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1、Scientists have worked for twelve years to develop what they call Green Super Rice. They say several varieties should be available to farmers about two years from now in parts of Asia and Africa.科学家们已经花费了十二年时间来研制他们所谓的绿色超级稻（Green Super Rice）。他们表示，数个品种可能在2年内提供给亚洲和非洲部分地区的农民。The green in Green Super Ric
2、e means environmentally friendly. Researchers say it will produce at least as much grain as other rice plants but with fewer inputs. Super means the rice is designed to better resist droughts, floods, salty water, insects and disease.绿色超级稻中的“绿色”指的是环保。研究人员表示，绿色超级稻产量至少和其他品种相当，但投入却更少。“超级”指的是这种水稻可以更好的抵御
3、干旱、洪水、咸水、虫害和其他疾病。The developers of Green Super Rice did not use genetic engineering. Instead, they mated hundreds of varieties of rice. That way they avoided the costs as well as the problems connected with getting permission to plant genetically engineered crops.绿色超级稻的研究人员并未采用转基因技术，而是对数百种水稻品种进行杂交。这
4、样可以避免种植转基因作物的成本和许可问题。The project involves the worlds largest rice collection, the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. It also involves the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. And it includes farmers in eight countries in Asia and eight in Africa.参与该项目的包括位于菲律宾的全球最大的水稻研究机构“
5、国际水稻研究所”，还包括中国农科院，以及亚洲8国和非洲8国的农民。Modern rice plants produce two to three times more grain than was possible before the nineteen sixties. But they also require large amounts of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.现代水稻产量是20世纪60年代以前的水稻产量的两到三倍，但它们也需要更多的水、化肥和农药。In the sixties, the International Ri
6、ce Research Institute developed miracle rice for Asia. Scientists created high-yielding crops that produced bigger harvests in what became known as the Green Revolution. It prevented widespread hunger.60年代时，国际水稻研究所为亚洲研制了“神奇稻”。科学家研制出了这种产量更高的高产作物，这后来被称为“绿色革命”。这种高产作物避免了大范围饥荒。But critics say modern rice
7、 plants require too much water and too much use of chemicals that can hurt the environment. And farmers may be too poor to buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides.但批评人士说，现代水稻需要太多的水和太多会损害环境的化肥。而农民可能太穷无力购买化肥和农药。Anna McClung heads a rice-breeding center for the United States Agriculture Department. She
8、 says combining many different genes into one plant without genetic engineering requires a lot of plant breeding. Ms. McClung praises the researchers working on Green Super Rice.安娜麦克朗（Anna McClung）是美国农业部水稻育种中心的负责人。她说，在不使用基因技术的情况下，将许多不同的基因组合到同一植株需要进行多次育种。麦克朗赞扬了绿色超级稻的研究人员。ANNA McCLUNG: The magnitude o
9、f what they are doing is really quite unique and tremendous.麦克朗：“他们所进行的研究工作独具重要性。”Another rice researcher, Jan Leach at Colorado State University, says scientists can find valuable qualities hidden in the rice genome. A genome contains all of the genetic information about an organism.另一位来自科罗拉多州立大学的水
10、稻研究人员简利奇（Jan Leach）表示，科学家们可以在水稻基因组中发现一些极具价值的隐性性状。基因组包含了一种生物所有的基因信息。JAN LEACH: Many of the traits are present, but they are not turned on until you get them into the right genetic background, or sometimes in the right environment.麦克朗：“许多性状是存在的，但是只有在适当的基因背景，或适当的环境下，这些性状才会显现出来。”Researchers on the Green
11、 Super Rice project continue to combine desirable traits into new varieties to help farmers produce more with less.绿超级稻项目的研究人员仍在继续将一些优良性状结合到新品种上，来帮助农民在投入更少的情况下获得更高的产量。This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.White rice is the worlds most popular form of rice. But it goes through a milling
12、process that removes many nutrients. As a result, people who eat a poor diet based on white rice may not get enough vitamin A.Each year an estimated two hundred fifty thousand to half a million children go blind from vitamin A deficiency. The World Health Organization says half of them die within a
13、year of losing their sight. Vitamin A deficiency is a problem especially in Africa and Southeast Asia.So scientists thought of an answer. They combined white rice with plant compounds that the body can change into vitamin A. The rice contains beta-carotene and other carotenoids. These plant coloring
14、s give the rice a golden color.The scientists also thought of a plan to give away this Golden Rice for free to poor farmers. But the rice is genetically engineered. They say it cannot be made using traditional methods to breed plants.The scientists worked for ten years, until nineteen ninety, to dev
15、elop the technology to add genes to rice. Then it took nine more years to get the genes they wanted into the seed.The first field tests took place in two thousand four at Louisiana State University in the United States. Golden Rice is currently being tested in the Philippines. It is still not availa
16、ble for general use.Co-inventor Ingo Potrykus says rice with two added genes will be available in twenty-thirteen. One gene comes from maize, or corn, and the other from a soil bacterium.Mr. Potrykus is retired from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He blames the delays on too many rules about genetically modified crops.Opponents say such crops may cause environmental damage by breeding with conventional plants. Opponents also question the safety of biotech foods.Mr.
