VOA标准英语2009年-Norman Borlaug's Legacy

By Steve Baragona
Washington
16 September 2009

 
Norman Borlaug
Photo courtesy Texas A&M University
 
Norman Borlaug, an American plant breeder credited with saving millions from starvation in the 1960s and '70s, died September 12 at the age of 95. Borlaug won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work breeding disease-resistant wheat plants, which spawned¹ the so-called "Green Revolution" in global agriculture.

Borlaug's legacy² can be seen today as agriculture officials around the world race to protect wheat crops against a major new threat.

A fungal disease called Ug99 has devastated³ wheat in Africa and is moving across central Asia. Well into his 90s, Borlaug still heard the call for help.

"This is a new strain of stem rust⁴ organism that has the power to destroy most of the wheat varieties being grown around the world," he told VOA last year. Borlaug chaired an institute devoted⁵ to fighting the disease.

The Green Revolution

It was a return to his roots.

He began his work in the 1940s in Mexico, breeding wheat crops that were immune to another type of wheat rust that had devastated crops there.

But his big breakthrough came later, breeding high-yielding wheat varieties that more than tripled the harvest.

Breeders replicated⁶ that success with rice, and the Green Revolution was born, averting⁷ famines that were predicted in Asia in the 1960s and '70s, and winning Borlaug the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to Ren Wang, director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Borlaug's legacy is his scientific approach to crop breeding.

"Through his contributions and his example and personal effort, this approach to crop breeding has scaled up to a global effort," he says. CGIAR is an internationally-funded network of 15 crop and livestock⁸ research centers -- most of them in developing countries -- that is an outgrowth of Borlaug's work.

"Unwavering commitment"

 
Among his many honors, Bourlag received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Bush in 2007. (White House photo by Chris Greenberg.)

Wang was a senior Chinese agricultural official in the 1970s when he first met Borlaug. He says Borlaug was a personal inspiration as well.

"What impressed me was his high level of energy. [His] untiring, unwavering commitment and passion to...talk to farmers in the field also influenced all of us...to be determined⁹ to improve the lives of farmers."

Borlaug's energy and commitment lasted all through his life. On his 95th birthday, he told VOA that the work to improve crop yields must continue.

"We are adding 84 million people to the population each year," he said. "We have a big job on our hands."

Environmental Critics

Throughout his life, Borlaug was a firm believer that the job of feeding the world could not be done without chemical fertilizers and pesticides¹⁰. That view drew strong criticism from environmentalists.

In a 1971 interview, he responded to opponents of the insecticide DDT, which was later banned in the United States.

"[If we] Remove DDT," he said, "next will be all insecticides, after that it will be all the weedkillers and the fungicides and then the fertilizers, if the hysteria prevails. And when this happens, the U.S. will be importing food, only there won't be any place from where to import it."

Borlaug tempered his views somewhat in his later years and led efforts to discourage overuse of insecticides and fertilizers.

But his commitment to feeding the world was what drove him. And that legacy lives on, among plant breeders on the front lines of the fight to nourish a hungry planet. 

1 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

2 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

3 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

4 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。

7 averting   

防止，避免( avert的现在分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• The margin of time for averting crisis was melting away. 可以用来消弥这一危机的些许时光正在逝去。
• These results underscore the value of rescue medications in averting psychotic relapse. 这些结果显示了救护性治疗对避免精神病复发的价值。

8 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。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》