TED英语演讲：What’s wrong with our food system 揭秘现代食物体系的阴暗面
TED Technology, Entertainment, Design在英语中的缩写，美国的一家私有非营利机构，以它组织的TED大会著称；将”用思想的力量来改变世界”作为宗旨。事实上，除了科技、娱乐、设计的主题，这场盛会涉及的领域还在不断扩展，展现着涉及几乎各个领域的各种见解，TED的演讲简短且深刻，参加者们称它为 “超级大脑SPA”。
Hello. My name is Birke Baehr, and I’m 11 years old. I came here today to talk about what’s wrong with our food system. First of all, I would like to say that I’m really amazed at how easily kids are led to believe all the marketing and advertising on TV, at public schools and pretty much everywhere else you look. It seems to me like corporations are always trying to get kids, like me, to get their parents to buy stuff that really isn’t good for us or the planet. Little kids, especially, are attracted by colorful packaging and plastic toys. I must admit, I used to be one of them. I also used to think that all of our food came from these happy, little farms where pigs rolled in mud and cows grazed on grass all day.
大家好。我叫Birke Baehr伯克·巴尔， 11岁。 我要讲的是我们食物体系的问题。 首先，我想说 我非常惊奇孩子们是多么容易就轻信 所有 在电视上，在公立学校 甚至随处可见的营销宣传和广告。 我觉得公司总是 试着让像我一样的孩子 要父母去买那些 对我们和对地球环境都不好的东西。 小孩子尤其 喜欢彩色包装 和塑料玩具。 我必须承认，我曾是他们中的一员。 我也曾以为我们所有的食物 来自于开心小农场， 那里整天有在泥浆里打滚的猪和遍地吃草的牛。
What I discovered was this is not true. I began to look into this stuff on the Internet, in books and in documentary films, in my travels with my family. I discovered the dark side of the industrialized food system. First, there’s genetically engineered seeds and organisms. That is when a seed is manipulated in a laboratory to do something not intended by nature — like taking the DNA of a fish and putting it into the DNA of a tomato. Yuck. Don’t get me wrong, I like fish and tomatoes, but this is just creepy. (Laughter) The seeds are then planted, then grown. The food they produce have been proven to cause cancer and other problems in lab animals, and people have been eating food produced this way since the 1990s. And most folks don’t even know they exist. Did you know rats that ate genetically engineered corn had developed signs of liver and kidney toxicity? These include kidney inflammation and lesions and increased kidney weight. Yet almost all the corn we eat has been altered genetically in some way. And let me tell you, corn is in everything. And don’t even get me started on the Confined Animal Feeding Operations called CAFOS.
但我发现这不是真的。 我开始在 互联网，书本，纪录片， 和与我家人的旅行中查找素材。 我发现了工业化食品体系的阴暗面。 首先谈谈转基因种子和转基因生物。 这是指在实验室改造种子， 进行培植，而不是用自然的方式种植– 就好比提取鱼类的DNA， 把它植入到西红柿的DNA中–恶心。 不要误解我，我喜欢鱼和西红柿， 但这个只能令人毛骨悚然。 （笑声） 然后这些种子被种植，生长。 转基因的食物被证明 若是用于实验动物会引发癌症和其它问题。 自从1990年代起，人们一直在吃 这些转基因的食物。 多数人甚至不知道它们的存在。 你知道吗？老鼠吃了转基因谷物 会有肝和肾毒性作用的发生。 这包括肾炎、损伤和重量增加。 然而我们吃过的几乎所有谷物 都是某种程度的转基因作物。 我要告诉你的是， 任何食物里都有谷物的痕迹。 更不用说集中动物饲养操作了—— 简称CAFOS（美国集中畜牧经营）。
(Laughter)
（笑声）
Conventional farmers use chemical fertilizers made from fossil fuels that they mix with the dirt to make plants grow. They do this because they’ve stripped the soil from all nutrients from growing the same crop over and over again. Next, more harmful chemicals are sprayed on fruits and vegetables, like pesticides and herbicides, to kill weeds and bugs. When it rains, these chemicals seep into the ground, or run off into our waterways, poisoning our water too. Then they irradiate our food, trying to make it last longer, so it can travel thousands of miles from where it’s grown to the supermarkets.
