VOA慢速英语:加州旱灾危及全球食品供应

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

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.

一段时期的干旱天气被成为旱灾，正在破坏美国加州的农作物生长。这将导致美国当地乃至全球食物价格上涨。

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.

在加利福尼亚的中央谷地，因为没有足够的水供应，农民们正在缩减种植范围。去年加州的降雨量已经是历史最低，今年情况可能同样糟糕。

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.

水库是储水的，但是在加州一些蓄水池已经枯竭。塞拉山的降雪量比同期降低了75%。到了春天，山上的雪融化进入河里。

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.

这些水为农民灌溉所用。但是现在农民接到另一种警戒信号那就是“风沙侵蚀区”就像20世纪30年代的严重干旱和沙尘暴覆盖美国农田导致极少农作物生长。

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

几乎将近一半的水果和蔬菜都来自加州，而大多数的这些水果和蔬菜来自于中央山谷。

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.埃罗塔贝尔祖上三代都是农民。他现在在弗雷斯诺县种植番茄、核桃、大蒜等作物。他说控制水坝及河流放水量的联邦机构已经停止向他们供水。他们表示官方并没有正确管理供水系统。

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

埃罗塔贝尔说“过去几年，干旱加上严格的环保限制，导致今年农业基本零配置”

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，在中央山谷将有超过20万公顷的土地无法种植农作物。埃罗塔贝尔只耕种他的土地的80%，25名工人将只有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.

他说，“目前只能完全依靠水井完成农作物灌溉，但是我会休耕1200英亩土地，而这些土地将会寸草不生”。

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.

联邦和一些州政府官员有时会在正常降雨量时将少对农民的供水，他们必须为萨克拉门托河三角洲供水，那里是一些濒危物种的栖息地。

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.

长期的解决方案包括保护水资源，循环污水利用以及建立海水淡化中心。这些淡化中心将海水中的盐过滤，以便农业灌溉。农民们表示建立更好的供水管理系统也能帮助解决水危机。

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

这就是今天美国之音慢速英语的农业报道。你可以在我们的网站chinavoa.com阅读更多相关报道。我是科蒂.韦弗尔。(chinavoa.com整理翻译，未经允许，请勿转载!)