The United States, like other countries, is becoming increasingly urban; by 2030, 60 percent of the world's population and 87 percent of North Americans will live in cities. This trend invites a vision of the future that isn't pretty: city dwellers subsisting on tasteless pink tomatoes, flown in from a distant land.
一如其他國家，美國愈來愈都市化。到2030年，全球60%及北美87%人口將住在大都市。大勢所趨，可以預見一個並不美好的未來：都會居民只好靠從遙遠地方運來、索然無味的粉紅色番茄維生。
Dickson Despommier has a different vision: fresh, healthful food grown in glittering high-rise city farms. These "vertical farms" would produce crops, poultry, and fish year-round in a controlled environment free of pollutants, parasites, and dangerous microbes.
但迪斯波米耶有不同的看法：在金碧輝煌的高樓城市農場重新鮮健康的食物。這些「垂直農場」在嚴格控制的環境中，沒有汙染物、寄生蟲和危險的微生物。
Despommier is a professor of parasitology at Columbia University who teaches about creatures like hookworm, a parasite that causes anemia and stunts children's development. It remains a major problem in tropical countries, where it spreads through human waste used to fertilize crops. Eight years ago, Despommier challenged the public health students he teaches to come up with a system of growing food for the world that would reduce the risk of disease.
迪斯波米耶是哥大寄生物學教授 ，主要教會引起貧血和阻礙兒童成長的寄生蟲「鉤蟲」。在熱帶國家，這仍是一大問題，因為鉤蟲會隨著用來為穀物施肥的人類排泄物傳播疾病。八年前，迪斯波米耶向他教的公衛學生下戰書，要研究出一套既可為世界生產糧食，又可降低疾病的體系。
Their vertical farm prototype is based on existing technology for hothouse farming and would recycle some of the 1.4 billion gallons of water that New Yorkers pour down the drain every day. All of New York City could be fed with about 150 farms, 30-stories each, Despommier estimates. Pests and late-spring frosts wouldn't be an issue. Fish could live in tanks; poultry in small pens. Plants could be raised hydroponically-without soil, suspended in water or some other solution. Sunlight would be used to generate heat and electricity to optimize growing conditions around the clock. "We shouldn't be at the whims of nature when it comes to providing calories and water," Despommier says.
垂直農場的原型是以溫室農作現有的科技為本，同時將紐約人每天傾倒到排水溝的14億加侖水回收再利用。迪斯波米耶估計，全紐約可由各30樓高的150個農場供應糧食。害蟲和晚春的霜害不成問題。魚可以養在魚缸裡，家禽可以養在小圍欄裡。植物則可以用水栽，不用泥土，懸浮在水中或其他某種溶液中。陽光生熱，電力可使生長環境最大化達24小時。「我們在提供卡路里和水時，不應受制於大自然的無常，」 迪斯波米耶說。
Several New York companies, including IBM, have expressed interest in developing the concept; Despommier predicts a farm will be in business within 10 years.
紐約幾家企業，包括ＩＢＭ，都對發展這個概念感興趣， 迪斯波米耶預言，農場應在十年內商業生產。（摘譯自「美新周刊」）
《詞解》
skyscrapers 摩天大樓
glittering 金碧輝煌
high-rise 高樓
vertical farms 垂直農場
parasitology 寄生物學
hookworm 鉤蟲
anemia 貧血
hothouse 溫室
prototype 原型
hydroponically 水栽
solution 溶液
whims一時興起，無常