吃货们的噩耗来了！气候变化正在令这10种食物变得濒危（下）

昨天给大家分享了吃货们的噩耗来了！气候变化正在令这10种食物变得濒危（上），今天我们再来看看其它濒危的食物。

 Rice 米饭

When it comes to rice, our changing climate is more of a threat to the growing method than to the grains themselves.
相对于大米本身，气候变化对于大米耕种方法的威胁更大。

Rice farming is done in flooded fields (called paddies), but as increased global temperatures bring more frequent and more intense droughts, the world's rice-growing regions may not have enough water to flood fields to the proper level (usually 5 inches deep). This could make the cultivating this nutritious staple crop more difficult.
大米种植是在水田中进行的，但随着全球气温的升高，干旱天气更频繁也更严重，世界上的大米种植区可能没有足够的水让田中的水保持合适的高度（大约5英寸）。这会让种植大米变得更难。

 Wheat 小麦

A recent study involving Kansas State University researchers finds that in the coming decades, at least one-quarter of the world's wheat production will be lost to extreme weather and water stress if no adaptive measures are taken.
堪萨斯州立大学的研究人员近日的一项研究发现，如果不采取对策，未来几十年将因为极端天气和水资源缺乏而令全球小麦减产四分之一。

Researchers found that the effects from climate change and its increasing temperatures on wheat will be more severe than once projected and are happening sooner than expected. While increases in the average temperature are problematic, a bigger challenge is the extreme temperatures that are resulting from climate change. Researchers also found that increasing temperatures are shortening the time frame that wheat plants have to mature and produce full heads for harvest, resulting in less grain produced from each plant.
研究人员发现，气候变化和气温升高对小麦的影响比原先预计的更严重，比预期的来得更早。平均气温升高固然很成问题，但更大的挑战是气候变化引起的极端气温。研究人员还发现，气温升高缩短了小麦植株成熟的时间，令穗子个头增大，从而导致每株小麦所收获的粮食减少。

problematic adj. 产生问题的

According to a study released by the Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, corn and soybean plants can lose 5% of their harvest for every day temperatures climb above 86 °F (30 °C). (Corn plants are especially sensitive to heat waves and drought). At this rate, future harvests of wheat, soybeans, and corn could drop by up to 50 percent.
根据德国波茨坦气候影响研究所的一项研究，如果日常气温攀升到30摄氏度以上，玉米和大豆庄稼将减产5%。玉米植株对热浪和干旱尤其敏感。如果气温以这一速度持续升高，小麦、大豆和玉米未来的收成会减少50%。

soybean n. 大豆，黄豆

Fruits 水果

Peaches and cherries, two favorite stone fruits of the summer season, may in fact suffer at the hands of too much heat.
过热的天气可能会让夏季最受喜爱的两种核果——桃子和樱桃减产。

According to David Lobell, deputy director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University, fruit trees (including cherry, plum, pear, and apricot) require "chilling hours"— a period of time when they're exposed to temperatures below 45° F (7° C) each winter. Skip the required cold, and fruit and nut trees struggle to break dormancy and flower in the spring. Ultimately, this means a drop in the amount and quality of fruit that's produced.
斯坦福大学食品安全和环境中心副主任戴维·罗贝尔称，水果树（包括樱桃、李子、梨和杏）需要“冷冻期”——每年冬天气温低于7摄氏度的一段时间。如果没有这段冷冻期，核果树将无力打破冬眠期，在春天绽放花朵，最终将会导致果实减产，品质下降。

deputy director 副主任
deputy adj./n. 副的 / 副手，副职
dormancy n. 冬眠

By the year 2030, scientists estimate the number of 45°F or colder days during winter will have lessened significantly.
到2030年，科学家估计冬天气温低于7摄氏度的日子将会明显减少。

Maple Syrup 枫糖浆

Rising temperatures in the Northeast US and Canada have negatively impacted sugar maple trees, including dulling the trees' fall foliage and stressing the tree to the point of decline. But while the total retreat of sugar maples out of the US may still be several decades away, climate is already wreaking havoc on its most prized products — maple syrup — today.
美国东北部和加拿大上升的气温已经对枫树造成了负面影响，包括让枫叶颜色变浅，让枫树在压力下凋零。虽然距离糖枫从美国完全消失也许还有数十年时间，但如今气候变化已经让宝贵的枫糖浆严重受损。

dull v. 缓和；减轻
wreak v. 造成（混乱或破坏）
havoc n. 大破坏，浩劫

For one, warmer winters and yo-yo winters (periods of cold sprinkled with periods of unseasonable warmth) in the Northeast have shortened the "sugaring season" — the period when temperatures are mild enough to coax trees to turn stored-up starches into sugar sap, but not warm enough to trigger budding. (When trees bud, sap is said to become less palatable).
首先，美国东北部的暖冬和乍暖乍寒的天气缩短了枫树的“化糖期”——在天气不冷不热而气温又不会暖到催动枫树萌芽时，枫树会将储存的淀粉转化为糖浆。据说当枫树萌芽时，枫糖浆就不会那么美味了。
starches n. 淀粉

Too-hot temperatures have also lessened the maple sap's sweetness. "What we found was that after years when trees produced a lot of seeds, there was less sugar in the sap," says Tufts University ecologist Elizabeth Crone. Crone explains that when trees are more stressed out, they drop more seeds. "They'll invest more of their resources in producing seeds that can hopefully go somewhere else where the environmental conditions are better." This means it takes more gallons of sap to make a pure gallon of maple syrup with the required 70% sugar content. Twice as many gallons, to be exact.
天气太热还会降低枫糖浆的甜度。塔夫茨大学的生态学家伊丽莎白·克龙说：“我们发现，在枫树大量产籽数年后，汁液中的糖分会减少。”克龙解释说，当枫树感受到气候变化的压力后，它们会产生更多的籽。“枫树会将更多资源用于产籽，希望这些籽能够到环境条件更有利的地方去生长。”这意味着要制出一加仑含糖量达70%的纯枫糖浆，将需要更多的枫树汁液。准确来说，需要原来的两倍的枫树汁液才能制出来。
sweetness n. 甜度，甜
gallon n. 加仑（容量单位）

Peanuts 花生

Peanuts (and peanut butter) may be one of the simplest of snacks, but the peanut plant is considered to be fairly fussy, even among farmers.
花生或花生酱也许是最简单的一种小吃，但花生植株却是比较难伺候的，即使在农民看来也是如此。

Peanut plants grow best when they get five months of consistently warm weather and 20-40 inches of rain. Anything less and plants won't survive, much less produce pods. That isn't good news when you consider most climate models agree the climate of the future will be one of extremes, including droughts and heatwaves.
当温暖天气持续五个月并且降雨量达20到40英寸（51厘米到102厘米）时，花生植株长得。如果天气达不到要求，花生植株将难以存活，能结出果实的更是少之又少。考虑到多数气候模型一致得出的结论是未来的气候条件会变得极端，要么干旱要么热浪，对花生而言还真不是。

In 2011, the world caught a glimpse of the peanut's future fate when drought conditions across the peanut-growing Southeastern US led many plants to wither and die from heat stress. According to CNN Money, the dry spell caused peanut prices to rise by as much as 40 percent!
2011年世界瞥见了花生未来的命运，当时干旱席卷了美国东南部的花生种植区，许多花生植株都枯萎并死于热浪。根据CNN财经频道的报道，这次干旱导致花生的价格上涨了40%之多！

glimpse v. 瞥见