TE||News from the underground
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导读
酸雨科普
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
News from the underground
土壤细菌“说”
英文部分选自经济学人Science and technology版块
Agriculture
农业
News from the underground
（土壤）细菌“说”
A cheap way to save rice plants from the effects of pollution
一种可以将水稻从污染（酸雨）中拯救出来的廉价方法
ACID rain damages crops. In particular, it damages rice, because many rice-growing countries, which are predominantly in Asia, do not have in place the pollution-control mechanisms that are now routine in the wheat-growing continents of Europe and North America. A rice crop soaked by acid rain can be saved if it is rinsed with clean water. But it is not always obvious when that needs doing, for rainfall varies in its acidity and is not always acidic enough to cause harm.
酸雨破坏庄稼，尤其是水稻，因为许多种植水稻的国家（主要是亚洲国家）没有控制污染的机制，而在欧洲和北美那些种植小麦的国家，污染控制非常普遍。使用清水冲洗一下被酸雨淋湿的水稻，是可以把这些庄稼救回来的。但是这么做也并非一直卓有成效，因为雨水的酸碱度各异，其酸度并不总能损坏水稻。
What is needed is a cheap and reliable way of finding out whether a particular set of plants have actually been stressed by a fall of acid rain. And Wang Xin of Nankai University, in Tianjin, China, thinks he has one. It relies on the reaction of soil bacteria to molecules secreted by plant roots.
我们需要一种价廉、可靠的方式，判断某种农作物是否受到酸雨的损害。中国天津南开大学的王新（注：音译）想出了一个方法：通过观察土壤里细菌对植物根部分泌物的分子所做的反应来进行判断。
注：secrete n.(of part of the body or a plant) to produce a liquid substance 分泌
The kidneys secrete urine. 肾脏是分泌尿液的器官。
~sth (in sth) to hide sth, especially sth small 隐藏，隐匿（小物件）
He found the money secreted in a drawer. 他找到了藏在抽屉里的钱。
Dr Wang knew from the botanical literature that most plants secrete from their roots a mixture of carbohydrates, amino acids and fatty acids that are food for microbes. He also knew, from previous experiments, that some of these microbes generate a weak electric current while they are feeding, and that monitoring this current reveals their level of activity. With all of this in mind, he theorised that acid rain would disrupt metabolic activity in leaves, decrease the flow of organic compounds from the leaves to the roots, and thereby alter the behaviour of soil microbes enough to generate a signal that could warn farmers that their crops were in need of a rinse.
王博士根据植物学文献，得知大多数植物根部会分泌一种含有碳水化合物、氨基酸以及脂肪酸的混合物，而这恰恰是微生物的食物。另外，根据之前所做的一些实验，他发现，有些微生物在进食的时候会产生微电流，且电流强度能够反映出微生物的活跃性。综上所述，他认为酸雨会破坏植物叶片的新陈代谢度，减少有机物从叶片向根部的流动，从而改变土壤中微生物的行为。发出信号，警示农民们需要对植物进行冲洗。
注：Rinse [rɪns] vt. 冲洗; 漂洗; 漂净; 冲掉 n. 冲洗; 漂洗; 染发剂 wash (something) with clean water to remove soap, detergent, dirt, or impurities.
Tests proved him right. Spraying experimental rice plants with artificial acid rain immediately cut their release into the soil of three relevant bacterial foodstuffs—fumaric acid, galactose and glucose. The bacteria responded as expected. The electric current they generated dropped by an average of 300 microamps within two minutes of the plants being sprayed.
试验证明王博士的假设是正确的。在实验中，对水稻植株喷洒人造酸雨会立即阻止水稻向土壤中释放相关细菌食物——富马酸（fumaric acid）、半乳糖（galactose）和葡萄糖（glucose）。土壤中细菌的反应也与预期的一样：喷洒酸雨两分钟内，细菌产生的电流平均下降了300微安。
That, as Dr Wang describes in ACS Sensors, is a change easily measurable using cheap electrodes. And by wiring those electrodes to a transmitter, the plants’ cries of distress can be texted instantly to the farmer tending them, who can then arrange for a second shower, this time of clean water, to restore them to health before any permanent damage occurs.
正如王博士发表在ACS Sensors 影响因子期刊上的论文所述，使用廉价电极能十分容易地检测出这种变化。用电线把这些电极连接到信号发射器上后，水稻种植户就能随时接收到水稻的求救信号，使用清洁水源对水稻进行二次灌溉，从而在任何永久性损害发生之前，恢复水稻的健康。
翻译组：
Li Xia, 女， HR, 经济学人发烧友
Yifei：女，英专硕士，专八，catti二笔
校核组：
Nikolai，男，小硕, science追随者
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观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Frank独家奉献
Frank，男，小硕，经济学人爱好者
亚洲国家酸雨非常严重，导致小麦水稻减产，从而影响了农业的收成。在面对“天灾”时，一种新的方法——判断农作物是否收到酸雨的损害，即土壤中的细菌对植物根部分泌物的分子所做出的反应来进行判断。由于酸雨对农作物具有破坏性，故利用此方法得到讯息——农民何时需要对植物进行冲洗?
不要担心，检测成本不高，使用廉价的电极便能容易完成。
中国是农作物大国，人口众多，对粮食需要日益增加，如何保障亩田高产，以上所说便是其中的方法之一，“天灾”不怕，只惧人祸。
生物科技发展的浪潮永不停息!
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