VOA慢速英语 200707030041

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

An American expert in food science technology has won a major international award. Philip E. Nelson has been named winner of the Two Thousand Seven World Food Prize.

World Food Prize Foundation President Kenneth Quinn announced the award last month. The ceremony took place at the State Department in Washington, D.C. The prize will be officially awarded at the Iowa State Capitol in October. It will provide Mister Nelson with two hundred fifty thousand dollars. Mister Nelson has worked at Purdue University in Indiana for forty-seven years.


Philip E. Nelson

The agricultural scientist is being honored for technologies now commonly used by the food industry. Philip Nelson improved and developed methods for cleaning and storing fruits and vegetables. His technologies permit storage for longer periods. And the food can be transported without cooling. His research also has led to getting food quickly to disaster survivors¹, like those of the Indian Ocean Tsunami² in two thousand four.

As a young man, Mister Nelson was once honored for growing the best tomatoes at a state fair. He worked at his family's farm and tomato-canning factory in Morristown, Indiana. Working in the factory showed him the need for lengthening³ the time that food could safely last without spoiling. That was the beginning of his discoveries.

Mister Nelson's research has led to the use of big carbon steel tanks to safely keep food. He began by experimenting with tanks of about three hundred eighty liters. Some tanks now can hold more than thirty million liters. They keep food safe at the temperature of the surrounding environment.

The tanks are treated with a substance called epoxy resin⁴. Valve and filter mechanical devices are sterilized⁵. This process prevents bacteria or other harmful microorganisms from reproducing. The sterilized food is shipped for final preparation and processing.

Many developing countries use Mister Nelson's methods. For example, a juice manufacturer in Brazil is able to ship large amounts of orange juice to Europe and the United States.

Mister Nelson also developed another system for food processing. The method also kills bacteria in containers, keeping the food inside safe. Companies in many parts of the world use this bag-in-box method.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 lengthening   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长

参考例句：

• The evening shadows were lengthening. 残阳下的影子越拉越长。
• The shadows are lengthening for me. 我的影子越来越长了。 来自演讲部分

4 resin   

n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂

参考例句：

• This allyl type resin is a highly transparent, colourless material.这种烯丙基型的树脂是一种高度透明的、无色材料。
• This is referred to as a thixotropic property of the resin.这种特性叫做树脂的触变性。

5 sterilized   

v.消毒( sterilize的过去式和过去分词 )；使无菌；使失去生育能力；使绝育

参考例句：

• My wife was sterilized after the birth of her fourth child. 我妻子生完第4个孩子后做了绝育手术。 来自辞典例句
• All surgical instruments must be sterilized before use. 所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。 来自辞典例句