foodfight中英对照

I. Reading Task A

Pre-reading questions:

1.Have you heard of genetically engineered food If yes, how

2.Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing Why

3.Do you know who are more interested in genetically engineered food

一、阅读任务

预阅读问题：

1.你听说过转基因食品吗如果听说过，是怎么听说的

2.你认为这是一件好事还是坏事为什么

3.你知道谁对转基因食品更感兴趣吗

Food Fight1

食物大战

1 The folks at McDonald's could not have expected an especially warm reception in France, but the manure in the parking lots still must have taken them by surprise. For the past three weeks it's been hard to visit a McDonald's anywhere in France without running the risk of encountering mountains of fresh manure — as well as not-so-fresh fruits and vegetables — dumped in front of the restaurants by protesting farmers.

在法国，麦当劳里的人们并不指望在法国受到特别热烈的欢迎，但停车场的粪便肯定还是让他们大吃一惊。在过去的三个星期里，去法国任何地方的麦当劳而不承担遇到堆积如山的新鲜粪便的风险是很难的——以及不那么新鲜的水果和蔬菜——被抗议的农民倾倒在餐馆前。

2 There's a lot about McDonald's that angers the farmers —its sameness, its blandness, the culinary hegemony it represents —yet at the outset the demonstrations were remarkably genteel, with protesters occupying restaurants and offering customers an alternative meal of baguettes stuffed with cheese or foie gras2. But lately things have turned nasty. Protesters are finding ever more to dislike about the uniquely American food — especially the very genes that make the McDonald's beef or bun or potato what it is.

麦当劳店的许多方面都让农场主们愤怒——它的雷同，它的毫无特色，以及它所代表的餐饮霸权。然而，开始时，示威还很温和，抗议者占领餐馆，给顾客提供一种里面塞着奶酪或鹅肝的面包作为替代食物。但后来情况就非常糟糕了。抗议者发现越来越不喜欢这种典型的美国食物，

特别是使麦当劳的牛肉，小面包和土豆成为现在这个样子的基因。

3 Around the world people are taking a closer look at the genetic make-up of what they're eating —and growing uneasy with what they see. Over the past decade, genetically modified (GM) food3 has become an increasingly common phenomenon as scientists have rewoven the genes of countless fruits and vegetables, turning everyday crops into uber-crops able to resist frost, withstand herbicides and even produce their own pesticides. In all, more than 4,500 GM plants have been tested, and at least 40 —including 13 varieties of corn, 11 varieties of tomatoes and four varieties of soybeans — have cleared government reviews4.

全世界的人们都在密切关注他们所食用食品的基因构成，并且对他们所看到的一切变得越来越不安。在刚刚过去的十年中，科学家们改变了无数蔬菜和水果的基因，把这些日常食用的作物变成了超级作物，能够防霜冻，抗除草剂，甚至本身就能杀虫，因此转基因食物已越来越成为普遍现象。在总共测试的4500多种转基因植物中，至少40种通过了政府复审，包括13种谷类，11种西红柿和4种大豆。

4 For biotech companies such as Monsanto, based in the ., and Novartis AG, based in Switzerland, the rise of GM technology has meant boom times. Sales of GM seeds rose in value from $7

5 million in 1995 to $ billion last year, and the crops they produce are turning up not only on produce shelves but also in processed foods from cookies to potato chips to baby food.

对于一些生物科技公司，如生产基地位于美国的蒙生特公司和位于瑞士的那瓦特斯公司，基因技术的兴起意味繁荣时期的到来。基因作物种子售出的总值从1995年的七百五十万增加到去年的十亿五千万，并且他们生产的作物不仅出现在直接生产的产品中，而且出现在从饼干、薯条到婴儿食品的加工食品中。

5 But many people question whether it's a good idea for fallible human beings to go mucking about with the genes of other species. It's one thing if a scientific experiment goes wrong in a lab, they say, but something else entirely if it winds up on your dinner plate. To date, there's nothing to suggest that re-engineered plants have ever done anyone any harm. Nonetheless, the European Union has blocked the importation of some GM crops, and since 1997 has required that foods that contain engineered DNA must be labeled as such. Plenty of trade watchers in Washington see the European actions as one