The Future of Food 食物的未来

　　We used to be a nation of farmers. But now it’s less than two percent of the population in the United States. And so, a lot of us don’t know what it takes to grow food.
Over 12 thousand years ago people began planting and saving seed. Agriculture flowered and civilizations were born. In China thousands of varieties of rice were grown. Over 5,000 kinds of potatoes were cultivated worldwide. In the US alone more than 7,000 varieties of apples were grown in the 19th century. In the 20th century the phase of farming underwent a radical¹ change. The manufacture of nitrogen-based bombs during WWI led to the development of nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers. Nerve gas developed during WWII was slightly modified to make insecticides. DDT was the hero of its generation. New technologies promised higher yields, increased food production, cheaper prices and greater availability. By the mid-20th century these technologies, along with new developments in plant-breeding, led to the Green Revolution.
I think the people who first imagined the Green Revolution had good hearts. Lots of people are starving around the planet. That's long been the case in human civilization. Their thinking was if we could just systematize agriculture like we did industry in the 1800s and bring it worldwide, bring one system that works, we can solve the problems that people have long had with agriculture.
The next several decades saw a remarkable² increase in production. Year after year huge fields were planted with only one variety of crop. These monocultures created an ecological³ vacuum that insects and disease could exploit. This uniformity has led to some of the greatest agricultural catastrophes⁴ of mankind. In the mid-1800s very few varieties of potatoes were cultivated in Ireland. When they became diseased, one million people died. When the same potato blight⁵ attacked Peru they suffered fewer consequences. Today only 4 varieties of potatoes are widely grown.

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insecticides n. A chemical substance used to kill insects. 杀虫剂

DDT n. Dichloro-diphenyl-tricgloroethane 二氯二苯三氯乙烷, 滴滴涕(一种杀虫剂);

blight n. Any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous⁶ wilting⁷ and dying of affected⁸ parts, especially young, growing tissues. 枯萎病

 

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

4 catastrophes   

n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难

参考例句：

• Two of history's worst natural catastrophes occurred in 1970. 1970年发生了历史上最严重两次自然灾害。 来自辞典例句
• The Swiss deposits contain evidence of such catastrophes. 瑞士的遗址里还有这种灾难的证据。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

7 wilting   

萎蔫

参考例句：

• The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。
• The petunias were already wilting in the hot sun. 在烈日下矮牵牛花已经开始枯萎了。

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。