VOA标准英语2013--Global Trade Carries Risk of Pests

 

Global Trade Carries Risk of Pests

More than one trillion dollars’ worth of agricultural products is traded every year. But as countries buy and sell fruits, vegetables, timber and other products, they also may be putting domestic plants at risk. That’s why new standards have been issued under the International Plant Protection Treaty.

The global trade in agriculture means the food someone eats may have come from a country thousands of miles away. But as food is unloaded from ships and planes, some unwelcome visitors may find a new home. Many already have.

Take the stink¹ bug², for example, in the United States. It’s believed to have arrived from China and finds American fruit crops delicious. Pests can also include fruit fly eggs or fungal spores³. Some of the well known threats include wheat rust⁴, African army worms, Cassava Bacterial⁵ Blight⁶ and the European Grapevine Moth⁷. The list goes on.

That’s where the International Plant Protection Convention comes in.

“The convention originated back in 1952. It’s been revised a couple of times – 1979 and 1997. The purpose of the convention is to develop standards for trade and plants and plant products. And it’s recognized as one of the three standard setting bodies under the World Trade Organization,” said Craig Fedchock, who’s the convention coordinator⁸.

At the convention’s annual meeting in Rome, upgraded standards were issued for pest risk analysis. It gives greater guidance for determining whether an imported plant might be a threat to cultivated or wild plants. Fedchock said that another standard was revised regarding wood packaging material.

“Everybody in the world has probably seen a wood pallet at some time or other. Well, that pallet is made generally from wood that’s not the best quality wood. Maybe the trees are dead when being made into pallets and beetles¹⁰ will bore into that wood and then they’ll emerge. And they can be a devastating¹¹ forest pest. And we have evidence again, being from the U.S., of something like the Asian Longhorn Beetle⁹, which has quite a voracious¹² appetite for certain trees. But this isn’t limited to the United States. There’s Pinewood Nematode in China. It’s around the world,” he said.

The risk of pests is growing due to the sheer amount of global trade.

“More and more things are being traded. More and more people are traveling. The risks associated with people bringing a piece of fruit or some fruit from a backyard tree to a relative in another country – that’s happening more frequently. Or new and exotic fruits and vegetables are coming from one country to another or another hemisphere to another hemisphere -- the risks increase incrementally just by the volume of trade<” he said.

He said that serious harm can be done to a country if a risk assessment is not done.

“A pest risk assessment is a valuable part of the entire process of trade to make sure that a country can protect itself, but yet ensure that anything that does get imported is safe.”

Other treaty standards are being looked at for possible revision, including guidelines for sea containers.

He said, “Sea containers contain a lot of things beyond food – sometimes farm equipment, sometimes computers or what have you. They have the little nooks and crannies. They have the corners where some pests can go and lay some eggs that go unnoticed unless it’s properly cleaned. If those pests get an opportunity through an open container door to just wander out into a new environment it can be pretty bad for the environment it’s wandering into.”

Even garbage must be monitored.

“When ships arrive in a port, garbage is an issue. Or flights coming in from another country, the trash can be a significant issue. A little fruit fly can lay its eggs in a skin of a piece of fruit ,and unless you’re really an expert looking for these things you might not ever notice that this has taken place,” he said.

It’s difficult to estimate how much damage agricultural pests do every year, but it’s believed to be in the billions. Countries that have pests may not want trading partners to know the full extent of the problem.

The coordinator of the International Plant Protection Convention said it’s easier and cheaper to prevent a pest problem than it is to get rid of one.

1 stink   

vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
• The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。

2 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

3 spores   

n.（细菌、苔藓、蕨类植物）孢子( spore的名词复数 )v.（细菌、苔藓、蕨类植物）孢子( spore的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Ferns, mosses and fungi spread by means of spores. 蕨类植物、苔藓和真菌通过孢子传播蔓生。
• Spores form a lipid membrane during the process of reproducing. 孢于在生殖过程中形成类脂膜。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器

4 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

5 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

6 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

7 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

8 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

9 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

10 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

12 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。