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第一段
1 .Good evening.
晚上好。
2 .I'm here today to present the findings from our research into pesticides and alternatives to using them.
我今天在这里要介绍我们关于杀虫剂及其替代品的研究成果。
第二段
1 .I'd like to begin by talking about some of the environment effects of pesticide use.
我想先谈谈使用杀虫剂对环境的一些影响。
2 .As most of you will be aware, pesticides have proven to be very harmful to our environment.
正如你们大多数人所知，杀虫剂已被证明对我们的环境非常有害。
3 .The principal reason for this is because nearly all pesticides along water channels such as rivers, where they are then transported downstream.
主要原因在于，几乎所有杀虫剂都会沿着河流等水道流动，然后被输送到下游。
4 .In order situations, particularly when they are dropped by plane,
在其他情况下，尤其是当它们由飞机喷洒时，
5 .the wind blows pesticides into wild areas where they are not wanted. These areas can be up to several kilometers away.
风会把杀虫剂吹到并不需要它们的野外区域。这些区域可能远在数公里之外。
第三段
1 .We also need to think about the effects of pesticides on animals.
我们还需要考虑杀虫剂对动物的影响。
2 .Pesticides can cause illness and even death in many animals, including birds and aquatic life.
杀虫剂会导致许多动物患病甚至死亡，包括鸟类和水生生物。
3 .Animals can also be affected, however, when pesticide use eliminates their food source and causes them to starve or migrate to other areas.
然而，当使用杀虫剂消除了动物的食物来源，导致它们挨饿或迁徙到其他地区时，动物也会受到影响。
第四段
1 .When pesticides don't travel into neighbouring environments,
当杀虫剂没有扩散到邻近环境时，
2 .they tend to seep into the soil.
它们往往会渗入土壤。
3 .There they degrade the quality of the soil and in addition, they can weaken biodiversity -studies of pesticide - contaminated soil show a much lower count of organisms compared to healthy soil.
在那里，它们会降低土壤质量，此外还会削弱生物多样性——对被杀虫剂污染的土壤的研究显示，其生物数量远低于健康土壤。
第五段
1 .There's a final consideration to take into account,
还有最后一点需要考虑，
2 .and that's the environmental effects of pesticides in terms of pest numbers.
那就是杀虫剂在害虫数量方面对环境的影响。
3 .In the short term, pesticides significantly reduce the number of pests in an area, as might be expected.
短期内，杀虫剂会显著减少某个地区的害虫数量，这也在意料之中。
4 .After long-term, regular use, however, insects tend to become immune to certain kinds of pesticide and are no longer negatively affected by them.
然而，在长期、定期使用之后，昆虫往往会对某些杀虫剂产生免疫力，不再受其负面影响。
5 .As the number of insecticide resistant pests grows, this creates the need for new varieties of pesticide,
随着抗杀虫剂害虫数量的增加，就产生了对新型杀虫剂的需求，
6 .and further exacerbates the pesticide problem.
并进一步加剧了杀虫剂问题。
第六段
1 .Let's move on now to look at some possible alternatives to pesticide use.
现在让我们来看看一些可能的杀虫剂替代方案。
2 .As l' II explain, although these techniques can help reduce our dependence on pesticides,
正如我将要说明的，尽管这些技术有助于减少我们对杀虫剂的依赖，
3 .they do have their own drawbacks too.
但它们也有自身的缺点。
第七段
1 .The first technique will be familiar to any of you who have even a small vegetable garden at home.
第一种技术，对任何在家里哪怕只有一小块菜园的人来说都不陌生。
2 .You see a slug on a piece of lettuce,
你看到一片生菜上有一只鼻涕虫，
3 .and what do you do? Put on some gloves, walk right up to the plant and pick the slug off with your hands.
你会怎么做？戴上手套，径直走到植物前，用手把鼻涕虫摘下来。
4 .This is called handpicking.
这叫做人工捕捉。
5 .Handpicking is remarkably effective and requires little in the way of money to implement.
人工捕捉非常有效，而且实施起来几乎不需要花钱。
6 .But while it may be sufficient for the home gardener,
但虽然这对家庭园丁来说可能足够了，
7 .the time-consuming nature of handpicking makes it unsuitable for large-scale operations.
人工捕捉耗时的特点使其不适合大规模作业。
第八段
1 .Owners of larger crops and orchards require a more systematic approach to pest management,
拥有较大规模农作物和果园的人需要更系统的害虫管理方法，
2 .and they have a few options here.
他们有几个选择。
3 .You may be familiar with a technique known as biological control.
你可能熟悉一种叫作生物防治的技术。
4 .This involves the strategic use of what we call 'good'insects - that is,
这涉及策略性地使用我们所说的“益虫”——也就是，
5 .insects which eat pests, rather than plants. When they eat the pests,
吃害虫而不是吃植物的昆虫。当它们吃掉害虫时，
6 .they also protect the crop environment.
它们也保护了作物环境。
7 .Unfortunately, biological control is always risky because we can never know for sure how insects will behave in a particular environment,
遗憾的是，生物防治总是有风险的，因为我们永远无法确定昆虫在特定环境中会如何活动，
8 .and the results are therefore unpredictable.
因此结果也难以预测。
第九段
1 .A safer option is companion planting,
一个更安全的选择是伴生种植，
2 .where certain plants are grown together.
即把某些植物种在一起。
3 .Garlic, for example, fends off spider mites and aphids,
例如，大蒜能驱除红蜘蛛和蚜虫，
4 .and basil drives away the tomato hornworm,
而罗勒能驱走番茄天蛾幼虫，
5 .making it a good companion for tomatoes.
使它成为番茄的好伴侣。
6 .This is because some varieties of plant can repel specific breeds of insects,
这是因为某些植物品种能驱避特定种类的昆虫，
7 .so planning them alongside and around more vulnerable vegetables will discourage the insects from coming near.
所以把它们种在更脆弱的蔬菜旁边和周围，就能阻止昆虫靠近。
8 .Of course, all these extra plants begin fighting for space and
当然，所有这些额外的植物开始争夺空间，
9 .competing with the protected plants for access to water
并与受保护的植物争夺水分
10 .and nutrients in the soil.
和土壤中的养分。
第十段
1 .A final possibility is crop rotation. This involves alternating plants every harvest,
最后一个可能是轮作。这涉及每次收获后轮换植物，
2 .which forces insects to migrate in an attempt to locate their food source.
这迫使昆虫迁徙，以寻找它们的食物来源。
3 .Crop rotation is unappealing for large-scale commercial operations, however, because the high cost of constantly changing crops cuts into their profits.
然而，轮作对大规模商业种植缺乏吸引力，因为不断更换作物的高成本会削减他们的利润。
第十一段
1 .As you can see, there's still no easy answer to the question of how to keep plants free from the scourge of pests.
如你所见，如何让植物免受虫害之苦，这个问题仍然没有简单的答案。
2 .I'm happy to take any questions...
我很乐意回答任何问题……