研究生科技英语阅读课文翻译对照(5)

病毒常常在发展中国家造成主要粮食作物的大面积歉收。两年前，花叶病毒使非洲损失了超过一半的木薯，而这种作物是当地人的主要食物。转基因的抗病毒作物可以减少这种损失，就像抗干旱种子在可耕地面积因缺水而受到限制的地区起到的作用一样。含铝过高的土壤会损伤作物的根系并使许多主要作物歉收，对于这种问题生物技术也能帮助解决。目前，研究人员已经识别出一种有助于中和水稻里铝的毒性的基因。
Many scientists believe biotech could raise overall crop productivity in developing countries as much as 25% and help prevent the loss of those crops after they are harvested.
许多科学家认为，生物技术能够把发展中国家的农业总产量提高25％，并且帮助防止作物收割后遭受损失。
Yet for all that promise, biotech is far from being the whole answer. In developing countries, lost crops are only one cause of hunger. Poverty plays the largest role. Today more than 1 billion people around the globe live on less than " 1 a day. Making genetically modified crops available will not reduce hunger if farmers cannot afford to grow them or if the local population cannot afford to buy the food those farmers produce.
尽管具有这么多潜力，生物技术还远远不能解决全部问题。在发展中国家，作物歉收只是造成饥饿的一个原因。贫穷才是罪魁祸首。今天，全世界有超过10亿人口每天靠不到1美元维持生计。如果农民没钱种植转基因作物或当地人买不起农民种出的粮食，培育转基因作物就无法减少饥饿。
Nor can biotech overcome the challenge of distributing food in developing countries. Taken as a whole, the world produces enough food to feed everyone -- but much of it is simply in the wrong place. Especially in countries with undeveloped transport infrastructures, geography restricts food availability as dramatically as genetics promises to improve it.