VOA慢速英语2009年-Agriculture Report - Study Finds Some Ocea

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Three years ago, a study of overfishing led to sharp debate. It warned that the world's ocean fish could be almost gone by the middle of the century. Now, a new study offers more hope. It shows that the risk of fisheries collapse¹ has recently decreased in some areas -- some, but not all.

BORIS WORM: "This means different regions² are heading in different directions and some regions have indeed begun to eliminate³ overfishing."

Boris Worm at Dalhousie University in Canada and Ray Hilborn at the University of Washington in Seattle were lead authors of the new study.
　
A commercial fishing boat leaving Portland, Maine

Professor Worm also led the earlier study published in two thousand six. Professor Hilborn publicly disagreed with those findings⁴. The result: the two scientists agreed to work together on a new study.

They led a team that studied ten areas. In five of them, the rate at which fish are being taken out of the sea has dropped to a level that should let the populations recover. Three areas still had overfishing, but corrective measures have begun.

Yet, in all, almost two-thirds of fish populations studied worldwide still need rebuilding.

Only two areas did not have an overfishing problem in either the new study or the earlier one. They are New Zealand and the American state of Alaska.

The new study found that overfishing has been reduced in Canada's Newfoundland-Labrador area and in Iceland and southern Australia. It also found improvements⁵ in the northeastern United States and the California Current that flows south along the West Coast.

The study found that better controls are still needed in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain.

The findings from two years of research appear in the journal⁶ Science.

Using nets that let smaller fish escape and agreeing not to fish in certain areas can help reduce overfishing. The study showed that these measures helped fish populations grow in Kenya.

But one of the authors of the study, Tim McClanahan from the Wildlife Conservation Society, says fisheries in Africa face another threat. Most countries in Africa, he says, are selling fishing rights to industrialized⁷ nations which catch large amounts of seafood⁸.

The study shows what happened when industrialized nations increased restrictions⁹ on fishing in their own waters. Seafood companies moved their boats to developing countries with fewer restrictions.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with Steve Baragona. I’m Bob Doughty¹⁰.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 regions   

n.地区( region的名词复数 )；[数学]区域；（艺术、科学等的）领域；行政区

参考例句：

• A flying doctor service operates in remote regions. 在偏远地区有飞行医生服务。
• More powers are gradually being devolved to the regions. 正逐步向地方下放更多的权力。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 eliminate   

vt.排除，消除，根除

参考例句：

• Can we ever eliminate poverty from the world?我们有朝一日能消除世上的贫困吗？
• You must eliminate an unknown quantity.你必须消去一个未知数。

4 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

5 improvements   

增加或修改( improvement的名词复数 )； 改进； 改善； 改良

参考例句：

• improvements in efficiency at the factory 工厂效率的提高
• They've spent a lot of money on home improvements. 他们花了很多钱装修家居。

6 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

7 industrialized   

adj.工业的，工业化的

参考例句：

• Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. 污染就是我们为这个人口过密，过度工业化的星球所付出的代价。 来自新概念英语第三册
• Industrialized countries must reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 工业化国家必须减少二氧化碳的排放。

8 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。