But others are less gloomy. Earlier this year, Brazil's President, Luiz Lula, told the Guardian that there was no need for any destruction of forests to grow more food at all.
"Brazil has 320m hectares of arable land, only a fifth of which is cultivated. Of this, less than 4 percent is used for ethanol production ... This is not a choice between food and energy."
Some analysts say that the food price rises now being seen are temporary and will fall back within a year as the market responds. Technologies pin their faith on genetically modified crops, or drought-resistant crops, or trust that biofuel producers will develop technologies that require less raw material or use non-edible parts of food.
The immediate best bet is that countries such as Argentina, Poland, Ukraine and Kazakhstan will grow more food for exports as US output declines.
短语学习
earlier this year 今年早些时候
arable hand 耕地
price will fall back 价格会回落
pin one's faith on ... 把信仰/信任放在……身上
genetically modified 转基因的
drought-resistant 抗干旱
develop techonology 发展科技
raw material 原料
best bet 上策
grow more food for exports 种更多的粮食用来出口
output declines 产量减少
non-edible parts of food 粮食不可食用的部分
单词学习
cultivate v. 耕；种植；培养
resistant adj. 抵抗
biofuel n. 生物燃料
energy n. 能源
ethanol n. 乙醇，酒精
analyst n. 分析家
technology n. 科技
Argentina n. 阿根廷
Ukraine n. 乌克兰
Kazakhstan n. 卡萨克斯坦
export n. 出口
output n. 产量
million num. 百万
drought n. 干旱
gloomy adj. 阴郁的； 忧郁的
destruction n. 破坏，毁灭
forest n. 森林
hectare n. 公顷
temporary adj. 暂时的，临时的
respond v. 回答，响应
trust v. 信任
immediate adj. 立刻的
Poland n. 波兰
decline v. 下降
production n. 生产
Brazil n. 巴西
president n. 总统
arable adj. 适于耕种的；可开垦的
faith n. 信任，信心；信仰
genetically adv. 从基因方面； 从遗传学角度
modify v. 更改，修改
crop n. 农作物
producer n. 生产者
material n. 材料
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