53. Britain Accelerates toward Cleaner Future—with Wheat.
53、依托小麥—英國(guó)加速邁向綠色未來(lái).
1. Wheat never used to get Charlie Goldsack excited. He's got fields of the stuff down on his farm, but as a cash crop there was one big problem: it didn't generate much cash. Rock bottom prices saw to that.
1、小麥從未讓查利·戈德薩克興奮過(guò)。雖然他的農(nóng)場(chǎng)大片大片地種著這東西，但作為一種商品作物，它的一大缺陷就是創(chuàng)收有限。在那兒決定著呢。
2. But now, the farmer hopes his wheat might literally become the driving force of his 1,400-acre Friar Maine farm in southern England.
2、但現(xiàn)在，這位農(nóng)場(chǎng)主希望小麥能夠給他在南英格蘭的1400英畝的費(fèi)賴爾緬因農(nóng)場(chǎng)帶來(lái)活力。
3. Instead of heading to the bakery, Goldsack's harvest will now go to a nearby plant for conversion into bioethanol—part of accelerating British efforts to introduce cleaner car fuel.
3、今后，戈德薩克所收獲的小麥將不再送往面包房，而是供應(yīng)給附近一家工廠生產(chǎn)生物酒精——這是英國(guó)加速引進(jìn)清潔汽車燃料行動(dòng)的一部分。
4. "For a lot of farms, it was barely economic to grow wheat any more," he says. "This is just what we need—a new market. Hopefully it can soak up all the surplus and raise prices."
4、“對(duì)許多農(nóng)場(chǎng)來(lái)說(shuō)，再種小麥幾乎已經(jīng)無(wú)利可圖了，”他說(shuō)，“這正是我們所需要的——一個(gè)新市場(chǎng)。但愿它能消化掉所有過(guò)剩的小麥，從而抬高小麥的價(jià)格?！?BR> 5. The simple arithmetic looks compelling. Goldsack's roughly 250 acres could yield enough wheat to produce a million miles' of car fuel.
5、這個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的算法看上去挺有說(shuō)服力：戈德薩克的大約250英畝小麥，就足以生產(chǎn)供一輛汽車行駛100萬(wàn)英里的燃油。
6. Extrapolate that across all of Britain's farmland and you get enough bioethanol to account for 5 percent of all fuel used annually by British motorists—a target the government wants hit by 2010. In a pleasing symmetry, the amount of wheat required would be around 3 million tons, roughly equal to the excess produced each year that is unwanted by the domestic market.
6、以此推算，整個(gè)英國(guó)的農(nóng)場(chǎng)足夠供應(yīng)每年全國(guó)5%的機(jī)動(dòng)車燃料消耗量。英國(guó)政府希望到2010年達(dá)到這一目標(biāo)。隨之而來(lái)的好處是，為此所需的小麥數(shù)量將在300萬(wàn)噸左右，大致相當(dāng)于國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)每年的剩余量。
7. "If this soaks up that surplus then it could add eight or nine pounds to the price of wheat," enthuses Goldsack, estimating that this would be worth about J 10,000 ($17,445) a year to his investment-starved farm.
7、“如果該計(jì)劃能夠消化掉所有剩余小麥，小麥的價(jià)格就會(huì)(每噸)上漲8、9英鎊，”戈德薩克興奮地說(shuō)，并且預(yù)計(jì)這會(huì)給他急需投資的農(nóng)場(chǎng)帶來(lái)每年1萬(wàn)英鎊(1.7440萬(wàn)美元)的收益。
8. While President Bush last week emphasized the need for cleaner cars for reasons of energy security, Britain's motivations are slightly different. As a signatory to the Kyoto pact on climate change, Britain must reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2010. With motoring accounting for almost one-third of emissions, and greener fuels like bioethanol estimated to reduce greenhouse gas output by around two-thirds, the logic appears indisputable.
Will oil companies stand in the way?
