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VOA慢速英语2009年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Norman Borlaug, 1914

时间:2009-12-05 02:40:40

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(单词翻译)

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Doug Johnson. Today we tell about the American plant scientist Norman Borlaug. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to increase food production around the world. His work to battle world hunger is credited with saving millions of people from starvation.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
 
Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug traveled the world to help people develop better ways to produce food. This might explain why he is probably better known overseas than in the United States.

Borlaug worked in fields to show farmers new ways to grow crops like wheat and rice. He also worked in the laboratory to create new versions of wheat that could resist disease.

Borlaug became known as the "Father of the Green Revolution." Some people say he saved more lives than anyone else in history. Yet one American newspaper says he described himself simply as a "corn-fed, country-bred Iowa boy."

VOICE TWO:

Norman Ernest Borlaug was born to Norwegian-American parents in rural Iowa on March twenty-fifth, nineteen fourteen. He grew up on a farm. He began his education in a one-room country schoolhouse.

Family members say young Norman was interested in plants. They say he often asked why some plants grew better in different areas of the farm.

Norman's family urged him to continue his studies at a time when many farm boys left school to find a job. He later worked on farms, earning fifty cents a day to pay for college during the Great Depression.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Borlaug attended the University of Minnesota, where he completed a study program in forestry1. During the Depression, he witnessed people going hungry in the central United States. This deeply influenced his interest in agricultural sciences and better ways to produce food.

As a young man, Borlaug worked for a short time on forestry projects in Idaho and Massachusetts. He later returned to the University of Minnesota to study plant pathology. After those studies were completed, he worked as a researcher at a laboratory owned by the DuPont chemical company.

VOICE TWO:

During this period, many experts warned of mass starvation in the developing world where populations were expanding faster than crop production.

In nineteen forty-four, Borlaug left his job with DuPont, and began a project to increase Mexico's wheat production. He became the head of the newly-formed Cooperative2 Wheat Research and Production Program in Mexico. The program received financial support from a private group, the Rockefeller Foundation.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The farming conditions Borlaug found in Mexico were extremely bad. The soil was not good for growing crops, and disease was destroying the plants. Over the next twenty years, Borlaug worked with Mexican scientists to develop crops that were able to resist disease. This was done by crossbreeding different kinds of wheat to make stronger, more resistant3 ones. He and the scientists also developed plants that produced higher quantities of grain.

Borlaug worked with wheat genes4 to shrink the plant while keeping the grain large. Using the same amount of land, the new wheat variety could produce three to four times as much food. This method of shrinking plants would become a major part of the Green Revolution.

Mexico imported sixty percent of its wheat in the early nineteen forties. By nineteen fifty-six, the country produced enough wheat to feed its population. By nineteen sixty-three, Mexico began exporting wheat.

VOICE TWO:

Working with researchers throughout the world, Borlaug began to offer his methods in areas where people were threatened with starvation. He began to receive urgent requests from poor countries where population growth was more than the food supply could feed.

Borlaug's first stop was Asia. He and his team had great success in Pakistan and India. Local farmers could grow four times more wheat than before. Pakistan was able to feed its own population by nineteen sixty-eight. Six years later, India also became self-sufficient. Borlaug also brought his methods to the Middle East and South American countries like Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen seventy, Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts toward world peace through increasing food supply. At the time of the announcement, Borlaug was working in farmland in Mexico.

When he heard the news, he thought it was a joke. It is said that he traveled the eighty kilometers to Mexico City to meet with reporters and arrived with dirt on his hands. Later that year, Borlaug traveled to the home of his ancestors, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
 
President George W. Bush in 2007 presenting the Congressional Gold Medal

Borlaug also won the highest civilian5 honors in the United States. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in nineteen seventy-seven. Thirty years later, he received the Congressional Gold Medal.

Borlaug is one of only five people to receive all three honors. The others are Martin Luther King Junior, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Elie Wiesel.

VOICE TWO:

One of the lasting6 effects of Norman Borlaug is the World Food Prize, which he established in nineteen eighty-six. The award recognizes the work of individuals who have helped human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.

Shortly after Borlaug's death, billionaire Bill Gates spoke7 at the World Food Prize symposium8 in Iowa.

