抗虫害的转基因作物不仅将害虫杀死，而且有可能连益虫也一起杀死，但到目前为止，这种担心似乎没有根据。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.病毒常常在发展中国家造成主要粮食作物的大面积歉收。两年前，花叶病毒使非洲损失了超过一半的木薯，而这种作物是当地人的主要食物。转基因的抗病毒作物可以减少这种损失，就像抗干旱种子在可耕地面积因缺水而受到限制的地区起到的作用一样。含铝过高的土壤会损伤作物的根系并使许多主要作物歉收，对于这种问题生物技术也能帮助解决。目前，研究人员已经识别出一种有助于中和水稻里铝的毒性的基因。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.许多科学家认为，生物技术能够把发展中国家的农业总产量提高25，并且帮助防止作物收割后遭受损失。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.尽管具有这么多潜力，生物技术还远远不能解决全部问题。在发展中国家，作物歉收只是造成饥饿的一个原因。贫穷才是罪魁祸首。今天，全世界有超过10亿人口每天靠不到1美元维持生计。如果农民没钱种植转基因作物或当地人买不起农民种出的粮食，培育转基因作物就无法减少饥饿。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，生物技术也无法克服在发展中国家分配粮食的难题。从整体上看，世界生产的粮食足够养活所有人，但大部分粮食却不是在需要的地方。尤其在运输基础设施落后的国家，地理条件对食物供给的限制正如遗传学为食物

21、供给带来的希望一样大。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.生物技术也面临自身的“分配”问题。许多转基因作物方面的尖端研究都是富国的私营生物技术公司进行的。对发展中国家的穷苦农民来说，这些公司的产品通常显得过于昂贵，而且这些产品中的大部分甚至无法到达最需要的地区。强大的经济刺激促使生物技术公司把富裕国家的市场作为第一目标，以便能够尽快回收产品开发的高额成本。不过，有些公司已开始对贫穷国家的需要做出反应。例如，一家总部在伦敦的公司已经宣布，它愿意和发展中国家一起分享生产维生素增强型的“金水稻”所需的技术。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