2019年12月六级第3套长篇阅读匹配原文翻译及答案

A) Though he didn't come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he "got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture—that all energy and wealth comes from the sun," he explains, "and the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, " the higher the profit to the farmer.

尽管蒂姆·约瑟夫并非出身农家，但他从小就对自给自足的生活方式着迷。通过阅读《牧场主牧草农夫》和《放牧》等杂志，他“迷上了草饲农业的理念——所有能量和财富都来自太阳，”他解释道，“从太阳到最终产品的距离越短，农民获得的利润就越高。”

B) Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test, so in 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in upstate New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently outstrips supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25 to 30 percent annual growth rate, while sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir have in the last year increased by over 38 percent, compared with a drop of just under percent in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph's top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn't going to suffice.

约瑟夫想验证这一理论，于是在2009年，他与妻子劳拉在纽约州北部创立了Maple Hill Creamery，一家有机、全草饲酸奶公司。他很快了解到市场已经证明：目前草饲产品的需求超过了供应。草饲牛肉的年增长率达到25%至30%，而草饲酸奶和开菲尔的销售额去年增长超过38%，相比之下，整体酸奶和开菲尔市场仅下降不到百分比，据天然和有机市场研究公司SPINS的数据。约瑟夫的首要任务是获得足够的草饲牛奶来满足客户，因为他自己拥有64头奶牛的牧场不足以供应。

C) His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Van Amburgh, owners of the Sharon Springs, N.Y., farm Dharma Lea. The Van Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped close to 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80 percent of those farms coming on board during the last two years.

他的第一个合作伙伴是保罗和菲利斯·范·安伯格，他们是纽约州莎伦斯普林斯农场Dharma Lea的所有者。范·安伯格夫妇也坚信草饲的理念。除了从自己拥有85头奶牛的牧场供应牛奶外，他们开始帮助该地区的其他农民从传统方式转向经认证的有机和草饲生产，以便加入Maple Hill的供应链。自2010年以来，这对夫妇已帮助近125家小型奶牛场转向草饲，其中超过80%的农场是在过去两年内加入的。

D) All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40 to 50 percent every year since it began, says Joseph, with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up to two-and-a-half times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices grazing animals on grasses coaxed from the pastureland's latent seed bank, and fertilized by the cows' own manure—grass-fed farmers are completely insulated from spikes in the price of feed.

约瑟夫表示，所有这些转变帮助Maple Hill自成立以来每年增长40%至50%，且看不到尽头。约瑟夫了解到，农民必须具备一定的心态才能成功转型。但当你考虑经济效益时，说服思想开放的奶农其实并不难。草饲牛奶的价格可以达到传统牛奶的两倍半。另一个因素是，随着喂养奶牛的谷物价格上涨，传统奶农感到压力，利润空间被压缩。通过用再生管理实践取代昂贵的谷物饲料——在牧场上放牧动物，利用牧场潜在的种子库生长草料，并用奶牛自身的粪便施肥——草饲农民完全避免了饲料价格飙升的影响。

E) Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial activity in the soil, helping to capture water and sequester carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.

这种再生放牧的倡导者还指出了它在动物福利、气候和健康方面的好处：草饲动物在非圈养环境下寿命更长。放牧的畜群刺激土壤中的微生物活动，有助于保持水分和固碳。而且，草饲乳制品和肉类在某些营养成分和健康脂肪方面含量更高。

F) In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese glut. Going grass-fed is a "safe refuge, " says Joseph, a way for "family-scale farms to stay viable." "Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they're doing is not working," says Paul Van Amburgh. That's when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed, has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Van Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer's milk at a guaranteed base price plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butterfat and other solids.

