Bananas at risk

2020-06-25 10:26:30湖北十堰市東風高級中學王世成

瘋狂英語·新讀寫 2020年6期

湖北十堰市東風高級中學王世成

題材自然新聞報道體裁篇幅建議用時392詞 7分鐘

難詞探意

1.fungus /'f??ɡ?s/ n.真菌

2.vulnerable /'v?ln?r?bl/ adj.易受傷的

3.tropical /'tr?p?kl/ adj.熱帶的

4.resistant /r?'z?st?nt/ adj.有抵抗力的

Bananas are one of the most important crops on Earth.According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 400 million people rely on bananas as a source of food or income.But the bananas we know and love may be at risk of extinction.

Around the world, banana plants are dying at an al arming rate.They are being attacked by a form of Panama disease called Tropical Race 4 (TR4).Farmers, experts, and industry leaders had feared the day when TR4 would hit Latin America and the Caribbean.About 85% of bananas exported worldwide are grown there.On August 8, 2019, those fears came true.Colombia declared a national emergency as cases of TR4 were confirmed at six banana farms in the country.“In Colombia, TR4 is incredibly difficult to control,” scientist James Dale said.“Everybody is absolutely frightened of what's going to happen.”

TR4 is afungusthat lives in soil.It infects banana plants through the roots and moves into the stems.There, it prevents water and nutrients from reaching the plant's leaves.The plant turns yellow, and then it dries up and dies.It can take six months to a year for farmers to spot TR4 in a field of banana plants.By then, it's hard to treat the disease.Farmers can only try to keep it from spreading.But TR4 spreads easily from plant to plant and from farm to farm.“With increased human transportation, travel and trade, no country is immune to the disease,” Fazil Dusunceli of the FAO said.Part of the problem is that 99% of bananas exported are of the same variety: Cavendish.This is helpful for the banana industry.Large companies can grow more bananas when they grow only one kind,which means they can make more money.But a lack of diversity is not good for nature.All Cavendish bananas are genetically the same.Because of this, when a disease such as TR4 strikes, they are all equallyvulnerable.

People in the banana industry are coming together to try to save thetropicalfruit.James Dale,for example, is working with a team of scientists in Australia to introduce a new variety of banana that'sresistantto TR4.But some people are against creating new types of plants in a lab.They say people shouldn't mess with nature.