歐盟農業政策須大幅修正

Europe’s $65-billion-a-year farm program needs to change radically if it is to protect the environment and support small farmers, a group of European scientists said in a paper published in the journal “People and Nature” .

一群歐洲科學家在「人類與自然」期刊發表文章指出，如果歐盟想保護環境並支持小農，歐盟每年耗資650億美元的農業政策必須大幅改變。

The 21 authors of the paper said a planned overhaul of Europe’s farm policy is inadequate. They said policymakers must stop paying farmers based on the acres they cultivate and instead reward environmentally friendly practices such as organic farming or agroforestry. The scientists also asked the European Union to cut off subsidies that encourage livestock farming, which is linked to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

這篇文章的21名作者指出，歐盟計畫採取的農業政策改革並不恰當，決策者應停止以種植面積為基準付錢給農民，而應鼓勵對環境友善的作法，如有機農業和混農林業。這群科學家還要求歐盟取消鼓勵畜牧的補貼，畜牧與溫室氣體排放增加有關。

“Billions of euros of taxpayers’ money are about to be poured down the drain,” the scientists said in a statement.

A new Green Deal plans to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Last month, the European Commission outlined plans to make the deal legally binding for all member states.

這些科學家說：「數以十億歐元計的納稅錢都要白白浪費了。」歐盟新政策「綠色新政」打算在2050年前，使歐洲成為第一個溫室氣體淨零排放的大陸。歐盟執委會3月提出計畫草案，要讓綠色新政對所有成員國具法律約束力。

But the package will not reform farming because it has adopted old policies and repackaged them as climate-friendly measures, the scientists said.

不過，前述科學家指出，「綠色新政」這套政策並不能改革農業，因為只是把舊政策重新包裝成不破壞氣候的措施。

“The climate measures are unjustifiable. There is nothing in there,” said Guy Pe’er, a German conservation biologist and the leading author of the paper.

前述論文第一作者、德國保育生物學家裴爾說：「這些氣候措施站不住腳，根本沒內容。」

Pe’er has collected signatures from more than 3,600 scientists and researchers on his website supporting the paper’s findings.

裴爾的網站已取得3600多名科學家和研究人員連署，支持這篇論文的研究結果。

The scientists said that Europe’s farm policy has sidelined small farmers and supported practices that have led to global warming, soil erosion, land degradation and the loss of biodiversity. Subsidy programs that could have curbed the damage have been paltry and underfunded.

論文作者群指出，歐盟農業政策排擠小農，還鼓勵一些導致全球暖化、土壤侵蝕、土地退化和生物多樣性減少的行為。能減少這些損害的補貼方案為數不多，而且資金不足。

Last year, a New York Times investigation showed the disconnect between Europe’s green image and its farm policy, which has caused lasting environmental damage and left visible pockmarks across Europe. Decaying algae release deadly gas on some beaches in France. Farm runoff has helped expand dead zones in the Baltic Sea. And farmland emissions of greenhouse gas are on the rise.

紐約時報去年的調查顯示，歐盟的環保形象與農業政策不一致，歐盟農業政策導致環境長期遭受破壞，並在歐洲各地留下明顯傷痕。腐爛的水藻在法國一些海灘釋出致命氣體。農場的化學藥劑和動物排泄物流進河流和湖泊，導致波羅的海溶解氧氣很少的「海洋死區」擴大。此外，農田排放的溫室氣體愈來愈多。

The farm subsidies program accounts for nearly 40% of Europe’s budget, making it one of the biggest in the world. It is riddled with corruption and self-dealing, especially in Eastern and Central Europe, where leaders have diverted money to underwrite their governments or companies, the Times investigation found. Attempts to change the system or make it more accountable have failed partly because its biggest beneficiaries are in charge of setting policy.

農業補貼方案用掉歐盟近四成預算，是全球規模最大農業補貼方案之一。紐約時報調查發現，這類方案充斥貪腐與私益交易，尤其在東歐與中歐，領導階層挪用這筆錢充實國庫或自己公司的金庫。改變這個體系或使這個體系的責任歸屬更加明確的努力都失敗了，部分原因在於體系的最大受益者正是政策制定者。

為何肥皂能對付細菌和病毒？

It probably began with an accident thousands of years ago. According to one legend, rain washed the fat and ash from frequent animal sacrifices into a nearby river, where they formed a lather with a remarkable ability to clean skin and clothes. Perhaps the inspiration had a vegetal origin in the frothy solutions produced by boiling or mashing certain plants. However it happened, the ancient discovery of soap altered human history. Although our ancestors could not have foreseen it, soap would ultimately become one of our most effective defenses against invisible pathogens.

