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香蕉的黑暗历史

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On a December night in 1910, the exiled former leader of Honduras, Manuel Bonilla, boarded a borrowed yacht in New Orleans.

1910年12月的一个夜晚,流亡中的前任洪都拉斯领导,曼努埃尔·博尼拉在新奥尔良登上一艘借来的游艇。
With a group of heavily armed accomplices, he set sail for Honduras in hopes of reclaiming power by whatever means necessary.
与一群全副武装的共犯一起,他启航前往洪都拉斯,希望用任何必要手段夺回权力。
Bonilla had a powerful backer, the future leader of a notorious organization known throughout Latin America as El Pulpo, or "the Octopus," for its long reach.
博尼拉有强大的后盾,臭名昭著团体的后任头目,因为他们涉及范围之广,在拉丁美洲被称为ElPulpo,也叫“章鱼”。
The infamous El Pulpo was a U.S. corporation trafficking in, of all things, bananas.
臭名昭著的ElPulpo是一家美国公司,专门走私香蕉。
It was officially known as United Fruit Company -- or Chiquita Brands International today.
在今天,他们被正式命名为“联合水果公司”或“Chiquita Brands International”。
First cultivated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago, bananas reached the Americas in the early 1500s, where enslaved Africans cultivated them in plots alongside sugar plantations.
数千年前,香蕉在东南亚首次种植,香蕉在1500年代早期到达美洲,被奴役的非洲人在糖种植园旁用块地耕种香蕉。
There were many different bananas, most of which looked nothing like the bananas in supermarket aisles today.
有许多不同的香蕉,大多数不像今天超市里的香蕉。
In the 1800s, captains from New Orleans and New England ventured to the Caribbean in search of coconuts and other goods.
在19世纪,新奥尔良和新英格兰从的船长们冒险岛加勒比海去寻找椰子和其他货物。
They began to experiment with bananas, purchasing one kind, called Gros Michel, from Afro-Caribbean farmers in Jamaica, Cuba, and Honduras.
他们开始用香蕉做实验,向加勒比海牙买加、古巴和洪都拉斯的非裔农民买一种叫“大米歇尔”的香蕉。
Gros Michel bananas produced large bunches of relatively thick-skinned fruit -- ideal for shipping.
“大米歇尔”香蕉束大而皮厚,适合船运。
By the end of the 1800s, bananas were a hit in the US. They were affordable, available year-round, and endorsed by medical doctors.
到19世纪末,香蕉在美国很流行,香蕉价格便宜,全年有售,得到医生的认可。
As bananas became big business, U.S. fruit companies wanted to grow their own bananas.
随着香蕉成为大生意,美国水果公司想自己种香蕉。
In order to secure access to land, banana moguls lobbied and bribed government officials in Central America, and even funded coups to ensure they had allies in power.
为了确保进入陆地,香蕉公司高管游说并贿赂中美洲政府官员,甚至资助政变来确保安全,还有盟国当权。
In Honduras, Manuel Bonilla repaid the banana man who had financed his return to power with land concessions.
在洪都拉斯,曼努埃尔·博尼拉报答了那个以土地出让金资助他东山再起的香蕉人。
By the 1930s, one company dominated the region: United Fruit, who owned over 40% of Guatemala's arable land at one point.
到20世纪30年代,联合水果公司主宰了这个地区,该公司曾有一段时间拥有危地马拉40%以上的耕地。

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They cleared rainforest in Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama to build plantations, along with railroads, ports, and towns to house workers.

