VOA慢速英语 2007 0501a

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

 
A boy carries cassava in the Democratic Republic of Congo
A new project will try to protect twenty-one of the world's most important food crops by securing their seeds. Organizers say the project will "rescue" seed collections in developing countries where many gene¹ banks are in poor condition.

This is a joint² project of two organizations, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the United Nations Foundation. Cary Fowler, the director of the trust based in Rome, says it will be the largest such effort ever made.

The aim is to collect seeds or reproductive material from one hundred sixty-five thousand varieties of the crops. Organizers say the effort will secure more than ninety-five percent of the endangered crop diversity represented in gene banks in developing countries.

They say the fight against hunger cannot be won without securing crops that are in danger of being lost. Many of the crops are known as "orphan³ crops." Orphan crops do not get much attention from modern plant breeders but are especially important in poor countries. These include cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, taro⁴ and coconut⁵.

Some orphan crops cannot be grown from seeds. Instead, cuttings, roots and cell cultures will be gathered from gene banks. And the project will finance research into lower-cost ways to protect these crops.

The project will also finance an information system for plant breeders to search gene banks worldwide. They will be able to look for plants with the right qualities to resist new diseases and the effects of climate change.

Still another goal is to improve communications between farmers and plant breeders. The organizers say they look forward to a time when breeders in Africa can find the same crop genetic⁶ information as those in Europe and North America.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has agreed to provide thirty million dollars for the project. Norway will provide seven and one-half million dollars.

The Global Crop Diversity Trust says at least four hundred fifty thousand seed samples will go into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault⁷. The trust and the government of Norway are building this in the side of a mountain on an island near the North Pole.

Seeds from around the world will be stored there in case the planet suffers a terrible disaster. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is expected to open in March of two thousand eight.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember. 

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

4 taro   

n.芋，芋头

参考例句：

• Main grain crop has taro,corn,banana to wait.主要粮食作物有芋头、玉米、芭蕉等。
• You celebrate your birthday with taro,red bean and butter.用红豆、芋头和黄油给自己过生日。

5 coconut   

n.椰子

参考例句：

• The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
• The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。

6 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

7 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。