8、布什總統(tǒng)上周強(qiáng)調(diào)推廣清潔能源汽車的必要性，理由是出于能源安全上的考慮，而英國(guó)的動(dòng)機(jī)則略有不同。作為有關(guān)氣候變化的京都議定書(shū)的簽署國(guó)，到2010年英國(guó)必須將碳排放量減少20%。由于汽車的排放量占總排放量的近1／3，而像生物酒精這樣的綠色燃料預(yù)計(jì)可使溫室氣體的排放量減少約2／3，因而推廣清潔燃料的合理性無(wú)可爭(zhēng)議。
石油公司會(huì)出來(lái)阻撓嗎?
9. But there is a snag. Experts warn that biofuels are very expensive to produce—roughly twice as costly as gasoline—and can only become viable with generous government subsidies.
9、不過(guò)存在一個(gè)障礙。專家警告說(shuō)，生物燃料的生產(chǎn)成本非常高—大約是汽油的兩倍，除非政府提供慷慨的補(bǔ)貼，否則缺乏可行性。
10. They also note that it will be difficult to create a network of "gas" stations selling bioethanol, since many of Britain's current gas stations are owned by petrochemical giants that have little interest in supplying a product that challenges their own hegemony. Britain's biggest energy producer, BP, says it is "looking at" introducing bioethanol, but none of its 1,300 gas stations throughout the United Kingdom sell the product yet.
10、他們還提醒說(shuō)，建立銷售生物酒精的加“油”站網(wǎng)絡(luò)也非易事，因?yàn)橛?guó)現(xiàn)有的加油站多為石化巨頭所有，供應(yīng)這種燃料將會(huì)挑戰(zhàn)它們自身的霸權(quán)，因而它們對(duì)此沒(méi)有什么興趣。英國(guó)的能源生產(chǎn)商BP表示，它們將會(huì)“考慮”引進(jìn)生物酒精，但其旗下的1300個(gè)在英國(guó)境內(nèi)的加油站尚無(wú)一開(kāi)始出售這一產(chǎn)品。
53、依托小麥—英國(guó)加速邁向綠色未來(lái).
1. Wheat never used to get Charlie Goldsack excited. He's got fields of the stuff down on his farm, but as a cash crop there was one big problem: it didn't generate much cash. Rock bottom prices saw to that.
1、小麥從未讓查利·戈德薩克興奮過(guò)。雖然他的農(nóng)場(chǎng)大片大片地種著這東西，但作為一種商品作物，它的一大缺陷就是創(chuàng)收有限。在那兒決定著呢。
2. But now, the farmer hopes his wheat might literally become the driving force of his 1,400-acre Friar Maine farm in southern England.
2、但現(xiàn)在，這位農(nóng)場(chǎng)主希望小麥能夠給他在南英格蘭的1400英畝的費(fèi)賴爾緬因農(nóng)場(chǎng)帶來(lái)活力。
3. Instead of heading to the bakery, Goldsack's harvest will now go to a nearby plant for conversion into bioethanol—part of accelerating British efforts to introduce cleaner car fuel.
3、今后，戈德薩克所收獲的小麥將不再送往面包房，而是供應(yīng)給附近一家工廠生產(chǎn)生物酒精——這是英國(guó)加速引進(jìn)清潔汽車燃料行動(dòng)的一部分。
4. "For a lot of farms, it was barely economic to grow wheat any more," he says. "This is just what we need—a new market. Hopefully it can soak up all the surplus and raise prices."
4、“對(duì)許多農(nóng)場(chǎng)來(lái)說(shuō)，再種小麥幾乎已經(jīng)無(wú)利可圖了，”他說(shuō)，“這正是我們所需要的——一個(gè)新市場(chǎng)。但愿它能消化掉所有過(guò)剩的小麥，從而抬高小麥的價(jià)格?！?BR> 5. The simple arithmetic looks compelling. Goldsack's roughly 250 acres could yield enough wheat to produce a million miles' of car fuel.
