VOA常速英语:Cutting Ethanol Subsidy Might Not Impact Food Prices

短语讲解：

1. With the U.S. ethanol industry consuming about a quarter of the nation’s maize crop, many have blamed biofuels for rising food prices in recent years.

blame for因…怪罪, 责怪(某人)
例句：He blamed his brother for breaking the window.
他责备他兄弟打破了窗玻璃。

2. The new year brought the end to a $6-billion subsidy supporting the industry, but that doesn't mean food prices will drop because of it.

bring to使达到…
例句：This last thing will bring the bill to over ￡500.
这最后一件东西使得账单上的金额超过了500英镑。

3. “Honestly, I had not followed the price of corn until I got into the ethanol industry,” Howell says.

get into进入; 陷入
例句：This mistake may get him into difficulties.
这一错误将使他陷入困境。

4. But with corn-based ethanol making up 10 percent of most gasoline in the United States, it is one of several factors pushing up the cost of food, according to Purdue University economist Wally Tyner.

make up组成, 构成
例句：How many countries make up the Common Market?
(欧洲)共同市场由多少国家组成?
push up推上去; 增高, 提高
例句：What's pushing up the price of oil?
什么促使油价上涨?

5. “Ethanol is a driver of corn prices and has helped to pull up corn prices and all the other agricultural commodities because they are all linked,” he says.

pull up (使)停下(住)，停车，停止, 追上
例句：She's going to pull up alongside us.
她即将赶上我们了。

6. But the impacts have been felt most strongly in developing countries that depend on imported food.

depend on依赖, 依靠
例句：My success depends on my friend helping me.
我的成功是依靠我的朋友帮助我。

7. Last year, with Congress under a mountain of debt and looking for budget cuts, a $6-billion subsidy supporting the ethanol industry looked like a prime target.

look for寻找，寻求
例句：He began to look for a new job immediately after he was fired.
他被解雇后立即开始寻找一份新工作。

8. We never wanted to be tied to the taxpayer forever, and I think it is great that we are at a point where it has done its job.

tie to使被…束缚; 使被困于…
例句：The weather tied him to the house.
天气将他困在家里, 不能出去。

9. But experts say the main reason the industry has reached this point is not the subsidy, but rather a 2007 law aimed at increasing domestic production of renewable fuels including ethanol.

aim at (以…)瞄准; 针对, 以…为目标
例句：The visit was aimed at expanding the relations between the two countries.
访问的目的是扩展两国的关系。

10. That will use up more than a quarter of the U.S. corn supply, says Purdue’s Wally Tyner.

use up用完;耗尽
例句：By this time he had used up all his savings.
到这时, 他的存款已全部用完。