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New Zealand’s government recently proposed taxing the greenhouse gases from farm animals as part of a plan to fight climate change.
新西兰政府最近提议对农场动物排放的温室气体征税，以此作为应对气候变化计划的一部分。
Farm animals produce gases through natural processes like burping and urinating.
农场动物通过打嗝和排尿等自然过程产生气体。
The government said the taxes would be a world’s first.
新西兰政府表示，该税收将是世界首创。
They said that farmers should be able to get the money back by charging more for climate-friendly products.
他们表示，农民应该能够通过对气候友好型产品收取更高的费用来收回这些钱。
But farmers quickly criticized the plan.
但农民很快就批评了该计划。
Federated Farmers is the industry’s main political support group.
联邦农民是该行业的主要政治支持组织。
It said the plan would “rip the guts out of small-town New Zealand” and see farms replaced with trees.
该组织表示，该计划将“掏空新西兰小镇的内脏”，让树木取代农场。
Andrew Hoggard, the group’s president, said farmers had been trying to work with the government for more than two years.
该组织主席安德鲁·霍加德表示，两年多来，农民一直试图与政府合作。
They were working on a plan to reduce greenhouse gas production that would not decrease food production.
他们正在制定一项减少温室气体排放的计划，但该计划不会减少粮食产量。
Hoggard said, “Our plan was to keep farmers farming.”
霍加德说：“我们的计划是让农民继续耕种。”
But, with the taxes, he said, farmers would be quickly selling their farms.
但是，他说，有了税收，农民很快就会卖掉他们的农场。
The conservative ACT Party is the main opposition group.
保守的行动党是主要的反对党。
Members of the party said the plan would increase worldwide greenhouse gas production by moving farming to other countries that were less efficient at making food.
该党成员表示，该计划将把农业转移到其他粮食生产效率较低的国家，从而增加全球温室气体的排放量。
New Zealand’s farming industry is very important for its economy.
新西兰的农业对其经济非常重要。
Milk products, including those used to make milk for baby food in China, are the nation’s largest export earner.
奶制品，包括中国用来生产婴儿食品的奶制品，是新西兰最大的出口收入来源。
There are just 5 million people in New Zealand.
新西兰只有500万人口。
But the country has some 26 million sheep and 10 million farm animals producing milk and meat.
但这个国家有大约2600万头羊和1000万头能产奶和肉的牲畜。
About half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas comes from farms.
新西兰大约一半的温室气体来自农场。
Farm animals produce gasses that warm the planet like methane and nitrous oxide from burping and urinating.
农场动物打嗝和排尿时会产生甲烷和一氧化二氮等使地球变暖的气体。
The New Zealand government wants to reduce greenhouse gas production and make the country carbon neutral by 2050.
新西兰政府希望减少温室气体排放，并在2050年前使该国实现碳中和。
Under the government’s proposal, farmers would start to pay for greenhouse gas production in 2025.
根据政府的提议，农民将从2025年开始为温室气体排放付费。
The price has yet to be finalized.
价格尚未敲定。
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said all the money collected from the proposed tax would be put back into the industry.
总理杰辛达·阿德恩表示，根据拟议的税收政策，该国将把征收的所有资金重新投入该行业。
It would support new technology, research, and payments for farmers.
它将支持新技术、研究和为农民提供补贴。
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said New Zealand farmers were already experiencing the impact of climate change with periods of dry weather and flooding.
新西兰农业部长达米安·奥康纳表示，新西兰农民已经经历了气候变化带来的影响，比如干旱和洪水。
“Taking the lead on agricultural emissions is both good for the environment and our economy,” he said.
他说：“首先减少农业排放对环境和经济都有好处”。
The proposal is similar to another unsuccessful proposal made in 2003 to tax farm animals for their methane production.
这项提案与2003年另一项未通过的提案相似，那项提案要求对牲畜排放的甲烷征税。
Back then, farmers greatly opposed the idea and political opponents criticized it.
当时，农民强烈反对这一想法，政治对手也批评了那项提案。
And the government dropped the plan.
因此新西兰政府放弃了那项计划。
The debate in New Zealand is part of a larger international discussion on the effects of farming on the environment and the steps some say are needed to reduce its impact.
新西兰的这场辩论是一个更大的国际讨论的一部分，讨论的主题是农业对环境的影响以及一些人所认为的减少其影响所需采取的措施。
In the European nation of the Netherlands, farmers have blocked large, busy roads with farming products and vehicles.
在欧洲国家荷兰，农民用农产品和车辆封锁了宽阔繁忙的道路。
They did so to protest government proposals to decrease the production of greenhouse gases.
他们这样做是为了抗议政府减少温室气体排放的提议。
I’m Jill Robbins.
吉尔·罗宾斯为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
