Lesson34 Food of the Future?
Scientists are always trying out new ways of growing food, even though theycan only guess what food will be like in the future. Here are some of theirimaginations.
The sea can be farmed. Only one third of the earth's area is island. Theremainder is sea. The ocean contains huge amounts of tiny sea-animals calledKrill. Krill are already in some fish products, such as fish sticks andcanned crab. Next time you buy canned or frozen seafood look carefully atthe label.
You might see krill listed as one of the ingredients. Seaweed is anothersource of future food from the ocean. It is used in ice cream and somebread.
Animals can be changed. A farmer is able to "engineer" his animals by addinghormones to their feed. Hormones can make chicken meat more tender or beefless fat. For example, dairy farmers add growth hormones so that calvesproduce milk sooner than normal.
New crops can be planted.
Today, rice supports more than half the world's population. But it takes alot of water to grow rice. Scientists predict the climate will get drierduring the next century. Therefore, it might be impossible to grow rice inthe future. Some farmers are experimenting with new crops. Farmers like togrow beans because they don't need much water, and beans also improve thequality of the soil. The soybean makes a good substitute for rice and meat.
krill [动]磷虾
fish stick 冻鱼条
hormone 荷尔蒙, 激素
未来的食物？
科学家即使只能猜测未来的食物是什么样子， 也还要经常尝试种植粮食的新方法。下面是一些他们的想象。
我们可以从海洋中获取食物。只有三分之一的地球表面是陆地，其他部分是海洋。海洋里有大量的叫做磷虾的微小海洋动物。磷虾已经用于一些鱼制品，如冻鱼条和罐装的螃蟹之中。下次你买了罐装的或冷冻的海产食品时，仔细看看标签，或许能看到列在食物成分中的磷虾。海洋中的海藻是未来食物的另一种原料来源。它现在用于冰激凌和一些面包。
牲畜可被改变。农夫能在饲料中添加荷尔蒙来“制造”他的牲畜。荷尔蒙能使鸡肉更嫩，或使牛肉脂肪变少。比如，奶牛场主添加生长荷尔蒙，能使小牛提前产奶。
人们可种植新品种作物。现在，大米供养世界一半多的人口。但是大米生长要许多水。
科学家预测下世纪气候会变得更干燥。因此，未来或许不可能种大米了。有些农民在实验新品种作物。他们喜欢种植豆子，因为豆子需水不多，而且还能改善土壤品质。大豆是大米和肉的不错的替代物。 |