VOA慢速英语-Agriculture Report - Climate Change Meets American A

Scientists say in a new government report that global warming is already affecting U.S. water and land resources. Transcript¹ of radio broadcast:
16 June 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A government report says climate change is already affecting American agriculture.

The new report is from the Climate Change Science Program, which brings together the research efforts of thirteen federal agencies. President George Bush launched the program six years ago.

Here are some of the findings by scientists:

The growing season has increased by ten to fourteen days in northern parts of the United States over the last nineteen years.

Much of the East and South now get more rain than a century ago. But the report says there is some evidence of increased drought conditions in the West and Southwest. Western states have less snow and ice on the mountains and earlier melting in the spring.
　

Scientists say crops including tomatoes, onions and fruit are more easily affected2 by climate change than grains and oilseed crops

Grain and oilseed crops are likely to develop faster with increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But higher temperatures will increase the risk of crop failures.

Also, horticultural crops such as tomatoes, onions and fruit are more easily affected by climate change than grains and oilseed crops.

Fewer animals will die during warmers winters, but greater numbers will die during hotter summers. And temperature extremes reduce animal production of meat or milk products.

Forests in the West, the Southwest and Alaska already have increases in fires, insect outbreaks and dead trees. But young forests on good soil will be more productive because of increased carbon dioxide levels.

At the same time, invasive plants will also grow faster and are likely to move northward³. Recent research also suggests that weeds might get harder to kill with glyphosate, the most widely used plant killer⁴ in the United States.

The Department of Agriculture was the lead agency for the new report. Thirty-eight scientists from universities, national laboratories, nongovernmental organizations and federal service wrote it. They considered more than one thousand scientific publications.

The report was the strongest statement yet by the Bush administration that human activity is the main cause of climate change in the last fifty years. Carbon dioxide from the burning of oil, natural gas and coal is the main gas blamed for trapping heat in the atmosphere.

The report says warming is very likely to continue in the United States during the next twenty-five to fifty years. And it says this is so even if future greenhouse-gas emissions⁵ are reduced.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty⁶.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

4 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。