第一部分 英译汉

 

Last Friday an advisory panel to the European Environment Agency issued an extraordinary scientific opinion: The European Union should suspend its goal of having 10 percent of transportation fuel made from biofuel by 2020.

 

The European Union’s biofuel targets were increased and extended from 5.75 percent by 2010 to 10 percent by 2020 just last year. Still, Europe’s well-meaning rush to biofuels, the scientists concluded, had produced a slew of harmful ripple effects – from deforestation in Southeast Asia to higher prices for grains.

 

In a recommendation released last weekend, the 20-member panel, made up of some of Europe’s most distinguished climate scientists, called the 10 percent target “overambitious” and an “experiment” whose “unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control.”

 

“The idea was that we felt we needed to slow down, to analyze the issue carefully and then come back at the problem,” Laszlo Somlyody, the panel’s chairman and a professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, said in a telephone interview.

 

He said that part of the problem was that when it set the targets, the European Union was trying desperately to solve the problem of rising transportation emissions “in isolation,” without adequately studying the effects of other sectors like land use and food supply.

 

“The starting point was correct: I’m happy that the European Union took the lead in cutting greenhouse gasses and we need to control traffic emissions,” Somlyody said. “But the basic problem is it thought of transport alone, without considering all these other effects. And we don’t understand those very well yet.”

 

The panel’s advice is not binding and it is not clear whether the European Commission will follow the recommendation.

 

It has become increasingly clear that the global pursuit of biofuels – encouraged by a rash of targets and subsides in both Europe and the United States – has not produced the desired effect.

 

Investigations have shown, for example, rain forests and peat swamp are being cleared to make way for biofuel plantations, a process that produces more emissions than the biofuels can save. Equally concerning, land needed to produce food for people to eat is planted with more profitable biofuel crops, and water is diverted from the drinking supply.

 

In Europe and the United States, food prices for items like pizza and bread have increased significantly as grain stores shrink and wheat prices rise.

 

The price of wheat and rice are double those of a year ago, and corn is a third higher, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said this week.

 

“Food price inflation hits the poor hardest, as the share of food in their total expenditures is much higher than that of wealthier populations,” said Henri Josserand of the Food and Agriculture Organization

 

For example, the European Environment Agency advisory panel suggests that the best use of plant biomass is not for transport fuel but to heat homes and generate electricity.

 

To be useful for vehicles, plant matter must be distilled to a fuel and often transported long distances. To heat a home, it can often be used raw or with minimal processing, and moved just a short distance away.

 

参考译文：

 

上周五，欧洲环保署的顾问组提出了一个不同寻常科学观点：欧盟要暂缓一项目标：到2020年，欧盟将生物燃料用于10%的交通运输。

 

去年，欧盟将这一使用生物燃料的目标从2010年的5.75%扩大到2020年的10%。欧洲快速扩大生物能源的使用，本意是好的，但是，科学家们却认为，这样做已经产生了许多有害的连锁效应，比如乱伐东南亚的森林，及谷物价格上涨越来越快。

 

上周末，由二十名著名的欧洲气候专家所组成的小组提出建议，他们认为，10%的目标未免“过于自信”了，并且这种“试验所造成的后果将难以预知、难以控制”。

 

顾问小组组长布达佩斯技术与经济大学教授，拉兹洛·索姆利德在接收电话采访时说：“我们认为，要放缓达成这个目标的速度，仔细分析，然后再来谈这个问题。”

 

他认为，其中一个问题是，欧盟设定这一目标时，正一心要解决汽车尾气排放量上升的问题，但是，这是孤立的行为，因为缺少研究对于其他诸如土地使用和食物供应的因素所造成的影响。

 

欧盟的出发点是好的，他们能带头削减温室气体，我很高兴，并且我们也需要解决汽车尾气排放的问题。索姆利德说：“但是，根本问题是他们只考虑到了交通方面的问题，而没有全面考虑对其他方面的影响，并且，我们还未能很好的了解这些影响。”

 

专家组的建议没有任何约束力，并且，我们也不清楚欧盟是否会听取他们的意见。

 

有一点越来越清楚，全世界都在推广生物能源，这是由于受到一系列欧美的目标和支持的影响，但是，这样做并未受到预期的效果。

 

例如，有调查显示，人们砍伐雨林和侵占湿地来获取制造生物燃料的植物，这一过程所排放的污染物，比生物燃料能够控制的污染还多。同样值得关心的是，土地上种植了更多有利可图的生物燃料作物而不再种植食品作物供人们食用，水从饮用水转为其他用途。

 

在欧洲和美国，粮食由于储量减少、小麦价格上涨，所以，像披萨、面包这样的食品价格也大幅上涨。世界粮农组织本周公布：与去年相比，小麦、水稻价格上涨一倍，玉米上涨三分之一。

 

世界粮农组织的亨利·若斯朗说：“粮食价格的浮动对贫穷人们打击巨大，贫困人口在食品上的消费占他们总消费的比重，要比富人的这一消费比重大的多。”

 

例如，欧洲环保署专家组认为，最利于人们使用生物燃料的方法并不是将其用作交通运输燃料，而是用在家庭采暖中或者用于发电。

 

生物燃料如果用在汽车上，植物就必须将进行蒸馏才能得到燃料，并且远距离运输。生物燃料如果用在采暖上，通常只要有原料就可以使用了，或者通过简单的加工就可以得到燃料，而且也无需远距离运输。