国家地理 莫桑比克 麻疯树生产绿色柴油

With rising fuel prices, more attention is turning to biofuels. But (the) use of food crops for biofuel raises the concern of food shortages. But one non-food biofuel source is gaining attention. Just inland from the southern Mozambique beach resort of Bilene lies the newly established Deulco Jatropha plantation¹. Nearly 178,000 acres have been prepared for Jatropha, a hardy² plant that produces oilseeds used for biodiesel production. Aubrey Dunn is one of the project managers for the South African firm Deulco.

随着燃油价格日益攀升，生物燃料引起了月来越多的关注。利用粮食作物生产生物燃料引发了粮食短缺的担忧。但是另外一种生产生物燃料的非粮食作物引起了人们的注意。莫桑比克南部的滨海度假村遍布着新种植的麻风树。接近17.8万英亩的土地将准备生产种植麻风树，它们产地油籽将被用来生产生物燃油制品。奥布里·邓恩就是该项目的负责人之一。

And you can see, you can see the ground. It's very very sandy. It's very low in organic matter. And also the soil here, um, is very high in salt, being so close to the sea. So it's not suitable for, um, for any other food crops.

“你可以看一下这篇土地，含沙量非常高，有机质含量非常低，而且盐分很高，和海水的含盐量差不多。所以不适合种植其他粮食作物。”

After two months in the nursery, the young Jatropha are planted in the prepared ground. From there it will take about two years for the plants to reach full maturity³. One year after planting the first batch⁴ of Jatropha trees, the first oilseed fruit are visible.

经过两个月的育苗之后，麻风树幼苗就会被种植在这片土地上，大概两年的时间树苗就会成年。第一批麻风树苗种植之后以年，就可以看到第一批油籽果实。

The fruit itself color, they go to a yellow and browned color. And then when the, the fruit is the yellow brownish color, then you reap your fruit, and then you take out your seeds. And this is what you're actually gonna press and get oil from.

“果实本身是有颜色的，最终会变成棕黄色。当果实变成棕黄色之后，就可以收获果实了，把种子取出，然后从种子中榨油。”

As Jatropha can be grown on marginal land which is not suitable for other crops, here in Mozambique there seems to be less conflict between land needed for food and land suitable for Jatropha. However, locals use parts of this land for farming and there are concerns that increased demands for land to grow crops for biofuel could dramatically increase the cost of living here. These people were offered compensation in the form of other land to use for agriculture and some gained employment with the new development. But while some may be satisfied with the compensation, a local activist⁵ in Mozambique is concerned that the value of subsistence farmers is underestimated.

由于麻风树可以在不适合粮食作物的非常贫瘠的土地上生长，所以在莫桑比克不会有粮食作物用地和麻风树用地之间的冲突。但是，当地人用其中的一部分土地种植作物，用人担心正在这里种植生物燃料作物会增加对土地的需求，这可能导致这里的生活成本急剧增加。这些人可以得到其他形式的农业用地的补偿，其他一些人会由于这个新的发展而被雇佣。虽然人们可能会对这些补偿感到满意，莫桑比克当地的一个社会活动家仍然担心对农民的补偿成本被低估了。

Up to now, maybe we can say that the real conflicts related to biofuels maybe are not visible, at this stage. But we can just have a slight picture on what is happening on the land conflicts, because we have this problem, these kinds of problems on conflict related to the land.

“到目前为止，或许我们可以说在目前这个阶段，有关生物燃料的冲突是无形的。但我们对正在发生的土地争端略知一二，因为我们确实面临着土地方面的问题，以及一些和土地相关的问题。”

It's widely hoped that Jatropha biodiesel production will offer a new, more sustainable energy source. But that's yet to be proven.

人们希望麻风树生产生物燃料真的可以提供一个新的，可持续的能源。但是目前这一点尚未证实。

1 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

2 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

3 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

4 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。