科技成果參考譯文:第四篇 Passage 4

第四篇 Passage 4

China, with the largest population in the world, also ranks first in agricultural population. In spite of shortages of water and just 7 percent of the world's arable land, China has to feed a quarter of the world's population. At the same time, it has to adapt to the challenges of impending WTO membership. Given these circumstances, China must vigorously accelerate the industrialization and modernization of agriculture by relying on science and technology. Agricultural high-tech research primarily involves new technologies in the fields of bioengineering, information, and new materials and facility engineering.

Agricultural bioengineering mainly includes genetic engineering, molecular labeling of crops, cloning of animals and transgenetic technology. Agricultural genetic engineering research in China began in the early 1980s and by the end of 1996; the number of species of transgenetic plants under research totaled 47, involving 103 genes. Through 10 years of effort, China has equaled or surpassed the international advanced levels in many fields.

In the 1980s, China began research and the application of intelligent agricultural information technology. Information technology has played a prominent role in agricultural production and management, greatly accelerating the extensive application of computers in agriculture. In China, agricultural information technology has developed considerably regarding field management, fertilization, and disease and pest prevention and treatment for such crops as wheat, rice, cotton, corn, rape, tobacco, oranges, sugarcane and tomatoes. Another key break-through is the agricultural remote-sensing undertakings, the research results of which have helped to make agricultural macro-decision making more scientific. The application of new technologies has effectively improved the accuracy and reliability of crop output estimates. Remote-sensing technology also has been extensively used in surveying agricultural resources. As China is a vast country with numerous kinds of agricultural resources, remote-sensing technology has becomes one of the main technological resources surveying since it was introduced.

Apart from biotechnology and information technology, new materials and facility engineering are of vital importance to modern agriculture. They will greatly accelerate the upgrading of agriculture. It can effectively improve the agro-ecosystem and production conditions and facilitate the scientific development and rational use of agricultural resources. By the end of 1996, China has set up 667,000 hectares of arch-roofed sheds, plastic film-covered sheds and greenhouses for the cultivation of vegetables, flowers and crops. The year-round supply of vegetables in large- and medium-sized cities has been basically guaranteed, with the per-capita consumption of vegetables exceeding the world average level for the first time. Meanwhile, the development of facility-based animal husbandry has ensured sustained growth in the output of meat, eggs and milk. Factory-oriented agriculture has been an indispensable component of the "shopping basket project" implemented in large and medium-sized cities. These facilities, designed independently by Chinese scientists with intellectual property rights, are technologically advanced and cost-effective, and have good serviceability and market prospects.

China is a large agricultural country still in development. The only route to prosperity is high-tech agriculture. And the only method to raise the production rates of land and labor is to apply high technology, so as to achieve favorable social and economic effects.