劍橋雅思 17 閱讀原文翻譯 T3P2—Palm Oil

本篇文章共分 A-H 8 大段 (為配合題目出題，有些大段中包含 2 個小段)，從棕櫚油的特色與產量，對環境以及經濟的優劣之處，永續種植與製造規範，展望到對於未來的環境多樣化的可行方式，一一加以說明。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

1. 棕櫚油的特徵與應用

   Palm oil is an edible oil derived from the fruit of the African oil palm tree, and is currently the most consumed vegetable oil in the world. It’s almost certainly in the soap we wash with in the morning, the sandwich we have for lunch, and the biscuits we snack on during the day. Why is palm oil so attractive for manufacturers? Primarily because its unique properties – such as remaining solid at room temperature – make it an ideal ingredient for long-term preservation, allowing many packaged foods on supermarket shelves to have ‘best before’ dates of months, even years, into the future.

   棕櫚油是一種從非洲油棕櫚樹的果實中提取的食用油，是目前世界上消費最多的植物油。幾乎可以肯定的是，我們早上用的肥皂、午餐吃的三明治和白天吃的餅乾中都有它。為什麼棕櫚油對生產者如此有吸引力？主要是因為它的獨特屬性—例如在室溫下保持固體狀態—使它成為長期保存的理想成分，使超市貨架上的許多包裝食品的 “保存期限” 可以長達未來數月甚至數年。

2. 棕櫚油產量

   Many farmers have seized the opportunity to maximise the planting of oil palm trees. Between 1990 and 2012, the global land area devoted to growing oil palm trees grew from 6 to 17 million hectares, now accounting for around ten percent of total cropland in the entire world. From a mere two million tonnes of palm oil being produced annually globally 50 years ago, there are now around 60 million tonnes produced every single year, a figure looking likely to double or even triple by the middle of the century.

   許多農民已經抓住機會，盡量擴大種植油棕櫚樹。在 1990 年至 2012 年期間，全球用於種植油棕櫚樹的土地面積從 600 萬公頃增加到 1,700 萬公頃，現在約占全世界總耕地的 10%。50 年前，全球每年僅生產 200 萬噸棕櫚油，而現在每年的產量約為 6,000 萬噸， 到本世紀中葉，這一數字可能會翻倍甚至翻三倍。

3. 環境影響

   However, there are multiple reasons why conservationists cite the rapid spread of oil palm plantations as a major concern. There are countless news stories of deforestation, habitat destruction and dwindling species populations, all as a direct result of land clearing to establish oil palm tree monoculture on an industrial scale, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia. Endangered species – most famously the Sumatran orangutan, but also rhinos, elephants, tigers, and numerous other fauna – have suffered from the unstoppable spread of oil palm plantations.

   然而，有多種原因使得保育人士將油棕櫚種植場的迅速蔓延作為主要關切對象。有無數關於森林砍伐、棲地破壞和物種數量減少的新聞報導，這些都是為建立工業規模的油棕櫚樹單一種植而開墾土地的直接結果，特別是在馬來西亞和印尼。瀕危物種—最著名的是蘇門答臘猩猩，還有犀牛、大象、老虎和許多其他動物—都因油棕櫚種植場勢不可擋的擴張而受害。

4. 問題核心真相

   ‘Palm oil is surely one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity,’ declares Dr Farnon Ellwood of the University of the West of England, Bristol. ‘Palm oil is replacing rainforest, and rainforest is where all the species are. That’s a problem.’ This has led to some radical questions among environmentalists, such as whether consumers should try to boycott palm oil entirely.

   Meanwhile Bhavani Shankar, Professor at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, argues, ‘It’s easy to say that palm oil is the enemy and we should be against it. It makes for a more dramatic story, and it’s very intuitive. But given the complexity of the argument, I think a much more nuanced story is closer to the truth.’

   “棕櫚油肯定是全球生物多樣性的最大威脅之一，” 位於布里斯托爾的西英格蘭大學的 Farnon Ellwood 博士聲稱。“棕櫚油正在取代雨林，而雨林是所有物種的所在。這的確是個問題。” 此種情況導致了環保人士間的一些重要問題，例如消費者是否應該嘗試完全抵制棕櫚油。

   同時，倫敦東方和非洲研究學院的教授 Bhavani Shankar 認為，“說棕櫚油是敵人，我們應該反對它，這很容易。這使得故事更有戲劇性，而且非常直觀。但是考慮到爭論的複雜性，我認為一個更微妙的故事會更接近事實。”

5. 棕櫚油效益

   One response to the boycott movement has been the argument for the vital role palm oil plays in lifting many millions of people in the developing world out of poverty. Is it desirable to have palm oil boycotted, replaced, eliminated from the global supply chain, given how many low-income people in developing countries depend on it for their livelihoods? How best to strike a utilitarian balance between these competing factors has become a serious bone of contention.

