(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Study: Planet-Warming Gasses Make Food Less Nutritious
A new study shows that rising levels of planet-warming gases may reduce important nutrients in food crops.
Researchers studied the effects of one such gas -- carbon dioxide -- on rice. The researchers grew rice plants in a controlled environment. They set carbon dioxide levels to what scientists are predicting for our planet by the end of the century. They found that the resulting rice crops had lower than normal levels of vitamins, minerals and protein.
The researchers said the effects of planet-warming gasses would be most severe for the poorest citizens in some of the least developed countries. These people generally eat the most rice and have the least complex diets, they noted.
A report on the study was published in the journal Science Advances.
In the experiment, scientists grew 18 kinds of rice in fields in China and Japan. They pumped carbon dioxide gas over the plants in an effort to create the atmosphere of the future.
Rice grown under high carbon dioxide conditions had, on average, 13 to 30 percent lower levels of four B vitamins and 10 percent less protein. The crops also had 8 percent less iron and 5 percent less zinc than rice grown under normal conditions.
However, vitamin E levels increased by about 13 percent on average.
The results are bad news, "especially for the nutrition of the poorer population in less-developed countries," said the University of Tokyo's Kazuhiko Kobayashi, who helped to write the report.
That includes about 600 million people in Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Laos and other nations, mainly in Southeast Asia, the report said.
Other studies have shown that higher temperatures from climate change and weather extremes will reduce food production. But scientists are finding that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gasses threaten food quality.
Earlier studies showed that wheat, maize, rice, field peas and soybeans grown under high carbon dioxide conditions all had lower levels of protein and minerals. Scientists estimated that almost 150 million people might be at risk of having too little protein or zinc in their diet by 2050.
One of the scientists is Sam Myers of Harvard University in the American state of Massachusetts. He said that findings like this are an example of the surprises climate change creates.
"My concern is, there are many more surprises to come," he said.
Myers noted that pollution, loss of some species, destruction of forests, and other human activities are likely to produce unexpected problems. He said that you cannot completely change all the natural systems that living organisms have grown to depend on over millions of years without having effects come back to affect our own health.
The new study suggests a way to lower the nutritional harm of climate change.
One way, Kobayashi said, is to grow different forms of rice that have shown to be more resistant to higher carbon dioxide levels.
I'm Phil Dierking.
重点解析
1.depend on 依靠；取决于
Needy and handicapped people depend on government relief for their support.
穷人和残疾人依靠政府的救济维持生计。
2.climate change 气候变化
Carbon emissions exacerbate the global climate change problem.
碳排放加剧了全球气候变化问题。
3.come back to 返回
I begged him to come back to England with me.
我恳求他和我一起回英格兰。
4.human activities 人类活动
These animals became extinct because of climate changes and human activities.
由于气候变化和人类活动，这些动物逐渐灭绝了。
5.They pumped carbon dioxide gas over the plants in an effort to create the atmosphere of the future.
in an effort to 为了
I spent much of my time bundled up in sweaters in an effort to keep warm.
大部分时间里我都穿着厚厚的毛衣来保暖。
He finally left home in an effort to counter the tyranny of arranged marriage in the old society.
他弃家出走，是对旧社会婚姻压迫的反动。
6.They set carbon dioxide levels to what scientists are predicting for our planet by the end of the century.
by the end of 到...结束；到...为止
By the end of the holiday I had spent all my money
到假期结束时，我已经花光了自己所有的钱。
By the end of that first year, I knew how totally unsuited we were to each other.
到了第一年年底，我明白了我们俩根本不般配。
参考译文
温室气体导致粮食营养降低
一项新研究表明，温室气体可能会降低粮食作物中重要的营养成分。
研究人员研究了气体之一二氧化碳对水稻的影响。研究人员在受控环境下种植水稻。他们将二氧化碳设置为科学家预测的世纪末地球上二氧化碳的水平。他们发现，这种情况下种植的水稻，其维生素、矿物质和蛋白质含量均低于正常水平。
研究人员表示，对于一些最不发达国家的贫困人口来说，温室气体的影响尤其严重。他们指出，这些人多食用水稻，饮食结构较为单一。
一份关于这项研究的报告发表在《科学前沿》杂志上。
在这项实验中，科学家在中国和日本种植了18种水稻。他们向这些作物喷洒二氧化碳，以创造未来的大气环境。
在高浓度二氧化碳下生长的水稻，其四种维生素B的含量平均下降了13%到30%，蛋白质下降了10%。与在正常环境生长的水稻相比，这些作物的铁含量下降了8%，锌含量下降了5%。
然而，这些作物的维生素E含量却提高了约13%。
参与撰写报告的东京大学的小林和彦（Kazuhiko Kobayashi）表示，“这些都是坏消息”，尤其是对那些欠发达国家贫困人口的营养状况来说。
报告指出，主要包括生活在印尼、柬埔寨、缅甸、孟加拉国、老挝和其它东南亚国家的6亿人口。
其它研究表明，气候变化和极端天气导致的高温会降低粮食产量。但是科学家们逐渐发现，不断增加的二氧化碳等温室气体会威胁到粮食的质量。
早期的研究表明，在高浓度二氧化碳环境下生长的小麦、玉米、水稻、豌豆和大豆，其蛋白质和矿物质含量较低。科学家们估计，到2050年，约1.5亿人的饮食中可能缺乏蛋白质和锌。
其中一位科学家是美国马萨诸塞州哈佛大学的萨姆·迈尔斯（Sam Myers）。他说，这类发现只是令人惊奇的气候变化带来的一个例子。
他说：”我担心未来会出现更多意外情况。“
迈尔斯指出，污染、某些物种灭绝、森林被破坏以及其它人类活动可能会引发一些意想不到的问题。他说，人类无法在不影响自己健康的条件下，完全改变数百万年来生物赖以生存的自然体系。
这项新研究提出了一种降低气候变化对农作物营养危害的办法。
小林和彦表示，办法之一是种植对高浓度二氧化碳已产生更强抗性的不同品种的水稻。
菲尔·迪尔金为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