他们将哥斯达黎加、哥伦比亚、危地马拉、洪都拉斯、巴拿马的森林清除,改成农园,同时建造铁路、港口和让工人住的小镇。
Lured by relatively high-paying jobs, people migrated to banana zones.
受到相对高薪的工作引诱,人们移居到香蕉区。
From Guatemala to Colombia, United Fruit's plantations grew exclusively Gros Michel bananas.
从危地马拉到哥伦比亚,联合水果公司的种植园只种植“大米歇尔”香蕉。
These densely packed farms had little biological diversity, making them ripe for disease epidemics.
这些密集农场没什么生物多样性,使其很难抵抗流行病。
The infrastructure connecting these vulnerable farms could quickly spread disease:
连结这些脆弱农场的基础设施会让疾病快速散播:
pathogens could hitch a ride from one farm to another on workers' boots, railroad cars, and steamships.
工人的靴子、铁路、汽船都是病原体能搭的便车,藉此从一个农场到另一个农场。
That's exactly what happened in the 1910s, when a fungus began to level Gros Michel banana plantations, first in Panama,
那正是20世纪10年代所发生的状况,那时,一种真菌开始摧毁大米歇尔香蕉园,首先是巴拿马,
and later throughout Central America, spreading quickly via the same system that had enabled big profits and cheap bananas.
接着是整个中美洲,能够带来丰厚利润和廉价香蕉的系统也成了快速传播的管道。
In a race against "Panama Disease," banana companies abandoned infected plantations in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala, leaving thousands of farmers and workers jobless.
竞速对抗“巴拿马疾病”的香蕉公司,放弃了受感染的哥斯达黎加、洪都拉斯、危地马拉农园,导致数千名农民与工人失业。
The companies then felled extensive tracts of rainforests in order to establish new plantations.
这些公司接下来砍伐雨林,清出大片耕地,以建立新的农园。
After World War II, the dictatorships with which United Fruit had partnered in Guatemala and Honduras yielded to democratically elected governments that called for land reform.
二次大战后,联合水果公司在危地马拉及洪都拉斯合作的独裁政府屈服于要求土地改革的民选政府。
In Guatemala, President Jacobo Arbenz tried to buy back land from United Fruit and redistribute it to landless farmers.
在危地马拉,总统哈科沃·阿本斯试图向联合水果公司买回土地,将之重新分配给没有土地的农民。
The Arbenz government offered to pay a price based on tax records -- where United Fruit had underreported the value of the land.
阿本斯政府提议根据课税记录来决定支付的价格--在记录中,联合水果公司低报了土地价值。
El Pulpo was not happy. The company launched propaganda campaigns against Arbenz and called on its deep connections in the US Government for help.
“章鱼”感到不悦。该公司发动宣传活动来对抗阿本斯,并动用它在美国政府里的深厚连结来求助。
Citing fears of communism, the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of the democratically elected Arbenz in 1954.
中情局引用共产主义的恐惧,在1954年安排了推翻民选总统阿本斯。
That same year in Honduras, thousands of United Fruit workers went on strike until the company agreed to recognize a new labor union.
同年,在洪都拉斯,数千名联合水果公司的员工罢工抗议,要求公司同意承认一个新的劳工工会。
With the political and economic costs of running from Panama Disease escalating,
因为逃离不断恶化的“巴拿马疾病”所付出的政治和经济成本,
United Fruit finally switched from Gros Michel to Panama disease-resistant Cavendish bananas in the early 1960s.
让联合水果公司终于在20世纪60年代初期从“大米歇尔”香蕉转换成可以抵抗巴拿马疾病的香芽蕉。
Today, bananas are no longer as economically vital in Central America, and United Fruit Company, rechristened Chiquita, has lost its stranglehold on Latin American politics.
现今,在中美洲,香蕉的经济重要性已不再,而联合水果公司改名为金吉达,它也失去了在拉丁美洲政治圈的压制地位。
But the modern banana industry isn't without problems. Cavendish bananas require frequent applications of pesticides that create hazards for farmworkers and ecosystems.
但现代香蕉产业并非就没有问题。香芽蕉需要经常使用杀虫剂,危害农场工人及生态系统。
And though they're resistant to the particular pathogen that affected Gros Michel bananas, Cavendish farms also lack biological diversity, leaving the banana trade ripe for another pandemic.
虽然香芽蕉农场能抵抗影响“大米歇尔”香蕉的特定病原体,却也缺乏生物多样性,让香蕉贸易很有可能再为其他疫病所苦。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
extensive [iks'tensiv]

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adj. 广泛的,广阔的,广大的

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particular [pə'tikjulə]

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adj. 特殊的,特别的,特定的,挑剔的
n.

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vulnerable ['vʌlnərəbl]

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adj. 易受伤害的,有弱点的

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available [ə'veiləbl]

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adj. 可用的,可得到的,有用的,有效的

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reform [ri'fɔ:m]

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v. 改革,改造,革新
n. 改革,改良

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arable ['ærəbl]

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adj. 可耕的,适合种植的 n. 可耕地

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secure [si'kjuə]

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adj. 安全的,牢靠的,稳妥的
vt. 固定

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strike [straik]

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n. 罢工,打击,殴打
v. 打,撞,罢工,划

 
fungus ['fʌŋgəs]

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n. 真菌,霉菌 (复数为funguses或fungi)

 
diversity [dai'və:siti]

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n. 差异,多样性,分集

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