VOA慢速英语2015 研究发现使用抗生素有助农场提高动物密度

Study: Use of Antibiotics² in Farm Animals Expected to Grow 研究发现使用抗生素有助农场提高动物密度

A new study has found the amount of antibiotics given to farm animals is expected to increase by two-thirds over the next 15 years. Researchers are linking the growing dependence³ on the drugs to rising demand for meat, milk and eggs. The researchers warn the drugs could quicken the development of antibiotics-resistant⁴ infections. Such infections are already a major public health concern in the United States.

Experts say when people stop living in poverty, the first thing they want to do is eat better. For most people, that means eating more meat.

Increasing prosperity in Asia has meant people there are eating nearly four times as much meat, milk and dairy products as they did 50 years ago.  

To meet that demand, farms have put many animals into smaller spaces.

Gail Hansen is a veterinarian -- a doctor who treats animals -- with the Pew Charitable Trusts, a research and advocacy group.

“As the animals are crowded together, oftentimes the easiest way to deal with some of the problems of crowding is to give them antibiotics.”

Dr. Hansen says antibiotics help the animals stay healthy in crowded environments and grow faster. But bacteria can develop resistance to the drugs, and that now-resistant bacteria can spread to people.

Doctors find that antibiotics that once worked against the infections no longer do. The bacteria have learned ways to fight the medicine. Doctors say the heavy use of antibiotics in animals is one of several reasons for the growth of antibiotic¹ resistance worldwide. In the United States, at least two million people get drug-resistant infections each year. At least 23,000 die from an infection.

Ramanan Laxminarayan heads the Center for Disease Dynamics⁵, Economics and Policy. He says the problem is expected to get worse. He believes the use of antibiotics in animals will soon increase sharply. He says that will not be good for human health.

He and other researchers wrote a report on the study, which was published in the Proceedings⁶ of the National Academy of Sciences. They used data from the United Nations that tell how and where livestock⁷ are raised today. They then predicted how such production would change by 2030.

“The increase in demand is going to make agriculture shift to more intensive methods of production, which tend to use greater quantities of antibiotics.”

The researchers estimate a 67 percent increase in total antibiotics use in livestock worldwide. They believe such use will double in what they call middle-income countries like China, India and Brazil.

But Dr. Hansen says it does not have to be that way.

“The developing world doesn’t have to make all the same mistakes that we made -- ‘we’ being the United States and Europe.”

She notes that Europe has banned the use of antibiotics to increase animal growth. And she adds the United States is hoping to persuade farmers to stop using antibiotics for that purpose.                      

Words in This Story

resistant – adj. not affected⁸ or harmed by something

poverty – n. the state of being poor

prosperity – n. the state of being successful, usually by making a lot of money

advocacy – n. the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal; the act or process of advocating something

crowded – adj. filled with too many people or things

oftentimes – adv. often

data – n. facts or information used usually to calculate, analyze⁹ or plan something

shift – n. a change in how something is done or how people think about something

intensive – adj. (farming) designed to increase production without using more land

quantities/quantity – n. an amount or number of something

double – v. to cause (something) to become two times as great or as many

purpose – n. the reason why something is done

1 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

2 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

3 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

4 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

5 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

6 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

7 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

8 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。

9 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。