From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
President Barack Obama signed a new Farm Bill into law this month. Under the legislation, the federal government will no longer guarantee automatic payments to farmers. Critics say the law replaces the old payment system with new assistance that may violate international trade rules. The law also includes changes in how the United States helps hungry people around the world.
本月，美国总统奥巴马签署一项新的农业法案成为法律。根据该法律，联邦政府将不再确保向农民自动发放补贴。批评人士表示，这项新法律取代了旧补贴发放体系，但它附带的新援助可能会违反国际贸易规则。该法律还包括了美国如何帮助世界各地饥饿人口的一些变动。
The new Farm Bill ended $5 billion a year in automatic payments to farmers. The president said the law sends a message to people who have abused the system.
这项新的农业法案停止了自动向农民发放的50亿美元补贴。奥巴马表示，该法律向滥用该体系的人们发出了一个信号。
"This bill helps to clamp down on loopholes that allowed people to receive benefits year after year whether they were planting crops or not. And it saves taxpayers hard-earned dollars by making sure that we only support farmers when disaster strikes or prices drop," the president said.
奥巴马表示，“这项法案有助于消除允许人们每年获得补贴而不管他们是否种植粮食的漏洞。它通过确保只在灾难发生或价格下降时补贴农民，节省了纳税人辛苦挣来的钱。”
The new legislation expands programs that protect farmers from bad weather or low crop prices. It raises the lowest price growers will be paid for some crops. And it offers a taxpayer-supported insurance program to farmers, the program guarantees that their wages do not drop much from year to year.
这项新的法律扩大了保护农民不受恶劣天气和粮食价格低影响的计划，它提高了农民出售一些粮食的最低价格，还向农民提供了一个纳税人承担的保险计划，该计划保证农民的收入每年不会下降太多。
Dan Sumner is an economist with the University of California, Davis. He told VOA on Skype that the new Farm Bill could cause problems.
丹·萨姆纳（Dan Sumner）是加州大学戴维斯分校的经济学家。他在Skype上对美国之音表示，这项新的农业法案可能会引发问题。
"That's the kind of assurances that the U.S. government is willing to provide that most farmers in the world, in fact, don't have access to," he said.
他说，“世界上大部分农民都享受不到美国政府希望提供的这类保险。”
He adds that with the help of the government, American farmers can produce and export more crops, but he warns that could hurt crop prices.
他补充说，在政府的帮助下，美国农民可以生产和出口更多粮食，但他警告说，这会伤害粮食价格。
"That drives down world prices and it's a little tougher for farmers in developing countries to compete with that," Sumner said.
萨姆纳说，“这会压低世界粮食价格，发展中国家农民与之竞争会更难。”
U.S. government subsidies pushed down world cotton prices in the early 2000s, the United States lost an international trade dispute over those payments. Dan Sumner says the new Farm Bill could re-open that dispute.
21世纪初美国政府补贴压低了世界棉花价格。美国在就这些补贴的一项国际贸易争端上败北。萨姆纳表示，新的农业法案可能会重启该争端。
But groups representing growers say trade rules do let governments pay a limited amount of subsidies to farmers. Dale Moore is the chief of policy at one of those groups - the American Farm Bureau Federation.
但代表种植户的组织表示，贸易规则允许政府向农民支付一定补贴。戴尔·摩尔（Dale Moore）是这些组织之一的美国农业事务联合会的政策负责人。
"We're pretty confident that it would take an extremely bad situation for us to even come close to violating those particular limits, something the United States hasn't come close to in years," said Dale Moore.
摩尔表示，“我们非常确信这会给我们带来非常糟糕的局面，使我们无限接近违反这些特定限制，美国已经很多年没有接近违反这些特定限制了。”
Other changes in the Bill should help food aid get to more needy people around the world.
法案的其它变动会有助于粮食援助抵达世界各地更多需要帮助的人们。
Aid groups will be able to spend more of the assistance they receive to buy food from markets near where it will be used, earlier rules forced aid groups to buy food from American farmers.
援助组织将能够花更多他们收到的资金在受援地周边的市场购买食品。此前的规则强迫援助组织向美国农民购买食品。
Eric Munoz works for the aid group Oxfam America.
埃里克·穆尼奥斯（Eric Munoz）就职于援助组织美国乐施会。
"Not only will that save money, but it will help reach people faster. The actual program of buying locally is a much quicker response than buying food from the United States and shipping it," said Eric Munoz.
穆尼奥斯表示，“这不但将可以节省资金，还将有助于更快帮助到人们。与从美国购买再运过去相比，当地购买方案反应更迅速。”
He told VOA on Skype that with the same amount of money, help can now reach more hungry people.
他通过Skype对美国之音表示，（这样做）相同资金能够帮助到更多饥饿人口。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)