   對抵制運動的一種回應是，棕櫚油在使發展中世界的數百萬人擺脫貧困方面發揮著重要作用。鑒於發展中國家有多少低收入百姓依靠棕櫚油維持生計，抵制、取代、從全球供應鏈中消滅棕櫚油是否可取？如何在這些相互競爭的因素之間取得最佳的實用性平衡，已經成為一個嚴肅的爭論焦點。

6. 與其他作物比較

   Even the deforestation argument isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Oil palm plantations produce at least four and potentially up to ten times more oil per hectare than soybean, rapeseed, sunflower or other competing oils. That immensely high yield – which is predominantly what makes it so profitable – is potentially also an ecological benefit. If ten times more palm oil can be produced from a patch of land than any competing oil, then ten times more land would need to be cleared in order to produce the same volume of oil from that competitor.

   As for the question of carbon emissions, the issue really depends on what oil palm trees are replacing. Crops vary in the degree to which they sequester carbon – in other words, the amount of carbon they capture from the atmosphere and store within the plant. The more carbon a plant sequesters, the more it reduces the effect of climate change. As Shankar explains: ‘[Palm oil production] actually sequesters more carbon in some ways than other alternatives. [… ] Of course, if you’re cutting down virgin forest it’s terrible – that’s what’s happening in Indonesia and Malaysia, it’s been allowed to get out of hand. But if it’s replacing rice, for example, it might actually sequester more carbon.’

   即使是砍伐森林的說法也不像表面看起來那麼簡單。油棕櫚種植場每公頃生產的油至少是大豆、油菜籽、向日葵或其他競爭油類的四倍，甚至可能達到十倍。這種巨大的高產量—此乃此作物具有如此高利潤的主因—也有可能是一種生態效益。如果從一塊土地上生產的棕櫚油比任何競爭油多十倍，那麼為了從該競爭者那裡生產同樣數量的油，需要清理的土地就多十倍。

   至於碳排放，這個問題實際上取決於油棕櫚樹所替代的是什麼。作物在固存碳的程度上有所不同—換句話說，即它們從大氣中捕獲並儲存在植物中的碳的數量。植物封存的碳越多，它就越能減少氣候變化的影響。正如 Shankar 所解釋的。“[棕櫚油生產] 在某些方面實際上比其他替代物更能封存碳。[…] 當然，如果你砍伐原始森林，那是很糟糕的—印尼和馬來西亞正是如此，同時在官方的允許下已經失控了。但是，如果它取代了，比如說，水稻，那實際上可能會封存更多的碳。”

7. 永續生產規範

   The industry is now regulated by a group called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), consisting of palm growers, retailers, product manufacturers, and other interested parties. Over the past decade or so, an agreement has gradually been reached regarding standards that producers of palm oil have to meet in order for their product to be regarded as officially ‘sustainable’. The RSPO insists upon no virgin forest clearing, transparency and regular assessment of carbon stocks, among other criteria. Only once these requirements are fully satisfied is the oil allowed to be sold as certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). Recent figures show that the RSPO now certifies around 12 million tonnes of palm oil annually, equivalent to roughly 21 percent of the world’s total palm oil production.

   該行業現在由一個名為可永續棕櫚油圓桌會議 (RSPO) 的組織監管，該組織由棕櫚種植業者、零售商、產品製造商和其他相關方組成。在過去的十年左右，關於棕櫚油生產商必須達到的標準，已經逐漸達成協議，以使他們的產品被視為正式的 “可永續”。RSPO 堅持不砍伐原始森林、透明度和定期評估碳儲量，以及其他標準。只有在完全滿足這些要求的情況下，才允許作為經認證的可永續棕櫚油（CSPO）出售。最近的數字顯示，RSPO 現在每年認證大約 1,200 萬噸棕櫚油，大約相當於全球棕櫚油總產量的 21%。

8. 復育環境

   There is even hope that oil palm plantations might not need to be such sterile monocultures, or ‘green deserts’, as Ellwood describes them. New research at Ellwood’s lab hints at one plant which might make all the difference. The bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus) grows on trees in an epiphytic fashion (meaning it’s dependent on the tree only for support, not for nutrients), and is native to many tropical regions, where as a keystone species it performs a vital ecological role. Ellwood believes that reintroducing the bird’s nest fern into oil palm plantations could potentially allow these areas to recover their biodiversity, providing a home for all manner of species, from fungi and bacteria, to invertebrates such as insects, amphibians, reptiles and even mammals.

   甚至還有希望，油棕櫚種植園可能不需要像埃爾伍德描述的那樣成為單株植栽的貧瘠之地，也就是所謂的 “綠色沙漠”。埃爾伍德實驗室的新研究指出，有一種植物可能會使一切變得不同。鳥巢蕨／山蘇 (Asplenium nidus) 以附生方式生長在樹上（意味著它只依賴樹木的支持，而不是營養），同時也是許多熱帶地區的原生植物，在這些地區作為一個關鍵物種，它發揮著重要的生態作用。埃爾伍德認為，將鳥巢蕨重新引入油棕櫚種植園有可能使這些地區恢復其生物多樣性，為各種物種提供一個家園，從真菌和細菌到無脊椎動物，如昆蟲、兩棲動物、爬行動物甚至哺乳動物。