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1、.A worldwide food crisis会有全球粮食危机吗？Historically, only local governments worried about a widespread food crisis, but today, a sharp spike in food prices and the resulting food crisis can quickly become a worldwide phenomenon. Recent droughts along the equator, and in Russia and Ukraine - two countries
2、 which account for one-fourth of world wheat exports - caused wheat prices to surge. Many worry the tight supply will cause inflationary prices. They fear the skyrocketing grain costs in 2007, which harshly struck the worlds poor and led to food riots, will recur.在历史上，只有地方政府才会担心大范围的粮食危机，而如今，粮食价格的急剧上
3、涨及由此导致的粮食危机会很快成为一种全球现象。最近发生在赤道沿线、俄罗斯及乌克兰的干旱使小麦价格不断飆升俄罗斯和乌克兰两国小麦出口总量占世界出口总量的四分之一。许多人担心小麦供应短缺会引发其价格膨胀，他们害怕 2007 年使世界穷人遭受重创并引发食品骚乱的飞涨的粮食价格会再次出现。Is their fear grounded? Consultancy firms measuring the status of commodities like wheat dont think so. Stocks of wheat are at sufficiently high levels, and ha
4、rvest turnout from other big producers like the US is expected to stay strong. So unlike in 2007, the supply situation isnt desperate, meaning wheat prices should eventually calm down and level off.他们的担心有根据吗？负责对像小麦这样的商品现状进行评估的咨询公司并不这样认为。目前小麦的储备非常充足，并且，重要农业生产国如美国等的农作物生产也有望十分强劲。所以，与 2007 年不同，现在粮食供应状况并
5、不那样令人绝望，这也意味着小麦价格最终会恢复正常并平稳下来。精品.However, this rosy picture provides only temporary security. The bigger picture discloses a reality not so optimistic. Though current prices arent as sky-high as in the panicked market of 2007, theyre still at higher levels than before and are likely to stay that way
6、. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development sees the average prices of products classified as essential such as grains, vegetable oils, and dairy products rising for the next decade.但是，这一美好的画面只能带来短暂的安心。更大的画面所揭示的现实不容乐观。虽然目前粮食价格没有达到 2007 年引起恐慌的市场上的那种天价，但和以前相比，价格仍然居高不下，而且很有可能维持这样。经济合作与发
7、展组织认为，谷物、植物油和奶制品这些基本食品的平均价格在未来十年都将持续上涨。 It doesnt take an oracle to foretell that the fight to feed the world will be a huge challenge facing the global economy over the next 20 years. Food production is suffering from decades of neglect of agriculture, a period when the sector was starved of the re
8、sources and technology it needed to keep up with rising world demand. Though more and more people are intrigued by the issue and there is a growing global consensus about the need for reform in farming, were really only at the beginning of a long, expensive, process of repairing world agricultural p
9、ractices. That means food prices will stay high over the next several years, as will the risk of dangerous price fluctuations like the current one with wheat.精品.未来 20 年，让世界上所有人都吃饱饭将是全球经济所面临的巨大挑战，这一点很明确，不需要通过行家来预言。由于过去几十年对农业的疏忽，粮食生产受到影响，而这几十年正是农业这一行业急需得到资源和技术支持以满足日益增长的世界需求的重要时期。虽然现在越来越多的人对这一问题表示出兴趣，对
10、农业耕作进行改革的需要也获得全球越来越广泛的认同，但事实上，在修复全球农业作业这样一项耗时长、代价高的工作中，我们还只处于起步阶段。这也意味着，粮食价格在未来几年会居高不下，正如目前小麦价格波动所带来的风险也会居高不下一样。Food isnt like garments or other products traded on world markets. The issue of food is filled with emotion. Intermittent uncertainty in food markets will animate people to act when they w
11、ould otherwise remain calm. No country, for example, wants to run out of food or watch sky-high prices push people into poverty and malnourishment. That can lead to riots or even revolutions. When emotions are running high enough, grain exporters and importers may take extreme measures to prevent a
12、shortage, like hoarding and panic-driven wholesale purchases. In other words, the overreaction of market players will act like a pistol to the head, creating a crisis when none should exist.粮食这一商品和世界市场上交易的衣服或其他商品有所不同。粮食问题是充满感情色彩的。粮食市场时断时续的不确定性会促使人们采取行动，而这种不确定性如果涉及的是其他商品，人们则会保持冷静。比如，没有哪个国家希望出现粮食短缺，眼睁
13、睁看着粮价飞涨而使人们陷入贫穷和营养不良的困境，因为这样会引发骚乱甚至革命。当人们的情绪积聚到足够高度的时候，粮食出口商和进口商就会采取一些极端的手段，以防止粮食出现短缺。比如，他们会囤积粮食及因恐慌而大批量购买等等。换句话说，市场操纵者如果反应过度，其作用就如同指向头部的手枪，会无中生有地制造危机。精品.Will current prices stay high and volatile? Probably yes. There are enormous structural problems with the agriculture industry that have caused th
14、e great imbalance between supply and demand. These problems have a dual nature, one part of it on the production side, and the other on the consumption side.目前的价格会一直居高不下且变化不定吗？很可能会的。农业产业结构方面存在的诸多问题已经引发了供求关系的巨大失衡。这些问题具有两面性，一个是生产方面的，另一个是消费方面的。On the production side, global funding for rural infrastruc
15、ture or technological research to keep yields growing has been very small, well below what is needed to keep crises at bay and to meet our future food demands. But in the past, whenever economists predicted massive shortages, technological advances like higher-yield strains of wheat would overcome t
16、he difference and rescue civilizations from large-scale starvation.在生产方面，全球用于乡村基础设施建设或农业技术研究以保持粮食产量持续增长的资金非常少，大大低于能够使我们避免危机、满足人类未来食品需求所必需的资金投入量。但是，在过去，一旦经济学家们预测会有大规模的粮食短缺，就会有像高产量小麦之类的技术进步来解决这一供需差异，使人类免受大规模挨饿之苦。精品.On the consumption side, citizens of wealthier countries have grown accustomed to consuming more food than they need and eating more costly types of food like meat. This means more grain gets turned into livestock feed instead
