This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
In two thousand eight, scientists reported on a study of cotton grown in six provinces in northern China. The study involved bollworms, a major threat to cotton farmers. It also involved Bt cotton, a plant genetically engineered to resist that threat.
2008年，科学家就中国北方6省棉花种植的一项研究发表报告。这项研究涉及到棉农的一个主要威胁：棉铃虫。同时还涉及到Bt棉花（注1），一种能够抵制此类威胁的转基因棉花。
Bt cotton plants naturally kill bollworms. As a result, the study in China found that the cotton plants could also help protect nearby crops against damage by the insects.
转Bt基因棉花具有杀死棉铃虫的天性。因此，在中国的研究发现，转基因棉花还有助于防止邻近农作物被昆虫侵害。
Now, several researchers involved in that study have published another report in the same journal, Science. They studied the same farmlands again and confirmed the findings about bollworms.
目前，几名参与该研究项目的研究人员在同一份《科学》杂志上发表了另一份报告。他们再次研究了同一耕地，并确认了关于棉铃虫的发现。
But they also found something else. They say another kind of bug is now attacking the cotton and other crops.
但他们同样发现了其他一些东西，他们称，目前另一种臭虫正在攻击棉花和其它作物。
The study reported on mirid populations between nineteen ninety-seven and two thousand eight. The researchers also documented the use of insecticide chemicals by the Chinese farmers from nineteen ninety-two to two thousand eight.
该研究就1997到2008年间的盲椿（注2）种群数量提出报告，研究人员还记录了1992年到2008年中国农民对化学杀虫剂的使用情况。
Kongming Wu of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing took part in both studies. He says mirids are destroying crops including cotton, apples, pears, peaches and vegetables. He says this is happening where mirids never before were a problem.
北京农业科学院的吴孔明（音译）参与了这两项研究。他说，盲椿正在危害包括棉花，苹果，梨，桃子和蔬菜等作物。他表示，这发生在此前盲椿根本不足为虑的地方。
The report says the bugs invaded after farmers decreased their use of insecticides by planting Bt cotton. The scientists say their research shows that the Bt cotton has become a source of mirids. They say the population increases are related to drops in insecticide use on the cotton crop.
报告称，臭虫入侵发生在农民通过种植BT棉花减少杀虫剂的使用之后。科学家表示，他们的研究表明，BT棉花已成为盲椿的来源地。他们说，盲椿种群数量的增加，和棉花减少使用杀虫剂有关。
The genetically engineered cotton is designed to help farmers save money by decreasing the need for poisons. But the scientists say the Chinese farmers have now had to use more insecticides to fight the mirids.
转基因棉花的目的是通过降低杀虫剂的需求帮助农民节省开支。但是科学家表示，中国农民现在不得不使用更多的杀虫剂来对抗盲椿危害。
Bt is a bacterium that was discovered in the early twentieth century. Farmers started using it as a natural way to kill insects. Then scientists learned how to put a Bt gene into cotton plants.
BT是一种20世纪初发现的细菌。农民开始使用它来作为一种天然手段杀灭昆虫。然后，科学家们学会如何将BT基因导入棉花。
Much of the cotton grown in northern China is a Bt variety made by Monsanto. Different companies produce Bt cotton. Around the world, farmers grow an estimated sixteen million hectares of Bt cotton.
大部分中国北部种植的棉花是孟山都公司开发的Bt棉花。很多不同的公司都生产Bt棉花。在世界各地，农民大约种植了1600万公顷BT棉花。
注1：BT Cotton(苏力菌棉花)，是以苏力菌为基础而具备抗虫特性之棉花，苏力菌系一种革兰氏阳性，能形成孢子的细菌，在芽孢生殖时会产生杀虫结晶蛋白质，被称为是一种活的微生物杀虫剂，因对细菌或虫害具有生物分解特性，但对人类和非虫害生物居住之环境不会产生影响和破坏，故广泛应用于棉花种植上，而有[苏力菌棉之称号]。 Bt 棉花品种包含一个外来基因而获得苏力菌。这个细菌基因, 导入棉花种子内, 令棉花的蠕虫离开棉花植物, 因此造成对这棵植物的较少损伤。
注2：盲椿，又名小臭虫等，属半翅目盲椿科。寄主有枣、李、 樱桃、梨、苹果、桃、杏、棉、稻、胡麻、大豆、玉米、苜蓿、甜菜、白菜、萝卜、胡萝卜、菠菜、烟草和茶叶树等。它分布在黄河、长江流域，以成虫和若虫的刺吸式口器危害寄主的幼嫩芽叶和花蕾。植物幼嫩组织被害后，先出现枯死小点，随后变黄枯萎，顶芽皱缩 ，抑制生长。以后，随着叶芽的伸展，被害处变成不规则的孔洞和裂痕，叶片皱缩变黄，俗称“破叶疯”。被害枣吊不能正常伸展，呈弯曲状，故称“烫发病”。花蕾受害后，停止发育，以至枯落。因此受害重的植株，几乎没有花开放。