BILL GATES: "In the middle of the twentieth century, experts predicted famine and starvation. But they turned out to be wrong, because they did not predict Norman Borlaug. He not only showed humanity9 how to get more food from the Earth, he proved that farming has the power to lift up the lives of the poor."

VOICE ONE:

Norman Borlaug's work lives on through the Borlaug Fellowship10 Program. The Department of Agriculture supervises11 the program. It brings foreign agricultural scientists to the United States each year and places them with American scientists.

Later in his life, Borlaug turned his attention to Africa. He and former American President Jimmy Carter worked with the Sasakawa Africa Association to help increase the quality and production of corn on the continent.

VOICE TWO:

But not everyone considered Borlaug a hero. Environmental activists12 criticized his intensive methods, including use of fertilizers and pesticides13. These products are used to help plants grow and protect them from insects.

Borlaug suggested that Western critics had never known real hunger. He also wondered if they had ever watched their children go hungry.

Borlaug's desire to feed the world is what drove him. He was a firm believer that the job of feeding the world could not be done without fertilizers and pesticides. Borlaug and those who followed his lead argued that older methods of sustainable farming could not produce enough food to prevent hunger in poorer areas of the world.

In nineteen seventy-one, he criticized opponents of the insecticide DDT, which was later banned in the United States.

NORMAN BORLAUG:"I am very proud to be an American but I am also frightened by this hysteria. [If we] remove DDT the next will be all insecticides, after that it will be all the weed-killers and the fungicides and then the fertilizers, if the hysteria prevails. And when this happens, sir, the U.S. will be importing food, only there won't be any place from where to import it."

VOICE TWO:

But later in life, Borlaug urged farmers not to overuse chemical products.

VOICE ONE:

Up until his death in September two thousand nine, Borlaug was still working on agricultural projects. He was a professor of international agriculture at Texas A and M University in Texas. The university established an institute in his name.

Six months before his death, Norman Borlaug spoke to VOA at his ninety-fifth birthday party. Borlaug said he was worried about the world's ability to feed itself. He said that the work to improve crop production must continue.

Borlaug suffered from lymphoma. Health problems linked to the disease led to his death. Borlaug's family released a statement shortly after he died. It said they wanted his life to be an example for making a difference in the lives of others, and for working toward the goal of ending suffering for all mankind.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake. I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can download this program and others from our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in VOA Special English.

 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 forestry 8iBxk     
n.森林学;林业
参考例句:
  • At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
  • Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。
2 cooperative NZ5yS     
adj.有合作意向的,合作的;n.合作社(企业)等
参考例句:
  • The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作,所以工作进展顺利。
  • We decided to set up a cooperative.我们决定开办一家合作社。
3 resistant 7Wvxh     
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。
4 genes 01914f8eac35d7e14afa065217edd8c0     
n.基因( gene的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因,所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
5 civilian uqbzl     
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的
参考例句:
  • There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
  • He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
6 lasting IpCz02     
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
参考例句:
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
7 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
8 symposium 8r6wZ     
n.讨论会,专题报告会;专题论文集
参考例句:
  • What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会?
  • The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。
9 humanity Nc4xR     
n.人类,[总称]人(性),人道[pl.]人文学科
参考例句:
  • Such an act is a disgrace to humanity.这种行为是人类的耻辱。
  • We should treat animals with humanity.我们应该以仁慈之心对待动物。
10 fellowship Ekvxh     
n.伙伴关系,团体,奖学金,研究员职位
参考例句:
  • You'll lose your fellowship if you do that.你如果做那件事就会丧失研究员职位。
  • It looks that they'll be admitted to the fellowship.看来他们要被吸收入会了。
11 supervises 0c6b8b4be15dd8fdcf08e4a8c5c6c843     
v.监督,管理( supervise的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The group leader supervises a dozen workers. 组长管十二个工人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He makes the wines and supervises the vineyards. 他酿酒并管理葡萄园。 来自辞典例句
12 activists 90fd83cc3f53a40df93866d9c91bcca4     
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
  • Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 pesticides abb0488ed6905584ea91347395a890e8     
n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 );除害药物
参考例句:
  • vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
  • There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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