VOA慢速英语:For Meat Lovers, the Challenge of Faking It

Some people in the Netherlands are spending three hundred thirty thousand dollars on a hamburger. The people are scientists at the University of Maastricht. They want to prove that they can make a hamburger that tastes good and does not require an animal to be killed.
荷兰的一些人在一个汉堡包上花费了33万美元。这些人是马斯特里赫特大学的科学家，他们想证明在不需要杀害动物的前提下，也可以使一个汉堡包一样美味。

Researcher Mark Post and his team have been growing muscle-tissue cells in a laboratory with muscle taken from a cow.
研究人员Mark Post和他的团队一直在实验室中通过在牛身上获得的肌肉培养肌肉组织细胞。

MARK POST: "We have committed ourselves to make a couple of thousand of these small tissues and then assemble them into a hamburger."
MARK POST：“我们致力于制造出几千个这种小型肌肉组织，然后将它们汇组装成一个汉堡包。

Several teams around the world are trying to produce meat without killing animals. So far the Dutch team appears to have made the most progress.
世界各地的几个团队都尝试在不杀害动物的前提下生产出肉类。到目前为止，荷兰团队似乎取得的进展最大。

Mr. Post says he wants to show that the world's growing demand for meat could be satisfied more efficiently and with less harm to the environment.
Post先生说，他希望能够以更有效，对环境危害更小的方式来得到满足全球不断增长的肉类需求。

MARK POST: "It's a combination of the two things, care for environment and food production for the world. And second is just a generic interest in life-transforming technologies."
MARK POST：“它将这两者结合到一起，保护环境并为世界创造粮食。此外，这仅仅是生命转换科技的一般兴趣所在。”

Seth Tibbott is the founder of Turtle Island Foods in Hood River, Oregon.
Seth Tibbott是俄勒冈州的龟山岛食品公司创始人。

SETH TIBBOTT: "This is some of our flagship product, the Tofurky roast, being made, where the stuffing is inside and the ... "
SETH TIBBOTT：“这是我们的一些主打产品，烤素火鸡，里面有馅...”

His company makes a vegetarian turkey substitute called Tofurky. Tofurky is made from tofu. Tofu is made with soybeans. So what does Mr. Tibbott think of the idea of a hamburger made in a lab?
他公司制作了一种名为Tofurky的素食火鸡替代品。素火鸡是用豆腐制作的。豆腐是用大豆做的。那么Tibbott先生如何看待实验室制作汉堡包的这个想法呢？

SETH TIBBOTT: "I think it sounds still pretty disgusting."
SETH TIBBOTT：“我认为这听起来还是蛮恶心的。”

His company estimates that about three percent of Americans are vegetarian. Vegetarians do not necessarily want food that tastes like meat. But Seth Tibbott says a lot of other people might try meatless alternatives if those products did look and taste more like real meat.
他的公司估计，约有3％的美国人是素食主义者。素食主义者不一定希望食物吃起来有肉类的味道。但Seth Tibbott说，如果这些产品的外观和味道确实更像真正的肉类，其他很多人可能会尝试这种素食的替代品。”

SETH TIBBOTT: "In the industry, they're called flexi-tarians or they're called 'sometimes vegetarians.' And, depending on what study you look at, they're thirty to forty percent of America."
SETH TIBBOTT：“在该行业中，他们被称为有时吃点肉的素食者或偶尔素食者。依据你所看到的研究数据，他们占到美国人口的30%到40%。”

Turtle Island Foods is building a new Tofurky factory. It will let the company make three times as much Tofurky starting next year.
龟山岛食品公司正在兴建一个新的Tofurky工厂。这将使该公司的 Tofurky产量从明年开始能够提升3倍。

Biochemistry professor Patrick Brown at Stanford University in California has started his own company developing a meat substitute. His food scientists are working with plant proteins and oils to try to reproduce the look and taste of the real thing. But he says whatever they produce will also need a price that appeals to meat lovers.
加州斯坦福大学生物化学教授Patrick Brown已经自己创建了一家开发肉类替代品的公司。该公司的食品科学家正致力于植物蛋白和油脂，尝试着重现真正的食物的外观和口味。但是他说，无论生产什么，还需要一个吸引肉类爱好者的价格。

PATRICK BROWN: "What we're intending to do is basically produce stuff that will compete by being substantially cheaper and every bit as good and essentially indistinguishable to a consumer who loves meat or dairy. That’s the only way I think you’re really going to win in the market."
PATRICK BROWN：“我们打算生产的肉类、乳制品对消费者说非常便宜并且足够好，本质上无法区别的原材料来参与竞争。我觉得这是赢得市场的唯一途径。”

The American beef industry uses the marketing slogan: "Beef, it's what's for dinner." Jack Field is the director of the Washington Cattlemen's Association, in Washington state. He says he is not too worried about competition from fake meat. In his words, "Real beef will be what's for dinner, now and into the future."
美国牛肉行业使用的营销口号是：“牛肉，晚餐必备。” Jack Field是华盛顿州养牛协会主任。他说自己并不担心仿肉食品的竞争。用他的话来说，“真正的牛肉是晚餐必备，现在和将来都是。”