VOA标准英语2012--South Korea Researches Vertical Farming for Food Security

South Korea Researches Vertical¹ Farming for Food Security

Agriculture in high-rise buildings is the dream of some scientists and architects around the globe. But it soon could be reality.

Just outside of Suwon, a city 30-kilometers south of the capital Seoul, the South Korean government is experimenting with urban agriculture. The Rural Development Administration has built a prototype of a vertical farm.

So far, their experiment is only three-stories high. But they hope that in the near future, the technology will expand and be capable of feeding the entire nation.

Their work is inspired by Dickson Despommier, the scientist credited with inventing the idea of vertical farming. 

Despommier says tower-like hydroponic farms could someday stand alongside skyscrapers² as a key food source for billions of city dwellers³. He sees them as a key solution for growing populations with limited arable⁴ land.

“Here’s my vision of what a vertical farm might look like. My gold standard for this is the Apple Store in New York City on 5th Avenue," said Despommier. "If you took that building and made it into a five-story building. Now in the building you have multiple floors, of course, and inside each floor you have multiple layers of crops.”

Back in the Suwon lab, agrarian⁵ scientist Choi Kyu-hong is still sorting some basic challenges.

“The plant factory requires a lot of energy, the light energy and the heating and cooling energy. So we provide the heating or cooling energy using geothermal systems. We adopted the solar-cell system to provide light source energies, but we are still [only] providing 15 percent of the total energy,” said Choi.

Choi said there are other challenges to overcome before the farms become a viable⁶ alternative food source. Scientists are determining the optimum light wavelength⁷ for growing each kind of plant.

Team member Lee Hye-Jin said they need more time.

“It might take at least five more years of research to make progress on these obstacles. Then vertical farms might be ready for commercial use,” she said.

The South Korean scientists say that once these problems are resolved, vertical farms won't just have to stop at three-stories. The sky is the limit.

1 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

2 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

3 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 arable   

adj.可耕的，适合种植的

参考例句：

• The terrain changed quickly from arable land to desert.那个地带很快就从耕地变成了沙漠。
• Do you know how much arable land has been desolated?你知道什么每年有多少土地荒漠化吗？

5 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

6 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

7 wavelength   

n.波长

参考例句：

• The authorities were unable to jam this wavelength.当局无法干扰这一波长。
• Radio One has broadcast on this wavelength for years.广播1台已经用这个波长广播多年了。