VOA慢速英语2015 种出更好的水果和蔬菜

Growing Better Fruits and Vegetables 种出更好的水果和蔬菜

Consumers around the world benefit from large food stores and large-scale food production. They can buy many fruits and vegetables throughout the year that were once sold only a few months out of the year. But there is a price to pay for this year-round availability. The fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and strawberries often don’t taste as good as they once did. Researchers throughout the United States are working to change that.

Andrew Mace¹ is a professional cook at a restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

“Parsnips, leeks², turnips³, first of the year asparagus...”

Mr. Mace says he hopes the researchers can create fruits and vegetables that are easy to ship and store but also taste good.

“Something that’s not compromised for storability, or shape or disease resistance. It’s all about the flavor and it’s a more pure flavor.”

Across the United States, breeders, farmers, seed producers and professional cooks are working together to create vegetables that have more flavor, and more vitamins, too.

Jim Myers is a plant breeder at Oregon State University. He says he does traditional breeding. He says there is enough genetic⁴ variation to work with.

He tries to create fruits and vegetables that taste good but also have resistance to disease, can be stored for a long time and can be shipped without being damaged.

Mr. Myers says the lab has created a program to connect breeders with chefs. He says developers are going back to their traditional roots as breeders to improve vegetables.

Phil Simon is a vegetable breeder at the U.S. Agricultural Research Service. He has been working to create a better carrot for 35 years.

He says the “local food” movement in North America and other places is responsible for the increased interest in the flavor of food.

He says the more extensive local production of vegetables has caused buyers to seek better quality. He says local growers are seeking to provide more kinds of vegetables to meet the demand of buyers.

Many countries restrict imports of seeds and plants. So some of the new fruit and vegetables with increased flavor and nutrition are only available in the places they have been developed.

Words in This Story

consumer – n.  a person who buys goods and services

benefit – v. to be helped

vitamin – n. a natural substance that is usually found in foods and that helps your body to be healthy

variation – n. a change in the form, position, condition or amount of something

1 mace   

n.狼牙棒，豆蔻干皮

参考例句：

• The sword and mace were favourite weapons for hand-to-hand fighting.剑和狼牙棒是肉搏战的最佳武器。
• She put some mace into the meat.她往肉里加了一些肉豆蔻干皮。

2 leeks   

韭葱( leek的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Leeks and potatoes go well together in a soup. 汤中放韭菜和土豆尝起来很对味。
• When I was young I grew some leeks in a pot. 小时候我曾在花盆里种了些韭葱。

3 turnips   

芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表

参考例句：

• Well, I like turnips, tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflowers, onions and carrots. 噢，我喜欢大萝卜、西红柿、茄子、菜花、洋葱和胡萝卜。 来自魔法英语-口语突破（高中）
• This is turnip soup, made from real turnips. 这是大头菜汤，用真正的大头菜做的。

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。