(1). Good News, Bad News on Food Prices and Production
关于粮食价格、产量的好消息与坏消息
(2). This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
(3). Food prices have risen sharply over the past few years. The good news is that the rate of increase has slowed. The bad news is that prices will not go down anytime soon.
在过去几年中,粮食价格急剧上涨。好消息是,上涨速度已经放缓。坏消息是,价格短期内不会下降。
(4). Also, the rate of global agricultural production is slowing. Yet it needs to increase sixty percent over the next forty years to feed a growing world population.
此外,全球农业生产增长率开始放缓。然而未来40年,农业生产增长率需要提高60%,以养活不断增加的世界人口。
(5). These are among the findings from the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2012-2021. The OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The FAO is the Food and Agriculture Organization, a United Nations agency.
这些都是经合组织-粮农组织《2012-2021农业展望报告》的研究结果。经合组织是指经济合作与发展组织,粮农组织是指联合国机构粮食和农业组织。
(6). FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva spoke at a news conference in Rome last week when the report was released. Mr. Da Silva said that, not surprisingly, the world’s poorest people will feel the greatest effects of higher prices.
粮农组织总干事何塞·格拉齐亚诺·达席尔瓦(Jose Graziano da Silva)上周在罗马公布这份农业展望报告的新闻发布会上做了发言。达席尔瓦先生表示,不出意外,全球最贫困人口将感受到粮食价格上涨的巨大影响。
(7). JOSE GRAZIANO DA SILVA: "For the millions and millions of people living in extreme poverty, the implications of high food prices are clear -- they might have to change their diets, usually to ones with poorer nutrition quality."
达席尔瓦:“对数以百万计极端贫困的人民来说,高粮价的影响显而易见,他们可能不得不改吃营养品质更差的食物。”
(8). In middle-income countries, people are gaining weight as they eat fewer fruits and vegetables and more of the cheaper but less nutritious foods.
在中等收入国家,人们因为吃更少的蔬菜水果,吃更多的廉价但低营养的食物而体重增加。
(9). The report also shows that farmers in poorer countries will be leading efforts to feed an expected nine billion people by twenty-fifty. The outlook predicts that farmers in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa will drive agricultural production in the future. Angel Gurria is chief of the OECD.
该报告还显示,到2050年,贫穷国家的农民将成为养活预期的90亿人口的主要力量。这份展望报告还预测,拉丁美洲、加勒比地区和撒哈拉以南地区的农民将推动未来的农业生产。安赫尔·古里亚(Angel Gurria)是经合组织负责人。
(10). ANGEL GURRIA: "We can feed nine billion people by twenty-fifty in this planet without stretching things too far. But we have to organize ourselves better."
古里亚:“到2050年,我们可以在不开发过度的情况下养活这个星球上的90亿人口。但我们必须更好地组织起来。”
(11). But there are plenty of challenges. One-fourth of all agricultural land is damaged. Many countries face water shortages. And experts believe climate change is driving increasingly unusual weather patterns.
但目前有很多挑战。全球1/4的农业用地被破坏。许多国家面临水资源短缺。而专家认为,气候变化正推动愈发异常的天气模式。
(12). The report says farmers need to use more environmentally sustainable growing methods. At the same time, it says governments should end economically harmful supports and invest more in agricultural production. Mr. Gurria says rich and poor nations need to treat agriculture more like a business.
该报告表示,农民必须采用更加环保的可持续增长模式。同时,政府应当结束跟经济相关的有害支持,加大对农业生产的投资。古里亚先生表示,富有和贫穷国家必须将农业当作一门生意。
(13). ANGEL GURRIA: "In many cases, agriculture is related in people’s minds to the poorest. It’s related to aid. It’s related to very depressed living conditions, etcetera. We got to shake that image away."
古里亚:“许多情况下,农业在人们的心目中和最贫穷挂钩,和援助挂钩,和极端萧条的生活条件等等挂钩。我们已经开始甩掉这一印象。”
(14). It also means reducing waste. The FAO and the OECD estimate that about one-third of world food production is lost -- either because of poor growing and harvesting methods or because people are throwing away good food.
此外还必须减少浪费。粮农组织和经合组织预计,世界粮食产量有将近1/3流失。原因要么是因为低劣的种植和收割方法,要么是因为人们浪费食物。