5、這個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的算法看上去挺有說(shuō)服力：戈德薩克的大約250英畝小麥，就足以生產(chǎn)供一輛汽車行駛100萬(wàn)英里的燃油。
6. Extrapolate that across all of Britain's farmland and you get enough bioethanol to account for 5 percent of all fuel used annually by British motorists—a target the government wants hit by 2010. In a pleasing symmetry, the amount of wheat required would be around 3 million tons, roughly equal to the excess produced each year that is unwanted by the domestic market.
6、以此推算，整個(gè)英國(guó)的農(nóng)場(chǎng)足夠供應(yīng)每年全國(guó)5%的機(jī)動(dòng)車燃料消耗量。英國(guó)政府希望到2010年達(dá)到這一目標(biāo)。隨之而來(lái)的好處是，為此所需的小麥數(shù)量將在300萬(wàn)噸左右，大致相當(dāng)于國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)每年的剩余量。
7. "If this soaks up that surplus then it could add eight or nine pounds to the price of wheat," enthuses Goldsack, estimating that this would be worth about J 10,000 ($17,445) a year to his investment-starved farm.
7、“如果該計(jì)劃能夠消化掉所有剩余小麥，小麥的價(jià)格就會(huì)(每噸)上漲8、9英鎊，”戈德薩克興奮地說(shuō)，并且預(yù)計(jì)這會(huì)給他急需投資的農(nóng)場(chǎng)帶來(lái)每年1萬(wàn)英鎊(1.7440萬(wàn)美元)的收益。
8. While President Bush last week emphasized the need for cleaner cars for reasons of energy security, Britain's motivations are slightly different. As a signatory to the Kyoto pact on climate change, Britain must reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2010. With motoring accounting for almost one-third of emissions, and greener fuels like bioethanol estimated to reduce greenhouse gas output by around two-thirds, the logic appears indisputable.
Will oil companies stand in the way?
8、布什總統(tǒng)上周強(qiáng)調(diào)推廣清潔能源汽車的必要性，理由是出于能源安全上的考慮，而英國(guó)的動(dòng)機(jī)則略有不同。作為有關(guān)氣候變化的京都議定書(shū)的簽署國(guó)，到2010年英國(guó)必須將碳排放量減少20%。由于汽車的排放量占總排放量的近1／3，而像生物酒精這樣的綠色燃料預(yù)計(jì)可使溫室氣體的排放量減少約2／3，因而推廣清潔燃料的合理性無(wú)可爭(zhēng)議。
石油公司會(huì)出來(lái)阻撓嗎?
9. But there is a snag. Experts warn that biofuels are very expensive to produce—roughly twice as costly as gasoline—and can only become viable with generous government subsidies.
9、不過(guò)存在一個(gè)障礙。專家警告說(shuō)，生物燃料的生產(chǎn)成本非常高—大約是汽油的兩倍，除非政府提供慷慨的補(bǔ)貼，否則缺乏可行性。
10. They also note that it will be difficult to create a network of "gas" stations selling bioethanol, since many of Britain's current gas stations are owned by petrochemical giants that have little interest in supplying a product that challenges their own hegemony. Britain's biggest energy producer, BP, says it is "looking at" introducing bioethanol, but none of its 1,300 gas stations throughout the United Kingdom sell the product yet.
10、他們還提醒說(shuō)，建立銷售生物酒精的加“油”站網(wǎng)絡(luò)也非易事，因?yàn)橛?guó)現(xiàn)有的加油站多為石化巨頭所有，供應(yīng)這種燃料將會(huì)挑戰(zhàn)它們自身的霸權(quán)，因而它們對(duì)此沒(méi)有什么興趣。英國(guó)的能源生產(chǎn)商BP表示，它們將會(huì)“考慮”引進(jìn)生物酒精，但其旗下的1300個(gè)在英國(guó)境內(nèi)的加油站尚無(wú)一開(kāi)始出售這一產(chǎn)品。