Learning English. I'm Neil.

學習英語我是尼爾

And I'm Beth. Neil, what type of foods do you often eat?

我叫貝絲尼爾，你常吃什麼類型的食物？

Well, basic things to fill me up – that's sort of bread, potatoes…

嗯，讓我吃飽的基本食物--那就是麵包、洋芋......

Well, food like this, which is regularly eaten by many people, is known as a staple.

嗯，像這樣很多人經常吃的食物被稱為主食。

In Britain, bread is a popular staple but for large parts of the world there's another food which is number one – rice.

在英國，麵包是最受歡迎的主食，但在世界上的大部分地區，還有一種食物位居第一，那就是大米。

That's right. Over half the world's population eats rice as the staple food, especially in Asia. But rice is a very thirsty crop, which needs lots of water to grow. And this is becoming a problem because of droughts and flooding caused by climate change.

沒錯。世界上一半以上的人口以大米為主食，尤其是在亞洲。但水稻是一種非常乾渴的作物，需要大量的水來生長。由於氣候變化造成的乾旱和洪水，這正在成為一個問題。

In this programme, we'll be hearing about a pioneering new technique helping farmers to grow rice in the face of a changing climate. As usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases. And remember, you can find all the vocabulary from this programme on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

在本節目中，我們將瞭解到一種幫助農民在不斷變化的氣候條件下種植水稻的開創性新技術。和往常一樣，我們將學習一些有用的新單詞和短語。請記住，您可以在我們的網站 bbclearningenglish.com 上找到本節目的所有詞彙。

But first I have a question for you, Beth.

但首先我要問你一個問題，貝絲。

Just now I mentioned that rice is a very thirsty crop. So how much water is needed to grow one kilogram of rice? Is it… a – 1,000 to 3,000 litres, b – 3,000 to 5,000 litres or c – 5,000 to 7,000 litres?

剛才我提到，水稻是一種非常渴的作物。那麼，種植一公斤水稻需要多少水呢？是...... a - 1,000 至 3,000 升，b - 3,000 至 5,000 升，還是 c - 5,000 至 7,000 升？

I'm going to say c – 5,000 to 7,000 litres.

我猜是 C - 5000 至 7000 升。

Well, we'll find out if that's right at the end of the programme. Dr Yvonne Pinto is

在節目的最後，我們就會知道這是否正確。伊馮娜-平託博士是

Director General of the International Rice

國際稻米理事會總幹事

Research Institute, or IRRI for short, based in the Philippines. Here she explains more about the global popularity of rice to BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain.

位於菲律賓的國際水稻研究所（IRRI）。在這裡，她向英國廣播公司世界服務節目《食物鏈》詳細介紹了大米在全球的受歡迎程度。

Between 50 and 56% of the world's population rely on rice as the principal staple. Now that's roughly about 4 billion people. And it is one of those commodities that is grown really extensively, particularly in

世界上有 50%到 56%的人口以大米為主食。現在大約有 40 億人。大米是其中一種種植非常廣泛的商品，尤其是在以下地區

South Asia and Southeast Asia. But increasingly the appetite for it is growing in continents like Africa. And of course there are also Latin American and European rice varieties.

南亞和東南亞。但在非洲等大洲，人們對大米的需求也日益增長。當然，還有拉丁美洲和歐洲的大米品種。

Rice is a commodity, a produce that can be bought and sold. Like other crops, rice has varieties – different types – for example brown rice, long-grained rice or basmati.

大米是一種商品，一種可以買賣的農產品。與其他農作物一樣，大米也有品種--不同的類型，例如糙米、秈米或巴斯馬蒂米。

Much of the research into rice today is focused on making new varieties that can adapt to the changing environment and grow in conditions of either too much or too little water.

如今，對水稻的研究主要集中在培育新品種上，這些新品種能夠適應不斷變化的環境，並在水分過多或過少的條件下生長。

Over half the world's population eats rice and there's a growing demand in Africa and

世界上有一半以上的人口食用大米，非洲和亞洲對大米的需求也在不斷增長。

Europe too. So clearly there's an appetite – a strong desire – for rice worldwide.

歐洲也是如此。由此可見，全世界對大米的需求--強烈的需求--是有目共睹的。

So is it possible to grow rice in a more eco-friendly way? Jean-Philippe Laborde, director of rice company Tilda, thinks the answer lies in a new growing technique called alternate wet drying, or AWD for short.

