VOA慢速英语 2007 0529a

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The United States has urged China to accept new safety rules for its food and drug exports.  American officials said the rules would include a new list of Chinese exporters. 

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt made the statements.  They spoke² the day after high-level trade talks between the two nations.

 
Chinese Vice¹ Premier³ Wu Yi with Treasury⁴ Secretary Henry Paulson at the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in Washington
The Americans met last week in Washington with a Chinese delegation⁵ led by Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi. 

The United States Food and Drug Administration said inspectors⁶ rejected more than one hundred shipments of food imports from China during April alone.  The inspectors rejected them for being unclean or containing harmful substances.

China has a lot to lose if people fear its food and drugs.  The nation earns an estimated thirty billion dollars yearly in food and drug exports. Companies in the United States would also suffer.  For example, American companies depend on China for large amounts of apple juice.                                                                                                        
Last week, United States health inspectors began examining toothpaste from China.  The government acted after tubes of the teeth-cleaning substance were sent to Panama and the Dominican Republic.   The toothpaste was found to contain diethylene glycol, a deadly chemical.  But no deaths linked to the toothpaste have been reported.

In recent months, wheat flour produced in China for use in pet food sickened or killed many dogs and cats in the United States and Canada. 

Critics of Chinese imports suspect that Chinese companies placed the industrial chemical melamine in the wheat flour to increase the amount of protein.  

Worries increased when chicken, fish and pork in the United States were also found to contain melamine. The animals got the melamine in their feed.   The chemical is used to make plastics and fertilizers.  It is not meant for human food. 

There also have been incidents of bad effects from foods made and used inside China. For example, a number of babies died because of falsely marked baby milk. Earlier this month, China announced new measures to make food companies improve conditions.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jeri Watson.  You can read scripts and download audio from our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

6 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》