VOA慢速英语2012 Agriculture Report - For Meat Lovers, the Challenge of Faking It

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Some people in the Netherlands are spending three hundred thirty thousand dollars on a hamburger. The people are scientists at the University of Maastricht. They want to prove that they can make a hamburger that tastes good and does not require an animal to be killed.

荷兰一些人在汉堡包上花费了33万美元。这些人是马斯特里赫特大学的科学家，他们希望证明在不需要杀害动物的前提下，可以使汉堡包一样美味。

Researcher Mark Post and his team have been growing muscle-tissue cells in a laboratory with muscle taken from a cow.

研究人员马克·波斯特（Mark Post）和他的团队一直在实验室中通过采自牛身上的肌肉培养肌肉组织细胞。

MARK POST: "We have committed ourselves to make a couple of thousand of these small tissues and then assemble them into a hamburger."

波斯特：“我们要求自己制造出几千个这种小型肌肉组织，然后将它们汇集成一个汉堡包。

Several teams around the world are trying to produce meat without killing¹ animals. So far the Dutch team appears to have made the most progress.

世界各地的几个团队都尝试在不杀害动物的前提下生产出肉类。到目前为止，这个荷兰团队貌似取得的进展最大。

Mr. Post says he wants to show that the world's growing demand for meat could be satisfied more efficiently² and with less harm to the environment.

波斯特先生说，他想要表明，全球不断增长的肉类需求能够以更有效，对环境危害更小的方式来得到满足。

MARK POST: "It's a combination of the two things, care for environment and food production for the world. And second is just a generic³ interest in life-transforming technologies."

波斯特：“它结合了这两者，保护环境以及生产食物。此外，这仅仅是生命转换科技的一般兴趣所在。”

Seth Tibbott is the founder⁴ of Turtle Island Foods in Hood⁵ River, Oregon.

赛斯·蒂博是俄勒冈州胡德河市龟山岛食品公司创始人。

SETH TIBBOTT: "This is some of our flagship product, the Tofurky roast, being made, where the stuffing is inside and the ... "

蒂博：“这是我们的一些主打产品，烤素火鸡，里面有填料...”

His company makes a vegetarian⁶ turkey substitute called Tofurky. Tofurky is made from tofu. Tofu is made with soybeans. So what does Mr. Tibbott think of the idea of a hamburger made in a lab?

他公司制作了一种名为Tofurky（素火鸡）的素食火鸡替代品。素火鸡是用豆腐做的。豆腐是用大豆做的。那么蒂博先生如何看待实验室制作汉堡包的这个想法呢？

SETH TIBBOTT: "I think it sounds still pretty disgusting."

蒂博：“我认为它听起来仍然相当恶心。”

His company estimates that about three percent of Americans are vegetarian. Vegetarians⁷ do not necessarily want food that tastes like meat. But Seth Tibbott says a lot of other people might try meatless alternatives if those products did look and taste more like real meat.

该公司估计，3%的美国人是素食主义者。素食主义者未必希望食物吃起来像肉类。但蒂博表示，如果这些产品的外观和口味确实更像真正的肉类，其他很多人可能会尝试这种素食的替代品。”

SETH TIBBOTT: "In the industry, they're called flexi-tarians or they're called 'sometimes vegetarians.' And, depending on what study you look at, they're thirty to forty percent of America."

蒂博：“在这个行业中，他们被称为偶尔吃点肉的素食者（flexi-tarians）或偶尔素食者。根据不同研究结果，他们占到美国人的30%到40%。”

注：Flexitarian/flexi-tarian 是由 flexible（灵活的） 和 vegetarian（素食者） 合成而来。这种灵活的素食主义者为了营养均衡，会时不常地吃上一点肉类食物。相对应的，这种会吃一点肉的素食主义就叫做 flexitarianism。

Turtle Island Foods is building a new Tofurky factory. It will let the company make three times as much Tofurky starting next year.

龟山岛食品公司正在兴建一个新的素火鸡工厂。这将使该公司素火鸡产量从明年开始能够提升3倍。

Biochemistry professor Patrick Brown at Stanford University in California has started his own company developing a meat substitute. His food scientists are working with plant proteins and oils to try to reproduce the look and taste of the real thing. But he says whatever they produce will also need a price that appeals to meat lovers.

加州斯坦福大学生物化学教授帕特里克·布朗（Patrick Brown）已经开设了一家开发肉类替代品的公司。该公司的食品科学家正致力于植物蛋白和油脂，以试图重现真正的食物的外观和口味。但他说无论生产什么，还需要一个迎合肉类爱好者的价格。

PATRICK BROWN: "What we're intending to do is basically produce stuff that will compete by being substantially cheaper and every bit as good and essentially⁸ indistinguishable to a consumer who loves meat or dairy. That’s the only way I think you’re really going to win in the market."

布朗：“我们打算生产对肉类、乳制品消费者说非常便宜并且足够好，本质上无法区别的原材料来参与竞争。我认为这是赢得市场的唯一办法。”

The American beef industry uses the marketing⁹ slogan: "Beef, it's what's for dinner." Jack¹⁰ Field is the director of the Washington Cattlemen's Association, in Washington state. He says he is not too worried about competition from fake meat. In his words, "Real beef will be what's for dinner, now and into the future."

美国牛肉行业使用的营销口号是：“牛肉，晚餐之选。”杰克·菲尔德（Jack Field）是华盛顿州牧民协会主任。他说自己并不担心仿肉食品的竞争。用他的话来说，“牛肉是晚餐之选，现在和将来都是。”

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. You can find captioned¹¹ videos of our programs at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube. I'm Jim Tedder¹².

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Contributing: Tom Banse

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