那麼，有沒有可能以更環保的方式種植水稻呢？大米公司 Tilda 的負責人讓-菲利普-拉博德（Jean-Philippe Laborde）認為，答案在於一種名為交替溼法乾燥（簡稱 AWD）的新種植技術。

To grow rice, farmers go through cycles of flooding their fields or paddies, which then dry out and need to be flooded again.

為了種植水稻，農民需要循環往復地淹沒他們的田地或水田，然後田地或水田變幹，需要再次淹沒。

With AWD, measuring pipes are placed 15 centimetres underground so that farmers can check water levels at any part of the field. Normally, rice needs 25 cycles of flooding and drying out to grow. But using

採用 AWD 技術時，測量管道埋在地下 15 釐米處，農民可以在田間任何地方查看水位。通常，水稻的生長需要 25 個水淹和乾涸週期。但使用

AWD, this is reduced to 20 cycles, saving farmers water and reducing methane emissions.

使用全輪驅動後，這一週期可縮短至 20 個週期，從而為農民節水並減少甲烷排放。

Here's Jean-Philippe Laborde telling

下面是讓-菲利普-拉博德（Jean-Philippe Laborde）的講述

Gruth Alexander, presenter of BBC World

格魯斯-亞歷山大，BBC 世界節目主持人

Services' The Food Chain, how he began his

服務的《食物鏈》，他是如何開始他的

AWD experiment with farmers in India.

與印度農民一起進行 AWD 試驗。

We've got, last year, 1,268 farmers on board applying this AWD technique to reduce the overall methane emission.

去年，我們已經有 1268 位農民採用了這項 AWD 技術，以減少甲烷的總體排放量。

And how did you persuade those farmers to give it a go?

您是如何說服這些農民放手一搏的？

That was quite challenging because, obviously, the main challenge is, for farmers, the apprehension to lose revenues.

這相當具有挑戰性，因為對於農民來說，主要的挑戰顯然是擔心失去收入。

They need to see tangible results at the end of the crop that they are getting, obviously, something better.

他們需要在莊稼收割後看到實實在在的成果，顯然，他們得到了更好的東西。

Many Indian farmers got on board with

許多印度農民加入了

Jean-Philippe's experiment. If you get on board with something, you agree to a plan of action and get involved. In other words, you give it a go, you try doing something to see if it works.

讓-菲利普的實驗如果你同意某件事情，你就會同意一項行動計劃並參與其中。換句話說，你要試一試，你要嘗試做某件事情，看看它是否有效。

As it turned out, the new technique produced tangible results, results which are real and measurable. Using AWD, the amounts of water and electricity needed to grow rice decreased, methane gas emissions reduced, and on top of that, the amount of rice yielded increased.

事實證明，這項新技術產生了實實在在的成果，這些成果是真實的、可衡量的。通過使用 AWD，水稻種植所需的水量和電量減少了，甲烷氣體排放量降低了，而且水稻產量也增加了。

Right, Neil, isn't it time you revealed the answer to your question?

對了，尼爾，你是不是該揭曉問題的答案了？

I asked how many litres of water are needed to grow just one kilogram of rice and the answer was 3,000 to 5,000 litres.

我問種植一公斤水稻需要多少升水，答案是 3000 至 5000 升。

So thirsty, but not as thirsty as you thought. OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this programme, starting with commodity, a product like rice that can be bought and sold.

好渴，但沒有你想象的那麼渴。好了，讓我們來回顧一下我們在本課程中學到的詞彙，首先是 "商品"，一種像大米一樣可以買賣的產品。

Varieties of something are different types of it.

某種事物的變種就是它的不同類型。

If there's an appetite for something, there's a strong desire or demand for it.

如果人們對某種事物有興趣，就會有強烈的慾望或需求。

If you get on board with an idea or a plan, you agree to do something and get involved with doing it.

如果你同意某個想法或計劃，你就會同意去做某件事，並參與其中。

To give it a go means to try doing something.

試一試的意思是嘗試做某事。

And finally, the adjective tangible means real and measurable. Once again, our six minutes are up. If you've enjoyed this programme, why not try practising the new vocabulary you've learnt with our worksheet?

最後，"有形 "這個形容詞的意思是真實的、可測量的。我們的六分鐘時間又到了。如果您喜歡這個節目，為什麼不試試用我們的工作表來練習您學到的新詞彙呢？

It's available to download now from our website bbclearningenglish.com.

現在就可以從我們的網站 bbclearningenglish.com 下載。

And you could also try out the quiz while you're there.

在那裡，您還可以試試小測驗。

Goodbye for now.

暫時再見。

Bye.

再見。