时髦英语口语词汇讲解第21期:GM 转基因

GM
转基因（食品）

In the mid-1990s there was a new big, controversy that came in, wasn't there, about genetically modified foods: foodstuffs containing genetically altered plant or animal material.
20世纪90年代中出现过一个具有争议的事件不是吗？是关于转基因事物的：食物里面含有转基因植物或是动物。

And it wasn't long before an abbreviation came along to summarize all these: genetically modified – G.M. or "genetic modification".
不久就随之出现了一个具有总结意义的缩写词：转基因 （G.M）。

Now that's a pretty technical abbreviation; you might not expect to encounter it very often, but actually, you do.
现在这个词属于专业词汇。你可能觉得遇见这个词的概率不会很大，实际并非如此。

Because it was controversial at the time and people didn't know whether to put this stuff into their foods or not (and it still is controversial), you began to see it on signs – especially after 1996, when the food labeling regulations came in, and they applied in Britain in, 1999 I think it was–
因为这在那个时候转基因（产品）是个具有争议性的问题（现在依旧是），所以人们还不确定是否应该在食物里面使用这些转基因玩意儿。所以，我们开始在标语上看到这个词，特别是在1996年后，确切地讲是在1999年当食品标签法在英国普及的时候。

and from that point on, people had to say, if you were a restaurant owner or a cafe owner, you had to say whether your foods had G.M. in them or not –
从那时起，人们不得不说（这个词），如果你是一家餐馆或咖啡管的主人，无论你的食物里有没有转基因，你不得不提起这个。

and so you walk into a restaurant these days, and you might well see a sign on the wall saying "no G.M. foods here" or "the following foodstuffs have G.M. products inside".
也就是说，现在当你走进一家餐馆，你可能会看到以下提示标语：“本店没有转基因食品”或“、以下食品中含有转基因物质”。

And people I've often asked them, you know, what do you think G.M. means?
我问过很多人，GM到底是什么意思。

And they guess all sorts of things.
他们的答案各种各样。

Some people have told me it means "good morning food".
一些人告诉我说，GM指的是早上吃的东西。

Somebody else told me it was a "gold medal" food.
另外一些人说可能是“金牌”佳肴。

Well – it doesn't mean any of those things. It means "genetically modified", that's all!
呵，GM可不是指这些东西。GM指的是“转基因(食品)”。如此而已。