传统农民使用化石燃料制成的化肥， 这些肥料 和泥土混合，促进植物生长。 农民施肥是因为他们年复一年种植同样的作物， 已经穷竭了土壤的所有养分。 接下来，他们喷洒更多化学物到水果蔬菜上， 比如杀虫剂和除草剂， 来杀死杂草和虫子。 当下雨的时候，这些化学物渗入土地， 或流到我们水路， 也污染我们的水域。 接着他们用辐射处理我们的食物，使其更保鲜， 为了食物可运输千里 从产地运到超市货架。
So I ask myself, how can I change? How can I change these things? This is what I found out. I discovered that there’s a movement for a better way. Now a while back, I wanted to be an NFL football player. I decided that I’d rather be an organic farmer instead. (Applause) Thank you. And that way I can have a greater impact on the world. This man, Joel Salatin, they call him a lunatic farmer because he grows against the system. Since I’m home-schooled, I went to go hear him speak one day. This man, this “lunatic farmer,” doesn’t use any pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified seeds. And so for that, he’s called crazy by the system.
所以我自问， 我能如何改变这些情况？ 这是我发现的办法： 我了解到了一个朝好的方向改变的方法。 前一阵， 我想成为一个美式橄榄球运动员。 但我决定我更愿意成为一个有机农业家。 （鼓掌） 谢谢。 那样的话我可以更多地改变世界。 这个人，乔伊·萨拉廷，被称为疯狂的农民， 因为他的种植方法违反整个农业体系。 因为我是在家受教育， 有一天我去听他讲话。 这个人，这个疯狂的农民 不使用任何杀虫剂，除草剂， 或者转基因种子。 因此从体系的角度看，他很疯狂。
I want you to know that we can all make a difference by making different choices, by buying our food directly from local farmers, or our neighbors who we know in real life. Some people say organic or local food is more expensive, but is it really? With all these things I’ve been learning about the food system, it seems to me that we can either pay the farmer, or we can pay the hospital. (Applause) Now I know definitely which one I would choose. I want you to know that there are farms out there — like Bill Keener in Sequatchie Cove Farm in Tennessee — whose cows do eat grass and whose pigs do roll in the mud, just like I thought. Sometimes I go to Bill’s farm and volunteer, so I can see up close and personal where the meat I eat comes from. I want you to know that I believe kids will eat fresh vegetables and good food if they know more about it and where it really comes from. I want you to know that there are farmers’ markets in every community popping up. I want you to know that me, my brother and sister actually like eating baked kale chips. I try to share this everywhere I go.
我想让大家知道我们大家都可以有所作为 通过不同的选择， 向当地农民 或者从我们熟知的邻居那儿直接购买食物。 有人会说有机或者当地食物比较贵， 但事实是否如此呢？ 根据我所学到的关于食物体系的这些知识， 我知道要么我们付钱给农民， 要么付给医院。 （鼓掌） 现在我已经知道怎么选择了。 我想让大家知道还是有那样的农场– 比如田纳西州，比尔·科恩尔的塞曲驰湾农场– 那里牛儿吃草， 猪泥地打滚，就如同我所想象的那样。 有时我会去比尔的农场做义工， 所以我可以近距离亲自看到 我吃的肉来自于哪里。 我想让大家知道我认为 孩子们如果对食物了解更多，知道它们来自于哪里， 他们就会愿意吃新鲜蔬菜和健康食物。 我希望大家知道在每个社区 都在涌现农夫市场。 我想让大家知道我，我哥哥和我姐姐 真的喜欢吃烤羽衣甘蓝片。 无论我到哪里，都会向大家分享我的想法。
Not too long ago, my uncle said that he offered my six-year-old cousin cereal. He asked him if he wanted organic Toasted O’s or the sugarcoated flakes — you know, the one with the big striped cartoon character on the front. My little cousin told his dad that he would rather have the organic Toasted O’s cereal because Birke said he shouldn’t eat sparkly cereal. And that, my friends, is how we can make a difference one kid at a time.
不久以前， 我叔叔说他给我六岁堂弟吃麦片时， 他问他是想要Toasted O’s有机麦片 还是糖衣玉米片– 大家晓得的，在包装正面有一个大幅带条纹卡通人物的那种。 我小堂弟告诉他爸爸 他比较想要Toasted O’s的有机燕麦片， 因为伯克说过，他不应该吃那些闪闪发光的燕麦片。 我的朋友们，这就是我们可以逐个劝说孩子们 让他们作出的改变。
So next time you’re at the grocery store, think local, choose organic, know your farmer and know your food. Thank you.
所以下一次你在商店购物时，请为本地农业着想， 选择有机食物，认识你的农夫，更好地了解你的食物。 谢谢。
(Applause)
（鼓掌）