晨读英语美文60篇六级58

[00:00.00]Genetically³ Modified Foods—Feed the World?

[00:03.67]If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party,

[00:08.68]bring up the topic of genetically modified foods.

[00:11.75]For many people, the concept of genetically altered,

[00:15.46]high-tech crop production raises all kinds of environmental,

[00:19.73]health, safety and ethical⁴ questions.

[00:22.70]Particularly in countries with long agrarian⁵ traditions—

[00:26.62]and vocal⁶ green lobbies—

[00:28.71]the idea seems against nature.

[00:30.77]In fact, genetically modified foods are already very much a part of our lives.

[00:36.46]A third of the corn and more than half the soybeans

[00:40.18]and cotton grown in the US last year were the product of biotechnology,

[00:44.99]according to the Department of Agriculture.

[00:47.63]More than 65 million acres of genetically modified crops

[00:52.32]will be planted in the US this year.

[00:54.53]The genetic² is out of the bottle.

[00:57.03]The issue is simple and urgent:

[00:59.54]Do the benefits of biotech outweigh⁷ the risks?

[01:02.72]The statistics on population growth and hunger are disturbing.

[01:07.09]Last year the world’s population reached 6 billion.

[01:10.58]And by 2050, the UN estimates,

[01:13.77]it will probably near 9 billion.

[01:16.30]almost all that growth occer in developing countries.

[01:20.00]At the same time,

[01:20.82]the world’s available cultivable land per person is declining.

[01:25.40]The UN estimates that nearly 800 million people

[01:29.45]around the world are undernourished.

[01:31.53]The effects are devastating⁸.

[01:33.40]How can biotech help?

[01:35.57]Biotechnologists have developed genetically modified rice

[01:39.73]that is fortified⁹ with beta-carotene --

[01:42.04]which the body converts into vitamin A—

[01:44.54]and additional iron,

[01:46.30]and they are working on other kinds of nutritionally improved crops.

[01:50.78]Biotech can also improve farming productivity in places

[01:54.71]where food shortages are caused by crop damage attribution to pests,

[01:59.65]drought, poor soil and crop viruses, bacteria or fungi¹⁰.

[02:04.47]Damage caused by pests is incredible.

[02:07.19]The European corn borer, for example,

[02:09.71]destroys 40 million tons of the world’s corn crop annually¹¹,

[02:14.20]about 7% of the total.

[02:16.37]Incorporating pest-resistant genes¹² into seeds can help restore the balance.

[02:21.51]In trials of pest-resistant cotton in Africa,

[02:24.59]yields have increased significantly.

[02:27.20]So far, fears that genetically modified,

[02:30.50]pest-resistant crops might kill good insects as well as bad appear unfounded.

[02:36.50]Viruses often cause massive failure in staple¹³ crops in developing countries.

[02:41.97]Two years ago, Africa lost more than half its cassava crop—

[02:46.01]a key source of calories—

[02:47.88]to the mosaic¹⁴ virus.

[02:49.52]Genetically modified,

[02:51.06]virus-resistant crops can reduce that damage,

[02:53.78]as can drought-tolerant seeds in regions

[02:57.17]where water shortages limit the amount of land under cultivation¹⁵.

[03:00.69]Biotech can also help solve the problem of soil that contains excess aluminum¹⁶,

[03:06.24]which can damage roots and cause many staple-crop failures.

[03:10.09]A gene¹ that helps neutralize¹⁷ aluminum toxicity¹⁸ in rice has been identified.

[03:16.00]Many scientists believe biotech could raise overall crop productivity in developing countries

[03:22.10]as much as 25% and help prevent the loss of those crops after they are harvested.

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 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。

3 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

4 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

5 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

6 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

7 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

8 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

9 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

10 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

11 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

12 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

13 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

14 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

15 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

16 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

17 neutralize   

v.使失效、抵消，使中和

参考例句：

• Nothing could neutralize its good effects.没有什么能抵消它所产生的好影响。
• Acids neutralize alkalis and vice versa.酸能使碱中和碱，亦能使酸中和。

18 toxicity   

n.毒性，毒力

参考例句：

• The hoarse grunt or squeal is characteristic of toxicity.嘶哑的哼声和叫声是中毒的特征。
• Dieldrin is related to aldrin,and its toxicity to earthworms is similar.狄氏剂与艾氏剂有关，对蚯蚓的毒性是相似的。