VOA标准英语2010年-Farmers Say Climate Change Already Aff

Scientists around the world predict that climate change will have dramatic effects on agriculture in the coming decades. So, too, will pests and pesticides¹, the loss of species and the need to increase food production for a growing population. Researchers at the International Agricultural Research Institute in Colombia are among those searching for solutions.

Producer Zulima Palacio recently visited the institute, and also spoke² to Colombian farmers. This is her second of two reports from the South American nation.

In the tropical mountains in Colombia, long-time coffee grower Nelson Moreno recently started planting cassava, because he says he needed to use expensive chemicals to get a decent harvest of coffee. "The weather has changed too much. It is hard to live with this heat," Moreno said.

Nearby farmer Zoraida Mosquera agrees. She says hotter temperatures damage many harvests, including coffee. "At the cooperative, they buy it as the lowest quality."

Not far away, farmer Elias Claros Paz says higher temperatures are not the only problem. "We used to plant tomatoes, but we stopped because of pests. In order to get a harvest we had to spray seven and eight times with the most toxic³ chemicals."

Scientists say the combination of higher temperatures and single crops over extended periods increases problems with pests. Erick Fernandes, an adviser⁴ on climate change at the World Bank in Washington, says pests and the growing use of insecticides are not good for the land or for water sources. "Local observation suggests that as part of the extreme events, pest and invasive species are increasing," he said.?

At the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, or CIAT, in Cali, scientist Andy Jarvis is in charge of the climate change and policy program. He says at CIAT, scientists are working on crop improvement, mostly through genetic⁵ modifications⁶ "For example, beans are quite sensitive to heat and drought and so we have been looking at different scenarios⁷ of the types of genes⁸ that we can be putting into those crops so they can adapt to the future challenges."

But Erick Fernandes at the World Bank says not everybody likes geneticaly modified crops, and other options must be considered. "Just by management alone you can probably increase your adapted capacity of that crop, several fold," he said.

Fernandes says creating shaded areas, crop rotation⁹ and maintaining the environmental balance could greatly mitigate¹⁰ the effects of climate change.

Both Fernandes and Jarvis say increasing population represents the most serious challenge. "The real issue is not if we can produce more food but we have to produce 50 to 70% more food to address global population increase." Jarvis said.

And both say more needs to be done. "I think agriculture needs to assume a much higher profile in the discussions related to climate change. Just tackling forest or just tackling global warming is not going to do it unless we bring together the agricultural dimensions into that," Fernandes said.

"Every year that we don't address the issue, the issue is getting bigger and more costly¹¹ to address later," Jarvis said.

The International Center for Tropical Agriculture also is conducting research in Africa and Asia and has begun a large multi-million dollar program to adapt global agriculture to climate change.
 

1 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》

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 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。

6 modifications   

n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变

参考例句：

• The engine was pulled apart for modifications and then reassembled. 发动机被拆开改型，然后再组装起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The original plan had undergone fairly extensive modifications. 原计划已经作了相当大的修改。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 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

9 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

10 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

11 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。