2007年VOA标准英语-American Farmers Benefit from New Emphasis on E

By Greg Flakus
Chancellor¹, South Dakota
21 June 2007
 

In an effort to lessen² America's dependence³ on foreign oil imports and reduce pollution from vehicles burning gasoline, the U.S. government last year mandated⁴ that gasoline include a mixture of ten percent ethanol, and higher mixes are available in some areas for use by flex-fuel vehicles. Ethanol is grain alcohol derived⁵ from plants, and in the United States most of it comes from corn grown in Midwestern states.  As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Chancellor, South Dakota, increased demand for ethanol is driving an economical revival⁶ in the corn belt.

The Poet Energy Ethanol Plant in Chancellor, South Dakota

Times are good for farmers in the main corn-growing region, stretching from the eastern Dakotas to Illinois. Ethanol plants, such as the one operated by Poet Energy in Chancellor, South Dakota, are hiring thousands of people and helping⁷ keep corn prices high. Since they need corn year-round, ethanol plants provide a constant market for grain stored in silos by local farmers like Richard Lounsberry.

"The ethanol plant uses it constantly, so there is always demand for the corn and it just keeps your prices more stable," he says.

Many of these plants began as local farm initiatives, so some people, like Lounsberry are also profiting from the investments they made many years ago.

"My father-in-law actually helped start the plant and we are real excited about this because it helps our economy and we get a little more for our grain that way,” explains Lounsberry. “And, if everything goes good, we get dividends⁸, if the plant does good. So it has been a real plus for the farmers."

Poet Chancellor Plant manager Rick Serie

Poet Chancellor Plant manager Rick Serie says corn is an ideal crop for making ethanol because it is 72 percent starch⁹. "Basically, what we do to produce ethanol is convert that starch to a sugar, inject a yeast¹⁰ in it. The yeast eats the sugar and the waste product is actually ethyl alcohol, which is ethanol."

What is left over is carbon dioxide and the fine gold powder is used as a feed for livestock¹¹, another important part of the local economy. In nearby Sioux Falls, the American Coalition¹² for Ethanol keeps tabs on the industry and also lobbies for government support at both the state and federal level. 

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Brian Jennings, executive vice president

Brian Jennings is the organization's executive vice president. He says, "Over 40 percent of the production capacity that we have today in the ethanol industry is farmer or local owned. That has been a very important part of the development of the ethanol industry and in making sure that some of the profits that are made, indeed, stay in these rural communities."

Critics of ethanol complain that the fuel would not be cost effective for consumers if not for generous government subsidies¹⁴, but Jennings says the support has helped create an industry that benefits the environment, consumers and rural economies.

"The ethanol industry has grown very rapidly in the last 24 months,” says Jennings. “We have virtually doubled in size over the last three or four years. Today, we have 125 ethanol plants in operation across 20 states. There are another 76 plants under construction in 23 states and we have the ability to make about six billion gallons of ethanol today."

Some studies have shown that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than it provides, but Jennings says the industry continues to advance technologically¹⁵ and that newer studies show a clear gain in energy from ethanol production.

"We are using less energy to make ethanol, we are yielding more ethanol per bushel of corn that goes through an ethanol plant, we are using less water to make ethanol than we did before. We are re-using and recycling more products in the process."

Although Jennings works for an organization that promotes ethanol, he concedes that neither ethanol nor any other single energy source will meet all of the country's fuel needs.

"We need other renewable fuels. We need biodiesel. We need things like butynal, and some of these other advanced bio-fuels that are being discussed today. We need conservation. This country finally needs to get a grip on the amount of energy that it uses."

Researchers are now working on ways of producing ethanol and other renewable fuels from trees, switchgrass and even the stalks left over in a field after corn is harvested.

Rick Serie says Poet Energy sees a need to develop such sources to meet growing demand. "We see that the corn supply is going to be maxed out at a certain point in the future for ethanol production, so what we are going to have to do is have other feed stock to produce ethanol."

Ethanol industry leaders say they are already working on plans to develop these so-called cellulosic biomass fuels, thereby¹⁶ providing farmers in America's heartland with a good market in the years to come.

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

3 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

4 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

5 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

9 starch   

n.淀粉；vt.给...上浆

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
• I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。

10 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

11 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

12 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。

16 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。