VOA慢速英语2018 路透社称巴西的发展危及地球环境（在线收听）

Reuters: Development in Brazil Putting Earth’s Environment at Risk

Brazil is the largest exporter of soybeans, chicken and beef in the world. It is also a major producer of pork and corn.

巴西是世界上最大的大豆、鸡肉和牛肉出口国，也是猪肉和玉米的主要生产国。

The Reuters news agency says Brazil’s success is partly a result of low prices for farm land and permissive land-use policies.

路透社表示，巴西成功的部分原因是低廉的农地价格和宽松的土地使用政策。

Some farmers are leaving the Amazon, partly because of international concerns about the rainforest. Many are moving to an area in the center of the country, known as the Cerrado.

一些农民开始离开亚马逊热带雨林，部分原因是国际上对这片雨林的关注。很多人迁往该国中部一处名为塞拉多的地区。

The Cerrado is about the same size as Mexico. It stretches from Brazil’s western border with Paraguay up to the northeast and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest flat, wooded grasslands in South America. The area is also home to five percent of living species on Earth.

塞拉多的面积和墨西哥差不多。它从巴西同巴拉圭接壤的西部边境一直延伸到东北部和大西洋。它是南美洲最大的一片地势平坦、树木繁茂的草原。该地区也是地球上5%的生物物种的家园。

Over the past 10 years, Brazilian farmers have been developing large parts of the Cerrado. The government says the area has lost more than 105,000 square kilometers of its native plant cover since 2008. That number represents 50 percent more land than the deforestation seen during the same period in the Amazon. Based on relative size, the Cerrado is disappearing nearly four times faster than the rainforest.

在过去十年里，巴西农民一直在开发塞拉多的大部分地区。政府表示，自2008年以来，该地区失去的原生植物覆盖面积已经超过10.5万平方公里，这一数字比亚马逊同期森林砍伐面积还高出50%。基于相对规模，塞拉多比雨林的消失速度快了近4倍。

The Cerrado is also rich in carbon dioxide gas. Studies have linked rising levels of carbon dioxide to rising temperatures in Earth’s atmosphere. Many scientists blame the increase on deforestation and use of coal, oil and other fossil fuels.

塞拉多还富含二氧化碳气体。研究表明，二氧化碳水平上升同地球大气层温度升高有关。很多科学家将此归咎于森林砍伐和煤炭、石油等化石燃料的使用。

Brazilian officials say protection of native plant life is important to meeting the country’s goals under the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change. But scientists say industrial farming in the Carredo could hold back Brazil's efforts and worsen global warming.

巴西官员表示，保护本土植物对该国实现2016年巴黎气候变化协议的目标非常重要。但是科学家表示，塞拉多地区的工业化农业可能会阻碍巴西的努力，并加剧全球变暖。

Liliana Pena Naval is an environmental engineering professor at the Federal University of Tocantins. She told the Associated Press that the removal of plants can cause bodies of water to disappear.

Liliana Pena Naval是托坎廷斯州联邦大学的一名环境工程学教授。她对美联社表示，移除植物会导致水体消失。

Thousands of plants, fish, insects and animals are also affected. Many of these species are only beginning to be studied.

成千上万的植物、鱼类、昆虫和动物也将受到影响。其中很多物种才刚开始进行研究。

Farmers see the development of the Cerrado as necessary for Brazil’s food security and economic success. The agriculture industry grew 13 percent in 2017. The ability to keep producing new farmland at low costs has given Brazil better chances for success than other countries.

农民们认为塞拉多的发展对巴西的粮食安全和经济成功来说是非常必要的。2017年农业产业增长了13%。以低成本继续扩大农田的能力赋予了巴西比其它国家更大的成功机会。

Increased trade with China

与中国贸易提升

Deforestation in the Cerrado has slowed from the early 2000s. But farmers continue to develop large parts of the area. Much of the growth is fueled by Chinese demand for Brazilian meat and grain. China is Brazil's top buyer of soybeans. China is also a major purchaser of Brazilian pork, beef and chicken.

塞拉多的森林砍伐从21世纪初开始放缓。但是农民们继续在开发该地区的大部分地区。中国对巴西肉类和谷物的需求刺激了其中大部分的增长。中国是巴西最大的大豆买家，也是巴西猪肉、牛肉和鸡肉的主要买家。

Rising trade tensions between China and the United States have only made the connection stronger. Brazil's soybean exports to China are up 18 percent through the first seven months of 2018. The increase comes as Chinese buyers have canceled tens of millions of dollars' worth of business deals with U.S. suppliers.

中美之间日益加剧的贸易紧张局势只会使这种联系更为紧密。巴西对中国的大豆出口在2018年前7个月增长了18%。随着中国买家取消同美国供应商达成的数千万美元的商业交易，巴西的增长也随之增加。

Environmental protections remain strong in Brazil. Rainforest farmers are required by law to protect 80 percent of native plants on their land. As part of its promise under the Paris Agreement, the government agreed to end illegal Amazon deforestation by 2030.

巴西的环境保护仍然很严格。法律要求雨林农民保护他们土地上80%的原生植物。作为对巴黎协定承诺的一部分，巴西政府同意在2030年前消除亚马逊热带雨林的非法砍伐。

But Brazil has made no similar effort to protect the Cerrado. Environmentalists say the area’s wooded grasslands have failed to capture the public's attention the way the Amazon has.

但是巴西并未采取类似措施来保护塞拉多。环保主义者表示，该地区树木繁茂的草原未能像亚马逊热带雨林那样吸引公众注意力。

Last year, some environmental protection groups began calling for large international businesses to protect the Cerrado. Among those groups were Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Foundation and the Brazilian research group IPAM. They called for immediate action to end the deforestation in a document known as the Cerrado Manifesto.

去年，一些环保组织开始呼吁大型国际企业保护塞拉多，其中包括绿色和平组织、世界野生动物基金会以及巴西IPAM研究组织，他们在一份名为塞拉多宣言的文件中呼吁立即采取行动停止森林砍伐。

More than 60 companies, including McDonalds, Unilever and Walmart, offered to follow the manifesto. They have agreed to support measures that would end native vegetation loss in the Cerrado from their production processes.

包括麦当劳、联合利华和沃尔玛在内的60多家公司主动提出遵守这一宣言。他们同意支持采取措施，消除塞拉多地区生产过程中的原生植被损失。

Farmer Julimar Pansera purchased land in the Cerrado seven years ago. Today, he oversees nearly 49 square kilometers of soy fields and has about 20 full-time employees. He said there is no future without growth.

农民Julimar Pansera7年前在塞拉多买下了土地。今天，他管理着近49平方公里的大豆田，拥有近20名全职员工。他说，没有增长就没有未来。

"There is still a large area to be opened," he said. "It will be one of the great centers of Brazilian agriculture."

他说：“这里还有大片等待开垦的土地，它将成为巴西农业的重要中心之一。”

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

deforestation – n. the act or result of cutting down or burning all the trees in an area

global warming – n. the recent increase in the world's temperature that is believed to be caused by the increase of certain gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

species – n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants

vegetation – n. plants in general; plants that cover a particular area