AGRICULTURE REPORT - Sunflower Rubber

AGRICULTURE REPORT
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June 18, 2002: Sunflower Rubber

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.

Many farmers grow sunflower plants. The tall plants produce beautiful flowers and seeds that are good to eat.
They also produce a high quality oil for cooking.

American scientists are hoping that sunflowers soon will become known for their
rubber. The scientists are attempting to improve the quality and amount of latex
from sunflower plants. Latex is made of rubber particles, water and other plant
substances. It is a higher value product than solid rubber.

The scientists believe that sunflowers could reduce America’s dependence¹ on
imported natural rubber and rubber made from oil products. The United States
imports more than one-million tons of natural rubber each year. The Department of
Agriculture says the rubber imports cost about one-thousand-million dollars a year.

Katrina Cornish is an expert on how plants produce rubber. She works with the United States government’s
Agricultural Research Service office in Albany, California.

Mizz Cornish notes that more than two-thousand-five -hundred kinds of plants produce natural latex. However,
she says that few of the plants have the qualities that scientists want. Most plants are too small or grow too
slowly. Others do not produce enough latex, or the latex they produce is not good enough.

Mizz Cornish says sunflowers are large and grow quickly. Currently², the quality and amount of latex produced
from sunflowers is not good enough to be used to make products. However, scientists expect to improve it
through methods of genetic³ engineering.

Mizz Cornish and her team are experimenting with several different kinds of sunflowers. She is working with
scientists from Colorado State University and Oregon State University. They are interested in the kinds of plants
that produce the highest amounts of latex in stems⁴ and leaves. They are working with sunflower plants that grow
in northern areas where most of the American sunflower crop is grown.

Mizz Cornish plans to add laboratory-made genes⁵ for latex production to sunflower tissue. Next, she will test the
tissue to find out if the new genes are working inside the sunflower’s cells. Later tests will identify the
genetically⁶ engineered plants that produce the highest amounts of the best quality latex.

This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.

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1 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

2 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 stems   

n.（花草的）茎( stem的名词复数 )；词干；（高脚酒杯的）脚；烟斗柄v.遏制[阻止]（液体的流动等）( stem的第三人称单数 )；封堵；遏止

参考例句：

• The present wave of strikes stems from discontent among the lower-paid. 当前的罢工浪潮起因于低工资雇员们的不满情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her interest in flowers stems from her childhood in the country. 她对花卉的兴趣产生于她在乡下度过的童年时代。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

6 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物