(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
Some countries have suspended imports of wheat from the United States. The suspensions were announced after an unapproved form of wheat was found in the American state of Oregon. The crop was made through processes of genetic engineering.
An Oregon farmer recently discovered wheat in his field that survived the popular weed killer Roundup. Roundup is designed to destroy unwanted plants. It is a product of the seed and chemical company Monsanto.
Wheat is harvested on a farm in the midwestern United States, July 2009.
The company has created genetically engineered corn, cotton, soybean and canola crops that resist Roundup. Monsanto had field-tested Roundup-resistant wheat. But it never sought government approval of the wheat and the seed were never sold.
Michael Firko is with the United States Department of Agriculture, he says the wheat had passed safety inspections.
"Although there are no wheat varieties that are approved for unrestricted planting, we have no safety concerns related to planting of this transgenic wheat at this time."
Monsanto ended its wheat project mainly because buyers in Europe and Asia were concerned about the safety of genetically engineered crops. The discovery of unapproved wheat in Oregon led Japan and South Korea to suspend some imports, at least temporarily.
Mark Welch is an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University. He says American Farmers do not want to produce genetically engineered wheat because there is no demand for it. he also says the incident could affect America's standing in a competitive world marketplace.
The United States is the world's largest wheat exporter. Mark Welch says American agriculture already has difficulty competing against other countries because production costs are higher in the United States.
"If we're going to maintain a place in world markets, we have to do it primarily on two fronts: one on quality, and the other on reliability. And this raises a red flag, of course, when something like this happens."
Right now it is not clear how the incidents happened. American officials are working to identify where the genetically engineered wheat came from. There is no evidence yet that it has entered the food supply, However, the Agriculture Department is working to make tests available to buyers.
Prices of wheat on world markets have changed little since the discovery of the unapproved wheat. But this could change after the investigation is completed.
And that's the Agriculture Report, I'm Milagros Ardin.
文本为51VOA听写整理
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.suspension n. 悬浮；暂停；停职
The athlete could face a lengthy period of suspension if found guilty.
如果被判有罪，这名运动员可能面临长期停赛。
2.transgenic adj. 转基因的；基因改造的
Transgenic plant vaccine of viruses is a new type of vaccine viruses.
病毒转基因植物疫苗是一种新型病毒疫苗。
3.temporarily adv. 临时地，临时
Reparations were temporarily pretermitted.
赔款暂时中止了。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
有的国家已经停止从美国进口小麦，宣布停止进口前，美国俄勒冈州发现一种未经批准种植的小麦，这种作物是通过基因工程制成的。
俄勒冈州一名农民最近发现田里的小麦没有被常用除草剂农达杀死，农达用于除掉不想要的植株，是种子和化学公司孟山都的产品。
该公司生产了能抵抗农达的转基因玉米、棉花、大豆和油菜作物。孟山都曾实地测试过抗农达的小麦，但从未寻求政府批准种植这种小麦，其种子也从未出售。
迈克尔·菲可就职于美国农业部，他说这种小麦通过了安全监测。
“尽管我们没有批准过无限制种植任何小麦品种，但对目前这种转基因小麦的种植我们没有安全上的顾虑。”
由于欧洲和亚洲的买主担心转基因作物的安全性，孟山都已经结束了其小麦项目。由于俄勒冈发现未经批准的小麦，日本和韩国决定暂停部分进口，至少暂时如此。
马克·韦尔奇是德克萨斯农工大学的一名农业经济学家，他说由于没有需求，美国农民不想种植转基因小麦，他说这件事会影响美国在这个充满竞争的世界市场上的地位。
美国是全世界第一小麦出口国，马克·韦尔奇说由于美国农业成本太高，美国农业在与其他国家的竞争中面临困境。
“如果我们想在世界市场上保有立足之地，我们必须抓住两个方面，一是质量，而是可靠性。现在出现这样的事，已经亮了红灯。”
目前尚不清楚这件事的由来，美国官方正努力检测这种转基因小麦的来历，尚无证据显示这种小麦已经进入食物供应，然而农业部正为买家想办法进行测试。
自从发现未经批准的小麦，世界市场上的小麦价格变动不大。但调查工作完毕后可能会有所改变。
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道，我是Milagros Ardin。
