VOA慢速英語:加州旱災危及全球食品供應

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語農(nóng)業(yè)報道。

A period of severe dry weather called a drought is damaging crops in the U.S. State of California. This could cause a rise in food prices for Americans and people around the world.

一段時期的干旱天氣被成為旱災，正在破壞美國加州的農(nóng)作物生長。這將導致美國當?shù)啬酥寥蚴澄飪r格上漲。

In the Central Valley of California, farmers are reducing crop size because they do not have enough water. Last year, California had the least amount of rain since officials began keeping records. And it may be just as bad this year.

在加利福尼亞的中央谷地，因為沒有足夠的水供應，農(nóng)民們正在縮減種植范圍。去年加州的降雨量已經(jīng)是歷史最低，今年情況可能同樣糟糕。

Reservoirs are areas where water is stored. In California, some reservoirs are empty. The amount of snow in the Sierra mountain is 75% below normal. This mountain snow melts in the spring and fills rivers.

水庫是儲水的，但是在加州一些蓄水池已經(jīng)枯竭。塞拉山的降雪量比同期降低了75%。到了春天，山上的雪融化進入河里。

The water is used by farmers. But now, farmers are warning of the possibility of another "Dust Bowl" like the one of the 1930s - severe droughts and dust storms covered American farmlands and few crops grew.

這些水為農(nóng)民灌溉所用。但是現(xiàn)在農(nóng)民接到另一種警戒信號那就是“風沙侵蝕區(qū)”就像20世紀30年代的嚴重干旱和沙塵暴覆蓋美國農(nóng)田導致極少農(nóng)作物生長。

Farmers in California produce almost half of US fruits and vegetables, much of it comes from the Central Valley.

幾乎將近一半的水果和蔬菜都來自加州，而大多數(shù)的這些水果和蔬菜來自于中央山谷。

Dan Errotabere is a third generation California farmer. He grows tomatoes, walnuts, garlic and other crops in Fresno County. He says the federal agency that controls the amount of water released from dams and rivers has stopped giving him water. He and other farmers say, officials are not correctly administering the water system.

丹.埃羅塔貝爾祖上三代都是農(nóng)民。他現(xiàn)在在弗雷斯諾縣種植番茄、核桃、大蒜等作物。他說控制水壩及河流放水量的聯(lián)邦機構已經(jīng)停止向他們供水。他們表示官方并沒有正確管理供水系統(tǒng)。

"The last couple of years, dry years, coupled with severe environmental restrictions, has now presented us with a zero allocation year," said Errotabere.

埃羅塔貝爾說“過去幾年，干旱加上嚴格的環(huán)保限制，導致今年農(nóng)業(yè)基本零配置”

Farmers may not be able to plant crops on more than 200,000 hectares of farmland in the Central Valley this spring. Mr Errotabere will plant crops on just 80 percent of his farmland, he has enough work for only 15 of his 25 workers.

今春，在中央山谷將有超過20萬公頃的土地無法種植農(nóng)作物。埃羅塔貝爾只耕種他的土地的80%，25名工人將只有15名得到工作。

"Right now, we're completely depending on wells to finish these crops off, but I'm going to be fallowing 1,200 acres of our operation. There won't be anything growing on there," he said.

他說，“目前只能完全依靠水井完成農(nóng)作物灌溉，但是我會休耕1200英畝土地，而這些土地將會寸草不生”。

Federal and state officials sometimes reduce the amount of water to farmers even in years with normal rainfall levels. The officials must supply water to the Sacramento River Delta, which is home to several endangered species.

聯(lián)邦和一些州政府官員有時會在正常降雨量時將少對農(nóng)民的供水，他們必須為薩克拉門托河三角洲供水，那里是一些瀕危物種的棲息地。

Long-term solutions include conservation, recycling waste water and building desalination centers. The centers remove salt from sea water, so it can be used on farms. Farmers say better administration of the state's water system could also help solve the crisis.

長期的解決方案包括保護水資源，循環(huán)污水利用以及建立海水淡化中心。這些淡化中心將海水中的鹽過濾，以便農(nóng)業(yè)灌溉。農(nóng)民們表示建立更好的供水管理系統(tǒng)也能幫助解決水危機。

And that's the VOA Learning English Agriculture Report. You can read stories about agriculture at our website chinavoa.com. I'm Caty Weaver.

這就是今天美國之音慢速英語的農(nóng)業(yè)報道。你可以在我們的網(wǎng)站chinavoa.com閱讀更多相關報道。我是科蒂.韋弗爾。(chinavoa.com整理翻譯，未經(jīng)允許，請勿轉(zhuǎn)載!)