第1段

The continuous and reckless use of synthetic chemicals for the control of pests which pose a threat to agricultural crops and human health is proving to be counter-productive. Apart from engendering widespread ecological disorders, pesticides have contributed to the emergence of a new breed of chemical-resistant, highly lethal superbugs.

第1段：对农业作物和人类健康构成威胁的害虫的持续和肆无忌惮地使用合成化学物质来控制，证明是适得其反的。除了导致广泛的生态紊乱外，农药还导致了一种新型的对化学品抗性强、高度致命的超级虫的出现。

第2段

According to a recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than 300species of agricultural pests have developed resistance to a wide range of potent chemicals. Not to be left behind are the disease-spreading pests, about 100 species of which have become immune to a variety of insecticides now in use.

第2段：根据粮食及农业组织（FAO）最近的一项研究，超过300种农业害虫已经对一系列强效化学制剂产生了抗性。传播疾病的害虫也不甘示弱，大约有100种害虫对目前使用的各种杀虫剂产生了免疫力。

第3段

One glaring disadvantage of pesticides’ application is that, while destroying harmful pests, they also wipe out many useful non-targeted organisms, which keep the growth of the pest population in check. This results in what agroecologists call the ‘treadmill syndrome’. Because of their tremendous breeding potential and genetic diversity, many pests are known to withstand synthetic chemicals and bear offspring with built-in resistance to pesticides.

第3段：农药应用的一个明显不利之处在于，虽然能够消灭有害的害虫，但也会消灭许多有益的非目标生物，这些生物可以控制害虫种群的增长。这导致了农业生态学家所说的“踏车机制”。由于害虫具有巨大的繁殖潜力和遗传多样性，许多害虫被认为能够抵御合成化学物质的攻击，并产生具有抗药性的后代。

第4段

The havoc that the ‘treadmill syndrome’ can bring about is well illustrated by what happened to cotton farmers in Central America. In the early 1940s, basking in the glory of chemical-based intensive agriculture, the farmers avidly took to pesticides as a sure measure to boost crop yield. The insecticide was applied eight times a year in the mid-1940s, rising to 28 in a season in the mid-1950s, following the sudden proliferation of three new varieties of chemical-resistant pests.

第4段：“踏车机制”可能带来的灾难在中美洲的棉花种植者身上得到了很好的说明。在20世纪40年代早期，农民们因为相信基于化学品的密集农业的优势而热衷于使用农药来提高作物产量。在40年代中期，每年使用杀虫剂达8次，到了50年代中期，随着三种新型抗药性害虫的突然大量增加，每个季节需要喷洒28次。

第5段

By the mid-1960s, the situation took an alarming turn with the outbreak of four more new pests, necessitating pesticide spraying to such an extent that 50% of the financial outlay on cotton production was accounted for by pesticides. T In the early 1970s, the spraying frequently reached 70 times a season as the farmers were pushed to the wall by the invasion of genetically stronger insect species.

第5段：到了60年代中期，情况变得令人担忧，出现了四种新的害虫，需要大量喷洒杀虫剂，以至于棉花生产的财务支出中有50%用于购买杀虫剂。在20世纪70年代早期，由于遭受到基因更强的昆虫物种入侵，每个季节的喷洒频率经常达到70次。

第6段

Most of the pesticides in the market today remain inadequately tested for properties that cause cancer and mutations as well as for other adverse effects on health, says a study by United States environmental agencies. The United States National Resource Defense Council has found that DDT was the most popular of a long list of dangerous chemicals in use.

第6段：美国环境机构的研究指出，如今市场上的大多数农药在致癌和突变等对健康有害的特性方面测试不足。美国国家资源保护委员会发现，DDT是使用的一种危险化学品中最受欢迎的。

第7段

In the face of the escalating perils from indiscriminate applications of pesticides, a more effective and ecologically sound strategy of biological control, involving the selective use of natural enemies of the pest population, is fast gaining popularity- though, as yet, it is a new field with limited potential. The advantage of biological control in contrast to other methods is that it provides a relatively low-cost, perpetual control system with a minimum of detrimental side-effects. When handled by experts, bio-control is safe, non-polluting and self-dispersing.

第7段：面对来自农药的无差别应用带来的不断加剧的危险，一种更有效和生态友好的生物控制策略，即选择性使用害虫的天敌，正快速流行起来，尽管目前还只是一个具有有限潜力的新领域。与其他方法相比，生物控制的优点在于它提供了一个相对低成本、持久的控制系统，并且副作用较小。在专家的处理下，生物控制是安全、无污染和自行散布的。

第8段

The Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control (CIBC) in Bangalore, with its global network of research laboratories and field stations, is one of the most active, non-commercial research agencies engaged in pest control by setting natural predators against parasites. CIBC also serves as a clearing-house for the export and import of biological agents for pest control world-wide.

第8段：班加罗尔的联邦生物控制研究所（CIBC）是最活跃的非商业研究机构之一，其全球研究实验室和野外站点网络致力于通过引入天敌来进行害虫控制。CIBC还充当全球生物制剂用于害虫控制的出口和进口的清关中心。

第9段

CIBC successfully used a seed-feeding weevil, native to Mexico, to control the obnoxious parthenium weed, known to exert devious influence on agriculture and human health in both India and Australia. Similarly the Hyderabad-based Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), supported by CIBC, is now trying out an Argentinian weevil for the eradication of water hyacinth, another dangerous weed, which has become a nuisance in many parts of the world. According to Mrs Kaiser Jamil of RRL, ‘The Argentinian weevil does not attack any other plant and a pair of adult bugs could destroy the weed in 4-5 days. ‘ CIBC is also perfecting the technique for breeding parasites that prey on ‘disapene scale’ insects – notorious defoliants of fruit trees in the US and India.

第9段：CIBC成功地使用了一种源自墨西哥的寄生种子甲虫来控制在印度和澳大利亚农业和人类健康中构成威胁的令人讨厌的无花果杂草。同样，得到CIBC支持的位于海得拉巴的区域研究实验室（RRL）正在尝试使用一种源自阿根廷的甲虫来根除水葫芦这种在世界上许多地方成为困扰的危险杂草。根据RRL的Kaiser Jamil女士的说法，“阿根廷甲虫不会攻击其他植物，一对成虫可以在4-5天内消灭掉这种杂草。” CIBC还在改进技术，培育寄生在美国和印度水果树上的“disapene scale”昆虫。

第10段

How effectively biological control can be pressed into service is proved by the following examples. In the late 1960s, when Sri Lanka’s flourishing coconut groves were plagued by leaf-mining hispides, a larval parasite imported from Singapore brought the pest under control. A natural predator indigenous to India, Neodumetia sangawani, was found useful in controlling the Rhodes grass-scale insect that was devouring forage grass in many parts of the US. By using Neochetina bruci, a beetle native to Brazil, scientists at Kerala Agricultural University freed a 12-kilometrelong canal from the clutches of the weed Salvinia molesta, popularly called ‘African Payal’ in Kerala. About 30, 000 hectares of rice fields in Kerala are infested by this weed.