听力文本

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.
A pound of chicken will set you back a couple bucks. Ground beef, maybe three to four dollars a pound. But a pound of protein-rich dried mealworms could cost twice as much.
"The price per pound of mealworms is still relatively expensive." Juan A. Morales-Ramos is a research entomologist with the USDA in Stoneville, Mississippi. But he says that cost might be coming down.
For eight years, he and his team have selectively bred mealworms, which are the larvae of a type of darkling beetle. Their goal was to breed larger and larger worms — and they succeeded in nearly doubling the size of the larvae. But doubling up came with an evolutionary tradeoff: larger larvae had fewer eggs, and their offspring weren't as hardy as the ancestral strain.
Still, generations are shorter in the worm world—meaning it's faster to experiment—and sequencing the genes of the selected strains might reveal new traits to breed for.

"We may be able to produce a superline of mealworms that grow faster and larger and probably produce more eggs, hopefully."
The findings are in The Journal of Insect Science.
The eventual goal is to bring mealworms beyond fishing bait. And because if the cost comes down, they'd be an economical protein source for farmed fish, and chicken feeds. And one recent study rated them as significantly healthier than beef or chicken—for a human diet. Other cultures are leading the way.
"There are many cultures not just in Mexico but in Asia and Africa that regularly consume different types of insects. They sell them in the market. In Mexico there are restaurants that specialize in serving insects. And I'm not talking just regular restaurants, these are like five star restaurants doing that."
Of course, here in the US we also eat insects. But in the near future we might do it on purpose.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

参考译文

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔格里塔y1Xyn~++lckXG。
买一磅鸡肉会花费你几美元R*_KhJUrf%dIt-。一磅碎牛肉可能要花3到4美元WKEV6+E@,x。但一磅富含蛋白质的干黄粉虫（俗称面包虫）的价格可能是牛肉的两倍WHLPo,_H_3Gu~E;~CpN(。
“一磅面包虫的价格仍然相对昂贵JwxhrQBmorF)E)z7。”胡安·A·莫拉雷斯-拉莫斯是位于密西西比州斯通维尔的美国农业部的昆虫学家T(CuCs7NYg*ji2k。但他说，面包虫的价格可能会下降-1p8u8OBW*xtDnQ^E。
八年来，他和他的团队一直在选择性地培育面包虫，这是一种拟步行甲虫的幼虫%fIkQ;@IrB93y-C。他们的目标是培育出越来越大的虫子，现在他们已成功将幼虫的体型增加了近一倍8iO0]t7KZ5%l35vI-。但体型加倍伴随着一种进化权衡：幼虫体型变大后虫卵减少，其后代不如祖先那样强壮nZU8-K~Ydw%M%bAq-d。
尽管如此，面包虫的世代更短，这意味着可以更快地进行实验，如对所选品种进行基因测序，可能会揭示出用于培育的新性状5HS9hmrNw;CP)kx。
“我们也许能够培育出一种超级面包虫，使其长得更快更大，而且有望产出更多的卵NGGXGsKx_rS5N[YgZS。”
这项研究结果发表在《昆虫科学》期刊上C7st,jseBf3VVny1。
最终的目标是让面包虫发挥除鱼饵之外的作用[P*Ds+^u-7n*&P7P。因为如果价格下降，面包虫就会成为养殖鱼和鸡饲料的廉价蛋白质来源Fb69d;~)j2L756ON。最近一项研究表明，对人类饮食来说，面包虫比牛肉或鸡肉要健康得多DKF;OQ)daY^8Baons5UO。其他文化正在引领这股潮流T#JQ@9s0R5ENFczB。
“不仅是墨西哥，亚洲和非洲的许多文化都有经常吃各种昆虫的情况N#GuvlrqAiLx&x30DP~。他们在市场上售卖昆虫O~1Cqglxi#c(;UMKv)Yp。墨西哥有专门供应昆虫的餐厅_s[I!=Z9gFb3q,J9gyQ#。我说的不只是普通餐厅，五星级餐厅那样的地方也在供应-gEKyx@fb2。”
当然，在美国我们也吃昆虫=4E;Fg7E2*A_I。而在不久的将来，我们可能会有意食之i@Q+]9!zlqg|l!2u0。
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学1.Kz_brc*Xz1EgJwSI。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔H1Udmu6~PTW。

译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. set back 使花费；使破费；
In 1981 dinner for two in New York would set you back ￡5.
1981 年的时候,在纽约两个人吃一顿饭要花费 5 英镑aYwUx#EJhE。
2. come down (成本、水平或数量)下降，降低；
Interest rates should come down.
利率应该降低)e!,vPC;IQsa**_H*^4^。
3. succeed in sth./doing sth. 达到目的；成功做成；办到；
Some people will succeed in their efforts to stop smoking.
一些人经过努力可以成功戒烟;(wXGKyKE^l。
4. on purpose 特意地；故意地；有意地；
Was it an accident or did David do it on purpose?
是意外还是戴维故意所为？