VOA标准英语2012--'Test Tube" Burger Provides Meatless Alternative

'Test Tube" Burger Provides Meatless Alternative

Paying $330,000 for a hamburger might seem like a lot, but that's what it cost for scientists in the Netherlands to prove it's possible to make a meat-like pattie from a cluster of muscle cells.

At the University of Maastricht, Mark Post and his team started with a muscle biopsy from a cow and are now culturing clumps¹ of muscle-tissue cells in Petri dishes.

"We have committed ourselves to make of couple thousand of these small tissues and then assemble them into a hamburger," Post says.

The Dutch are among the most advanced of several teams around the world trying to produce meat without killing² animals. Post wants to demonstrate that the world's rising appetite for meat can be satisfied in a more efficient and environmentally benign³ way.

"It's a combination of two things, care for environment and food production for the world," he says. "And second is just a generic⁴ interest in life-transforming technologies."

Post still has to prove his Petri-patties can be cost-effective and flavorful. He hopes there's an appetite among consumers lured⁵ by claims such as "no animal has suffered to make this product."

But a test tube burger?

The idea is totally unappealing to Seth Tibbott of Hood⁶ River, Oregon. "I think it sounds still pretty disgusting to me."

To be fair, Tibbott is a biased⁷ source. The vegan entrepreneur founded Turtle Island Foods, the maker⁸ of a popular vegetarian⁹ brand called Tofurky, tofu processed to taste like turkey.

Tibbott's son-in-law and vice¹⁰ president says mimicking¹¹ the fiber¹² and texture¹³ of poultry¹⁴ is the hardest thing to do with processed soybeans. 

Jaime Athos says it's a worthwhile pursuit, but, "Making little incremental¹⁵ improvements in the product quality is really the way you achieve that. Maybe there's going to be a leap forward sometime, but I don't see it yet on the near horizon."

The folks at Turtle Island Foods estimate about three percent of the U.S. population is vegetarian, and they don't necessarily want fake meat that is authentic-tasting. 

Tibbott sees a much bigger market among mainstream¹⁶ consumers. These people might try meatless alternatives if those products looked and tasted more like real meat.

"In the industry, they're called flexi-tarians or they're called 'sometimes vegetarians,'" Tibbott says. "Depending on what study you look at, they're 30 to 40 percent of America."

Out Tibbott's office window, he can watch contractors¹⁷ build a new Tofurky factory along the Columbia River. It will allow the fast-growing company to triple its production starting next year.

Meanwhile, several competing and secretive start ups are promising¹⁸ breakthrough meat substitutes. One is a fake chicken made of soy that its developer says not only tastes like chicken, but also has the same look and texture.

Stanford University professor Patrick Brown founded a different company, Sand Hill Foods, where his food scientists manipulate plant proteins and oils in an undisclosed process.

Brown's theory is that economies of scale and price are the keys to winning over meat lovers.

"What we're intending to do is basically produce stuff that will compete by being substantially cheaper and every bit as good and essentially¹⁹ indistinguishable to a consumer who loves meat or dairy," says Brown. "That's the only way I think you're really going to win in the market."

Brown recently gave a talk in Vancouver, Canada where he portrayed²⁰ the livestock²¹ industry as "a sitting duck for disruptive technology." 

The director of the Washington Cattlemen's Association responds that it’s the fake meat entrepreneurs who are more likely to face a rocky road with consumers. 

Jack²² Field says he's confident "real beef will be what's for dinner now and into the future."

1 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

4 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

5 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

6 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

7 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

8 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

9 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

10 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。

11 mimicking   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• She's always mimicking the teachers. 她总喜欢模仿老师的言谈举止。
• The boy made us all laugh by mimicking the teacher's voice. 这男孩模仿老师的声音，逗得我们大家都笑了。 来自辞典例句

12 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

13 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

14 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

15 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

16 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

17 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

19 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

20 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

22 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。