VOA慢速英语:Drought may Affect The Price of Food

The western United States is suffering from a severe lack of rain, this extreme dry weather condition is called a drought. The dry area includes the large state of California. Many of the fruits and vegetables eaten in the United States are grown there.
美国西部正遭遇严重缺雨的痛苦，这种极端干旱天气也被称为干旱。干旱地区包括美国大州的加州。美国食用的很多水果蔬菜都产自那里。

Andy Domenigoni is a farmer in Riverside, California. His father, grandfather and great grandfather all farmed in the same area. He says farmers have good and bad years, and this year is one of the bad ones.
Andy Domenigoni是加利福尼亚州河滨市的一位农民。他的父亲、祖父和曾祖父都在同一地区务农。他说农民会遇到好年和坏年，今年显然是个坏年头。

"I have some fields that we planted almost a month ago that are still not out of the ground," Domenigoni said.
Domenigoni说，“我近一个月前种的一些地至今还没东西长出地面。”

He says it usually takes five to seven days for the wheat to begin growing, but not this year. He shows us a brown field.
他说，小麦通常需要五到七天开始生长，但今年不是。他带我们看了一片光秃秃的土地。

"And you can see behind me, this field was planted two weeks ago and it is just bone dry. The seed is not in any moisture. It can't sprout. We got to wait for the rain," Domenigoni said.
Domenigoni说，“你可以看到我身后这个地方是两周前种下的，现在都干透了。种子没有水分，不能发芽。我们得等下雨。”

Mr Domenigoni is not the only person waiting for rain. Bill Patzert is climatologist of NASA - the American Space Agency. He says drought conditions in the American West and Southwest have been getting worse for the past ten years.
Domenigoni先生不是唯一在等雨的人。Bill Patzert是美国宇航局的气候学家。他说，过去十年，美国西部和西南部的旱情一直在加重。

"Ranchers in the West are selling off their livestock. Farmers all over the Southwest, from Texas to Oregon, are fallowing in their fields because of a lack of water. So for farmers and ranchers, this is a very painful drought," Patzert said.
Patzert说，“西部的牧场主都卖了他们的牲畜。西南部从得克萨斯州到俄勒冈州的农民也都因为缺水而休耕。因此，对于农民和牧场主来说，这是一次非常痛苦的旱灾。”

Mr Patzert says Southern California is dealing with the worst drought since officials begin keeping records more than 135 years ago.
Patzert先生称，南加州正着手解决这次有关方面135多年以前开始记录以来最为严重的旱情。

Milt McGiffen is a field crop expert at the University of California. He says the drought in his state is going to affect many people for many years to come.
 Milt McGiffen是加州大学的一位农田作物专家。他说，加州的干旱状态将在未来多年影响到很多人。

"The short-term impact is going to be higher food prices. The longer-term impact is going to be you're just not going to have as much production in the country. It's part of an overall trend in the next 50 years," said McGiffen.
McGiffen称，“短期影响将会是食品价格上涨。长期影响则将会是国内产量的下降，它是未来50年总体趋势的一部分。”

He says as the population increases, the amount of water for each person is decreasing. And he says that can not continue. He says a technology solution is urgently needed.
他说，随着人口增加，人均水量正在减少。他说，这样无以为继，迫切需要一个技术解决方案。

Bill Patzert of NASA says what happens on California farms affects Americans and people around the world. He says the California farms provide food for the United States, and export food to the world.
美国宇航局的Bill Patzert称，加州农场的遭遇会影响到美国和世界各地的人们。他说，加州农场为美国提供食物，并出口食品到世界各地。

A United Nations report said world food prices in 2013 were among the highest ever. Food experts say they will not know how much the drought in the western U.S. will affect the price of food for 2014 until later this year. Experts agree there is no easy for quick answer to the problem of making sure farmers have enough water to grow their crops.
联合国的一份报告称，全球食品价格在2013年创有史以来的最高记录。粮食专家称，在今年晚些时候，他们无法预知美国西部的干旱对2014年粮食价格会有多大影响。专家们认为，确保农民拥有足够水源种植农作物并没有一种简单快速的解决方法。