【英语语言学习】比尔盖茨的投资

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

 

And I'm Audie Cornish. If you think that you need to crack open a few eggs to make an omelet, well, there are some young entrepreneurs in San Francisco who are betting that won't be true much longer. A new business backed by venture capital dollars is taking aim at the traditional egg industry with egg replacement¹ products.

 

BLOCK: The strategy is to take the chicken completely out of the process and instead use plants to recreate the taste and feel of eggs. NPR's Allison Aubrey is here to tell and show us more. Allison.

 

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE²: Hi there. So are you guys up for a taste test?

 

CORNISH: Let's do this.

 

BLOCK: Okay.

 

AUBREY: All right. Well, what I have here are two types of cookies, both are chocolate chip. One is your typical grocery store brand made traditionally with real eggs and the other cookie contains an egg substitute called Beyond Eggs. It's actually made from peas and sorghum³. And the question is, can you taste the difference?

 

CORNISH: All right. So we're going to taste these and we're going to report back on that question.

 

AUBREY: Okay. Well, while you guys deliberate here and taste, let me introduce you to the 33-year-old entrepreneur behind this. His name is Josh Tetrick and several years ago when he was trying to figure out what to do with his life, he had competing ideas. On one hand, he had sort of do-gooder instincts, but he also had the desire to be a business man, to make money.

 

So when I caught up with him at his company headquarters in San Francisco, I asked him how these two goals lead him to eggs.

 

JOSH TETRICK: So the egg industry is massive, over $9 billion around the world. And what people don't understand, I think, is as population explodes around the world, if we continue to eat the eggs we are, there's an environmental cost.

 

AUBREY: Tetrick points to issues such as concentration of manure⁴ that can pollute water and...

 

TETRICK: Leads to lots of greenhouse gas emissions⁵.

 

AUBREY: Since it takes a lot of energy to grow the food to feed the chickens that lay the eggs. Now, as Tetrick talks, he sounds more like an activist⁶ than a business man.

 

TETRICK: And I think there's a better way to feed the world.

 

AUBREY: Now much of what Tetrick envisions is still being developed and to his ear, this is the sound of innovation. No, that's not a jumbo jet ready for takeoff. It's a giant mixer. Tetrick is taking us inside his 2400 square foot food laboratory where a molecular⁷ biologist he's hired named Joshua Klein (ph) is at the helm.

 

JOSHUA KLEIN: We were just shaking up some cake batters⁸ with new cooking sources

 

AUBREY: You see, when it comes to reproducing the egg, they're trying to find plants that will do the job, but there's no slam dunk. The egg has so many functions in food. It can make muffins rise. It can emulsify⁹, fluff things up and help ingredients bind¹⁰ together. So Tetrick's team has had to experiment a lot.

 

TETRICK: We really have to dig deeply into plant-based functionality. So what we do is we bring in hundreds of different types of plants. We look at them under microscopes. We throw them in mayonnaise and put them in cookies. We process them in different ways.

 

AUBREY: And over time, they've settled on a combination of peas and sorghum and a few other ingredients to make their product. Now, it hasn't been easy. In one of the early Beyond Egg prototypes, Tetrick says when they figured out which combinations of these plants created the right cookie texture¹¹, they thought they had a homerun.

 

TETRICK: It was good when you first took it out of the oven.

 

AUBREY: The cookies looked good, they tasted good, but Tetrick says there was a problem.

 

TETRICK: Then the next day, it would harden up and it was drying out really quick and we actually didn't even know what was drying out.

 

AUBREY: Tetrick says through trial and error, they found a particular species of sorghum that helped the cookie stay moist.

 

TETRICK: And now ours lasts even longer, in terms of being moist, than an egg-based cookie would.

 

AUBREY: Now this egg of the future has attracted lots of attention from high tech investors¹², including none other than Bill Gates. But Tetrick's company, Hampton Creek¹³ Foods, is certainly not the only player in this market.

 

KANTHA SHELKE: Egg replacements¹⁴ are not something new.

 

AUBREY: That's food scientist Kantha Shelke. She says there have been vegan products, such as eggless mayo, for decades. But she says global demand for plant-based foods is rising fast.

 

SHELKE: Today, having an egg-replacement or non-egg label is very appealing in the food industry.

 

AUBREY: She points to issues such as food safety, egg allergies¹⁵ and the cholesterol¹⁶ in eggs. And Kantha says since big food companies aren't jumping in to innovate¹⁷, it creates opportunities for start-ups like the folks behind these cookies. For Tetrick, the next big goal is to figure out how to replicate¹⁸ the scrambled¹⁹ egg, which he says is a challenge.

 

TETRICK: An extreme challenge, no doubt about it.

 

AUBREY: And it turns out that they've got a version that will actually fry up in the pan, but Tetrick says the texture's just a little different. It breaks into little pieces in your mouth.

 

BLOCK: That's NPR's Allison Aubrey reporting on Beyond Eggs. My question, Allison, is if they even look like eggs when you...

 

AUBREY: You know, frying up in the pan, it looks like eggs. I really think it's a texture issue here and a taste issue. And speaking of that, what do you guys think?

 

BLOCK: I think I'm not tasting egg, I'm tasting cookie. I cannot form an opinion.

 

CORNISH: I think I'll need two or three more to really adequately get an idea.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

AUBREY: Right. Well, you know, first of all, they're tasters. I don't think people can detect big differences here. But for bakers²⁰, this is attractive because it's turning out to be cheaper than real eggs and for folks who care about conservation, there's a cleaner environmental footprint here.

 

BLOCK: That's NPR's Allison Aubrey. Allison, thanks so much.

 

AUBREY: Thanks to both of you.

1 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

4 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

8 batters   

n.面糊（煎料）( batter的名词复数 )；面糊（用于做糕饼）；（ 棒球） 正在击球的球员；击球员v.连续猛击( batter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pitcher has beaned as many as three batters in this game. 在这？热？投手投球竟打中了三个击手的头。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A storm batters the ship. 一场风暴袭击了这条船。 来自辞典例句

9 emulsify   

v.使乳化

参考例句：

• Beeswax acts as an emulsifying agent.蜂蜡起到乳化剂的作用。
• It is the pressure which releases the coffee oils;these emulsify and give the coffee its rich,velvety texture.压力将咖啡的油脂挤出，这些油脂经乳化带给咖啡一种浓郁、柔滑的口感。

10 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

11 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

12 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

13 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

14 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

15 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

16 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

17 innovate   

v.革新，变革，创始

参考例句：

• We must innovate in order to make progress.我们必须改革以便取得进步。
• It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories.创新和发展军事理论是必要的。

18 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

19 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 bakers   

n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三

参考例句：

• The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》