時差N小時:沙漠的希望之光

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唐：神圣的灰白銀膠菊，雅艾爾。

Yael: Holy what?

雅艾爾：神圣的什么?

Don: Guayule. It's a desert-dwelling shrub fromthe Southwest.

唐：灰白銀膠菊。它是一種生長在西南部沙漠中的灌木。

Yael: What about guayule? I never even heard of it.

雅艾爾：灰白銀膠菊是什么樣的?我從來沒聽過。

Don: Several things. One of the most important features of the guayule plant is that it is asource of natural latex, ideal for making gloves and other natural rubber products used in themedical industry. But unlike the more common latex extracted from rubber trees, latex fromguayule plants does not contain the proteins that cause severe allergic reactions in somepeople.

唐：有幾件事你應(yīng)該了解一下?；野足y膠菊最重要的特點是它能分泌天然乳膠，是制造手套以及其它醫(yī)療工廠使用的橡膠制品的理想原料。但是跟常見的那些從橡膠樹上提取的乳膠不同，從灰白銀膠菊中提取的乳膠中沒有會使人產(chǎn)生嚴重過敏反應(yīng)的蛋白質(zhì)。

Yael: Nice.

雅艾爾：不錯。

Don: But that's not all. Crop researchers have discovered that the guayule plant is apotentially valuable source of energy. After the latex is extracted from the plant, you're leftwith the ground up stems and branches—called “bagasse.” Bagasse from guayule containsabout as much potential energy per pound as charcoal. USDA chemists are working to developefficient methods to convert bagasse into ethanol and other consumer ready products.Guayule has a few advantages as a source for biofuel. One is that it grows and thrives in thedesert. That means it can grow in areas where other crops can't. Guayule shrubs can also beharvested year round, and require very little fertilizer or chemicals to grow. On top of that, thelatex extraction process uses only water, no harsh solvents, so the process of producing latexand bagasse is relatively clean.

唐：還不止這些呢。研究者們還發(fā)現(xiàn)銀膠菊是一種很有開發(fā)前景的能源。當(dāng)你把乳膠從植物里提取出來后，就會剩下一大堆銀膠菊的秸稈，我們稱為“甘蔗渣”。每磅甘蔗渣里含有的能量和每磅木炭一樣多。美國農(nóng)業(yè)部的化學(xué)家正在研發(fā)一種有效的方法，以便把這些甘蔗渣轉(zhuǎn)化成乙醇和其他可供消費的產(chǎn)品。作為生物燃料，銀膠菊有一些優(yōu)勢。其中一項就是他在沙漠中茁壯的生長，這就表示了它能在其他生物無法生存的環(huán)境中存活。銀膠菊灌木一年就能收獲嗎?它全年都能收獲，且只需要一點點肥料和化學(xué)藥劑。除此之外，銀膠菊的乳膠提取工藝只需要水就夠了，不需要嚴格的溶劑。所以生產(chǎn)乳膠和甘蔗渣的過程是比較清潔的。

Yael: That does sound promising. I'LL look forward to hearing more about guayule in thefuture.

雅艾爾：那聽起來的確很有前途，我期望以后能多了解一些銀膠菊的知識。

Don: I suspect we will.

唐：我猜會有機會的。