VOA慢速英语2018--Fall Armyworms in Asia

 

An insect called the fall armyworm has already eaten crops in the Americas and Africa. Now it is doing the same in Asia.

The young worms are about the size of a person’s smallest finger. They can damage maize¹ especially, making the vegetable soft and wet.

In 2016, fall armyworms ate up to half of some African farmers’ maize, sorghum² and millet³. Then the insects spread through Yemen, China and Thailand.

Uraporn Nounart is an expert on farm pests at Thailand’s Agriculture Department.

“We never had this one before,” she says. The fall armyworms were found late last year and early this year in an area northwest of Bangkok. “It’s a big problem,” Nounart added.

The worms can make farmers lose their profits, and they are difficult to fight. Yet limiting the insects is critical. Although Asia is known for its rice growing, maize is also a major crop and an important source of food for chickens, cows and other animals.

Fighting armyworms

The fall armyworm is native to an area that spreads from Argentina to northern Canada. There, the insect has natural enemies, like bacteria and predators⁵. They help keep the fall armyworm population at acceptable⁶ levels.

But, such help is not found everywhere.

The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization is holding a meeting in Bangkok this week to share information about how to battle the insects. Experts note that chemicals against the worms are costly⁷, dangerous and do not always work.

So some farmers in Thailand are trying other ways to fight the fall armyworms.

In Kanchanaburi province, farmers search for the worms in their fields. They find the insects in all stages of crop growth: from plants that are just starting, to those that are knee-high, to plants that are almost as tall as an elephant.

When they find the worms, the farmers pull the tops off the corn and throw them away. They hope the plant will grow another piece of corn that can be harvested later. But, some fields still lost about one-third of the first harvest.

One of the farmers said, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

In another field, a younger farmer used unpiloted airplanes called drones to treat his fields.

Another researcher in Thailand is collecting the fall armyworms’ eggs. He is hoping to find natural enemies of the worms, such as wasps⁸.

Marjon Fredrix is an expert with the FAO’s Bangkok office. She says Thailand is trying to put good management measures in place. But, she adds, “the likelihood⁹ of further spread is real.”

She notes that the worms turn into moths¹⁰. They can fly more than 100 kilometers at night, or more if they are carried by the wind.

The best plan, says Fredrix, is for farmers to find the worms as soon as possible so they can keep them under control. As it happens, there is an app for that. The FAO has developed an online tool that teaches the basics of how to find and deal with fall armyworms.

Fredrix says this new pest needs to be controlled for years to come.

I’m John Russell.

Words in This Story

pest – n. an animal or insect that causes problems for people especially by damaging crops

predator⁴ – n. an animal that lives by killing¹¹ and eating other animals : an animal that preys¹² on other animals

stage – n. a particular point or period in the growth or development of something

1 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

2 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

3 millet   

n.小米，谷子

参考例句：

• Millet is cultivated in the middle or lower reaches of the Yellow River.在黄河中下游地区，人们种植谷子。
• The high quality millet flour was obtained through wet milling.采用湿磨法获得了高品质的小米粉。

4 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

5 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中

9 likelihood   

n.可能，可能性

参考例句：

• We must try our best to reduce the likelihood of war.我们必须尽最大努力减少战争的可能性。
• I don't think there is any likelihood of his agreeing to it.我认为不会有他同意那件事情的可能。

10 moths   

n.蛾( moth的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moths have eaten holes in my wool coat. 蛀虫将我的羊毛衫蛀蚀了几个小洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The moths tapped and blurred at the window screen. 飞蛾在窗帘上跳来跳去，弄上了许多污点。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

12 preys   

v.掠食( prey的第三人称单数 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• His misfortune preys upon his mind. 他的不幸使她心中苦恼。 来自辞典例句
• The owl preys on mice. 猫头鹰捕食老鼠。 来自辞典例句