肥皂很可能源自幾千年前的一次意外發現。有個傳說這麼說，雨水把經常以動物獻祭留下的脂肪和灰燼沖到附近一條河中，形成了清潔皮膚和衣物效力驚人的泡沫。也許發明肥皂的靈感來自植物，來自把某些植物煮沸或搗碎成泥後產生的泡沫溶劑。不論肥皂如何發明，這個古老發現改變了人類史。雖然我們的祖先無法預見，肥皂最終卻成了我們防禦不可見的病原體的一大利器。

People typically think of soap as gentle and soothing, but from the perspective of microorganisms, it is often extremely destructive. A drop of ordinary soap diluted in water is sufficient to rupture and kill many types of bacteria and viruses, including the new coronavirus that is currently circling the globe. The secret to soap’s impressive might is its hybrid structure.

人們通常認為肥皂溫和怡人，但從微生物的角度來看，肥皂往往極具摧毀力。一滴普通肥皂的肥皂水足以破壞並殺死多種細菌和病毒，包括目前全球散播的新冠病毒。肥皂威力驚人，祕密在於其混合結構。

Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head — it readily bonds with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats. These molecules, when suspended in water, alternately float about as solitary units, interact with other molecules in the solution and assemble themselves into little bubbles called micelles, with heads pointing outward and tails tucked inside.

肥皂由大頭針形狀的分子構成，每個分子都有親水性的頭，容易跟水結合，還有疏水性的尾巴，避開水而傾向與油脂結合。這些分子懸浮在水中時，輪流以單個單元的形態漂浮，與溶劑中其他分子互動，並與其他分子結合成為小氣泡，稱為「微胞」，頭朝外，尾巴向內收攏。

Some bacteria and viruses have lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles with two bands of hydrophobic tails sandwiched between two rings of hydrophilic heads. These membranes are studded with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells and perform vital tasks that keep bacteria alive. Pathogens wrapped in lipid membranes include coronaviruses, HIV, the viruses that cause hepatitis B and C, herpes, Ebola, Zika, dengue, and numerous bacteria that attack the intestines and respiratory tract.

一些細菌和病毒有脂質膜，這種膜像是雙層微胞，兩圈疏水性的尾巴被兩圈親水性的頭包夾。這些膜密布著重要的蛋白質，蛋白質使病毒有能力感染細胞，並負責維持細菌存活的重要任務。有脂質膜的病原體包括冠狀病毒、人類免疫缺乏病毒、導致B型和C型肝炎的病毒、疱疹、伊波拉、茲卡、登革病毒，以及眾多攻擊腸道和呼吸道的細菌。

When you wash your hands with soap and water, you surround any microorganisms on your skin with soap molecules. The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap molecules attempt to evade water; in the process, they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of certain microbes and viruses, prying them apart.

當你用肥皂和水洗手時，你是用肥皂分子包圍皮膚上的所有微生物。自由漂動的肥皂分子的疏水性尾巴努力避開水，在這過程中，這些尾巴插入一些細菌和病毒的脂質外層，把外層撬開。

“They act like crowbars and destabilize the whole system,” said professor Pall Thordarson, acting head of chemistry at the University of New South Wales. Essential proteins spill from the ruptured membranes into the surrounding water, killing the bacteria and rendering the viruses useless.

澳洲新南威爾斯大學化學系代理主任索達森教授說：「這些尾巴的作用就像鐵撬，破壞整個系統。」重要蛋白質從破掉的膜散落到周圍的水中，使細菌死亡，病毒失效。

In tandem, some soap molecules disrupt the chemical bonds that allow bacteria, viruses and grime to stick to surfaces, lifting them off the skin. Micelles can also form around particles of dirt and fragments of viruses and bacteria, suspending them in floating cages. When you rinse your hands, all the microorganisms that have been damaged, trapped and killed by soap molecules are washed away.

一些肥皂分子會聯手破壞使細菌、病毒和汙垢附著在皮膚表面上的化學鍵，把這些汙物帶離皮膚。肥皂微胞也能在汙垢粒子和病毒細菌碎片周圍形成，把汙物關在漂浮的牢籠中。當你洗手時，所有被肥皂分子破壞、困住和殺死的微生物都被沖走。

※說文解字看新聞【李京倫】

本文指出歐盟農業政策亟需改革，因為排擠小農、破壞環境，耗資甚鉅卻充斥貪腐。

標題中的program，字典解釋為「計畫好的一連串行動或過程，通常是為了特定目的」，在本文中解作政策，也可翻譯為計畫。

program跟另一個常見單字project都有「計畫」的意思，差別在於，project有明確的起點和終點，達到目標就意味project完成，program概念則比較大，包括多個projects。大部分project時間比較短，幾天、幾周或幾個月，program通常會需要更長時間，往往分成幾個階段逐步完成。

accountable在字典裡的意思是「應負責任的、應作解釋的、應加以說明的」，跟responsible似乎很像，差別在於，一件事可以有多人responsible，但只能有一個人accountable，這個人可以把事情安排給別人做，但自己要對結果和進度負責，如果事情搞砸，只有這個人會被追究責任。

例如高官問責制，英文叫accountability system，就是只要是發生問題，不管是誰的過錯造成，單位主管首先要承擔責任，必須向上級解釋為什麼發生問題，而不是把責任全部推給犯錯的下屬。