VOA慢速英语2015 你会吃来自福岛的食物吗?

AS IT IS 2015-03-23 Would You Eat Food from Fukushima? 你会吃来自福岛的食物吗?

Thousands of delegates¹ from around the world gathered this month in northeast Japan for a United Nations conference on disaster relief. Four years ago, the area was hit by a tsunami² that caused damage to the Fukushima nuclear power center.

During the conference, local officials transported some of the delegates throughout Fukushima to show them how it is recovering. Officials also told the delegates that food from the area is safe.

Until the nuclear accident in 2011, the Fukushima area was well-known and respected in Japan for the food its farmers grew and the seafood³ its fishermen caught. But since the disaster, many people think of Fukushima only as a place that suffers from nuclear contamination⁴.

Kazuhiro Watanabe grows strawberries. Because he uses glasshouses to grow the berries⁵ indoors⁶, the crop is ready to eat even in early spring. But he has had trouble selling his crop in recent seasons because he grows them in Fukushima. His farm is far away from the area’s damaged nuclear power plant, but being linked to Fukushima has hurt him.

He says he was in the middle of the strawberry growing season when the earthquake hit. He lost half of his customers.

But Mr. Watanabe says his business is now slowly improving.

He says the most recent studies show sales of produce from Fukushima are now about 70 to 80 percent of the sales of produce from other parts of Japan. He says people are slowly changing their mind about the safety of the area’s food.

At the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Center, workers put fish, chicken and vegetables in radiation detectors⁷ made in the United States. All food from the area is tested for radiation. Officials say Japanese safety standards are ten times stricter for levels of radioactive⁸ cesium than American or European standards.

Katsumi Komaki is the manager of the technology center.

He says the center has cooperated⁹ with such organizations as the International Atomic¹⁰ Energy Agency¹¹ to learn how much radioactivity there is in rice and other food from the area.

The delegates also visited a factory where workers make more than 3,000 school meals a day. Atsuko Kano is the spokesperson for the factory. She says the meals are tested for radiation.

She says the factory puts the results of the radiation testing on the Fukushima city website. And she says every parent is given information about what is in the lunches.

Officials in Fukushima are working hard to help the community return to normal. One of them is Mayumi Suzuki, who led the delegates through the area.

“The image of Fukushima is not really good in the world. But this is my dream that I want to tell all the people what’s really happening in Fukushima and that’s why I’m organizing such a tour.”

Independent monitoring from environmental groups has shown that some areas of the city have high radiation levels. But there has been no evidence that there is radiation in the area’s crops and fish.

Words in This Story

contaminated(ion) – n. the state of being dangerous, dirty or impure¹² because something harmful or undesirable¹³ has been added

produce – n. fresh fruits and vegetables

strict(er) – adj. demanding that people obey rules or behave in a certain way

cesium – n. a metal that may be stable (nonradioactive) or unstable¹⁴ (radioactive)

tour – n. an activity in which you go through a place (such as a building or city) in order to see and learn about the different parts of it

monitor(ing) – v. to watch, observe, listen to or check (something) for a special purpose over a period of time

1 delegates   

代表，代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
• Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

4 contamination   

n.污染

参考例句：

• We must ensure our children against contamination by bad ideas. 我们必须保护我们的儿童不受坏思想的侵蚀。
• There is a danger of serious contamination from radioactive waste. 放射性废弃物有严重污染的危险。

5 berries   

n.浆果( berry的名词复数 )；（葡萄，番茄等）浆果；干果仁；干种子

参考例句：

• Birds feed on nuts and berries in the winter. 鸟类靠坚果和浆果过冬。
• We went here and there looking for berries. 我们四处寻找浆果。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 indoors   

adv.(在)室内，(在)户内

参考例句：

• Because of the coldness of the weather we stayed indoors.我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。
• It is very cold outside,you'd better come indoors across the board.外面很冷，你们所有人最好都进屋。

7 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

8 radioactive   

adj.放射性的

参考例句：

• People should keep away from the radioactive waste.人们应远离放射性废物。
• The radioactive material is stored in a special radiation-proof container.放射性材料储存在防辐射的特殊容器里。

9 cooperated   

合作，配合，协助( cooperate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The children cooperated with their teachers in keeping the classroom neat. 孩子们和老师一起保持教室整洁。
• Unemployment and lingering disease cooperated to make his family broken. 失业加上长期的疾病，使他倾家荡产。

10 atomic   

adj.(关于)原子的；原子能(武器)的

参考例句：

• The atomic theory is important.原子理论很重要。
• We should take part in the peaceful uses of atomic energy.我们应该参与原子能的和平应用。

11 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

12 impure   

adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的

参考例句：

• The air of a big city is often impure.大城市的空气往往是污浊的。
• Impure drinking water is a cause of disease.不洁的饮用水是引发疾病的一个原因。

13 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

14 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。