From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
这里是VOA健康生活频道。
Nearly 790 million people around the world do not get enough to eat.
世界上有近7.9亿人没有足够的食物。
Most of them live in developing countries.
其中大多数都在发展中国家。
Many parts of the developing world do not have transportation systems in place that can bring food to people.
发展中国家很多地方都没有给人们带去食物的运输系统。
It can be difficult to get food to those who need it without good roads and other necessary infrastructure.
没有食物运输道路和其他必要的基础设施,那些需要食物的人很难获得食物。
But there is a deeper problem.
但是还有一个更深层次的问题。
Growing or raising enough food to fight world hunger requires land.
种植或筹集足够的食物以对抗世界上的饥饿问题需要土地。
If we are talking about raising cattle for their meat – that means a lot of farmland and other resources.
如果我们讨论的是关于养牛以获得牛肉的问题——就意味着需要许多农场资源和其他资源。
A group of researchers in California may have found a way to get protein to hungry people.
加利福尼亚州的一组研究人员可能已经找到了一个使饥饿人群获得蛋白质的方法。
Stephen Mayfield is a geneticist at the University of California, San Diego.
斯蒂芬·梅菲尔德是加利福尼亚大学圣迭戈分校的一位遗传学家。
He notes that many people are concerned about calories, the energy-producing value in food.
他指出,许多人都关注卡路里的问题,也就是食物产生能量的价值。
Mayfield specializes in algae, the scientific term for simple, plant-like organisms.
梅菲尔德专门研究藻类,藻类是植物类生物的简化学名。
He says algae have two things that the world needs: protein and lipids, or fatty acids.
他说藻类含有两个这个世界所需的物质:蛋白质和脂肪,或脂肪酸。
“The world, in fact, is not short of calories.
“实际上,这个世界并不缺乏卡路里。
What they’re short of is proteins and essential fatty acids.
缺的是蛋白质和基本的脂肪酸。
So, algae are naturally very high in proteins and in lipids and those are sort of the two things that the world really needs.”
所以,藻类富含蛋白质和脂肪酸,而这两个是这个世界所真正需要的。”
So, Mayfield and his team have created a dried, powdered form of algae.
所以,梅菲尔德和他的团队已经创造出一种烘干过的粉状藻类。
They break down the organisms into extremely small particles,
他们将藻类分解成极小的微粒,
which can help simplify the problem of transportation.
这样就可以使运输的问题简单化。
Not only is the algae rich in protein and easy to transport, it also tastes good.
这种藻类食品含有丰富的蛋白质且容易运输,味道也很好。
Again, here is Mayfield.
梅菲尔德还指出,
“Here’s one that we’ve just finished up and so what we do is we simply take this and dried it out.
“这是一个已经完成的内容,所以我们所做的只是拿来这个完成品并进行烘干。
And as you can see, it makes a very nice green powder and that is perfectly edible.
正如你看所到的,它变成了美妙的绿色粉末而且完全可以食用。
In fact, it tastes pretty good.”
事实上,它尝起来还不错。”
And growing algae uses less land than other types of protein.
而且种植藻类用的土地比其他蛋白质产品用的土地要少。
Mayfield’s big idea is that algae farms could one day replace the huge amounts of land used by farmers to produce protein,
梅菲尔德有一个大胆的想法,即藻类农场某天可以代替农民们用来生产蛋白质食物的大量土地,
in beef from cattle or soybeans.
比如牛肉农场或大豆农场。
“I’m actually really encouraged by these new companies that had started up
“我实际上也算是受到了这些新创立的公司的鼓励,不是吗?
to make these synthetic plant-based protein substitutes that look just like meat, right?
是它们使这些合成的以植物为基础的蛋白质产品得以代替那些看上去像肉的食物。
Because now, ‘oh that looks like something I’m familiar with.
因为现在,‘哦,它看上去像是我熟悉的食物。
I want to eat that.’
我想吃掉它。’
But if I could make that with algae protein instead of with beef protein,
但如果我可以用藻类蛋白质食品替代牛肉蛋白食品,
an enormous environmental benefit and probably an enormous cost benefit as well.”
那么就会很有益于环境,也可能很有成本效益。”
The United States government provided money for Mayfield’s research.
美国政府为梅菲尔德的研究提供资金。
His team just successfully finished a test in which they grew algae in an outdoor environment.
他的团队刚刚成功完成一项实验,即在户外环境下种植藻类植物。
Mayfield adds that algae food products are not yet available for sale.
梅菲尔德补充道,藻类食物产品现在还不能出售。
But in the future algae may be one way to help feed the world’s hungry people.
但是在未来,藻类可能会帮助养活世界上饥饿人口。
And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report.
以上就是健康生活频道的全部内容。
I’m Anna Matteo.
我是安娜·马特欧