在草饲系统中，农民也不受国际商品市场剧烈波动的奶价影响。全球需求的不可预测性以及增加更多奶牛以满足需求的滞后时间，可能导致像最近奶酪过剩这样的事件。约瑟夫说，转向草饲是一个“安全的避风港”，是“家庭规模农场保持生存能力的方式”。保罗·范·安伯格说：“通常农民会走到财务上行不通的地步。”这时他们就会联系Maple Hill。如果农场管理良好，有足够的土地，并且转变的愿望是真诚的，合作就可以开始。通过定期的地区教育会议、大型年会、个别农场访问和数千次电话，范·安伯格夫妇传授牧场管理的原则。Maple Hill签订合同，承诺以保证的基础价格加上质量溢价和高蛋白、乳脂及其他固体物质的激励措施购买农民的牛奶。

G) While Maple Hill's conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive (Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning "a core piece of our culture"), it is just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate Ridge Shinn launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from more than 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Shinn will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he's received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.

尽管Maple Hill的转变项目异常深入和全面（约瑟夫称通过同伴学习分享知识网络是“我们文化的核心部分”），但它只是越来越多致力于缓慢改变美国农业方式的企业之一。去年夏天，马萨诸塞州的草饲牛肉倡导者里奇·辛恩推出了Big Picture Beef，这是一个新英格兰和纽约州的小型草饲牛肉农场网络，预计今年将从125多家生产商那里向市场供应2,500头牛。早期迹象表明，辛恩不会缺少农场成员。自从他开始在农业会议和社交媒体上非正式地宣布这个网络以来，他一直收到来自感兴趣农民的持续咨询。

H) Shinn says he will provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic management, to "one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline" for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and, for maximum traceability, a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.

辛恩表示，他将提供从正式研讨会到农场现场的整体管理讲习班，以及为转型农民提供的“一对一指导和几乎全天候电话热线”等服务。作为交换，他保证每头动物高于市场价格，并为了最大限度的可追溯性，采用像欧盟使用的从犊牛到客户的电子耳标ID系统。

I) Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one: Joseph says his products are priced 10 to 20 percent above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30 to 50 percent or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Shinn says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20 to 25 percent over the conventional alternative. But a peek at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35 to 60 percent.

尽管倡导者将草饲产品描绘为对所有人都有利的双赢局面，但它们确实有缺点。首先是价格：约瑟夫说他的产品比有机版本贵10%到20%，但根据选择的产品，与非有机传统酸奶相比，消费者可能为草饲支付30%到50%甚至更高的溢价。至于肉类，辛恩说他的草饲汉堡价格将比传统替代品高20%到25%。但在线杂货商Fresh Direct的价格显示，草饲溢价在35%到60%之间。

J) And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed: For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor intensive as well. But Shinn counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. "The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat, "he says.

而且，并非每个农民都有选择草饲的余地：对于牛肉和乳制品生产，它至少在开始时需要更多的牧场土地。草饲牛肉生产也往往更劳动密集。但辛恩反驳说，如果考虑到政府玉米补贴、环境退化以及人类健康和动物福利下降的隐性成本，草饲是更具成本效益的模式。他说：“太阳提供了最低的生产成本和最便宜的肉类。”

K) Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be vegan endurance athletes; now they're advocates of grass-fed meat. Very soon after launching EPIC's most successful product - the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar - Collins and Forrest found they 'd exhausted their sources for bison raised exclusively on pasture.

另一个推动农民转向草饲的助力者是EPIC，它生产肉类蛋白棒。创始人泰勒·柯林斯和他的妻子凯蒂·福雷斯特曾经是纯素食耐力运动员；现在他们是草饲肉类的倡导者。在推出EPIC最成功的产品——Bison Cranberry Bar——后不久，柯林斯和福雷斯特发现他们已经耗尽了专门放牧的野牛来源。

L) But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had sources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price.

但在2016年通用磨坊收购EPIC后，柯林斯和福雷斯特突然获得了他们需要扩展供应链的来源。于是公司与威斯康星州的牧场主Northstar Bison合作。EPIC预先支付了价值250万美元的幼野牛购买资金，这些野牛将按照其草饲协议饲养，并保证购买价格。