新奇事件簿 种子库保卫世界食物供应的未来（在线收听）

A special vault storing the world's most precious seeds has now amassed over one million different plant varieties. It recently took delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different crops. Global Seed Vault is buried deep in an icy mountain in the Arctic Circle area of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to safeguard the future of the world's food supply. Climate change is causing more and more droughts around the world, which are threatening different species of plants. The vault holds back-ups of seed samples stored in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a senior scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million mark is really significant."

储存世界上最珍贵种子的特别种子库内的种子数量已累积超过一百万，其中涵盖了各种不同植物的种子。种子库近日获取了来自七万种不同农作物的种子。全球种子库深藏于挪威斯瓦尔巴特群岛北极圈地区的冰山之下。该种子库从十年前开始保卫世界食物供应的未来。气候变化导致世界范围内越来越多的干旱，威胁到了各种不同植物物种。种子库将种子样本的备份储存在世界其他种子库。农作物信托基金会高级科学家汉内斯.登佩沃尔夫表示：“达到目标意义非常重大。”

Workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant there was a shortfall of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The latest delivery to the vault included cereal staples. There were also more unusual crops like the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed as a drought tolerant crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, spoke about the importance of the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a huge range of seeds means scientists will have the best chance of developing nutritious and climate-resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but thrive."

种子库的工作人员此前还不确定他们会否马上达到百万目标。叙利亚危机意味着种子库内将损失九万粒种子。最新一批送至种子库的种子包括谷物类。其中还有些不常见的农作物，比如来自爱沙尼亚的洋葱土豆以及班巴拉花生，在非洲这些都是当做耐旱作物来种植。农作物信托基金会执行理事玛丽·哈贾谈到了种子库的重要性。她说道：“保护如此庞大的种子群意味着科学家们将最大可能地开发出有营养且有气候韧性的农作物，确保未来一代不仅仅能生存，更能兴旺。”