Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service are testing a fungus that could one day be sent into battle against the land-grabbing vine, kudzu.

    来自美国农业部农业研究局的科学家们正测试一种真菌，这种真菌在将来可用于消灭争夺土地的葛藤。

    Fungus Could Be Kudzu Killer

    It's been called the "vine that ate the south." Kudzu grows so fast it can completely cover a cabin in the woods in a couple of days. The invasive plant takes over another 150,000 acres every year. Which costs another $6 million to control.

    But plant pathologists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Research Service have gotten promising results with a fungus that itself rapidly spreads in kudzu. The fungus is called Myrothecium verrucaria. In early tests, the fungus killed all kudzu seedlings and at least 90 percent of older plants. Most important, Myrothecium did little or no damage to the species that commonly live in habitats infested with kudzu, such as pine, oak, cedar, pecan, hickory, blackberry and, of course, sassafras.

    So what's the catch? The fungus produces chemicals called tricothecenes, which can damage the health of humans and animals. But the researchers discovered that if they grew the fungus in a fermenter or on a liquid diet, the production of the toxins fell precipitously. If the fungus can be safely let loose one day, it could finally give kudzu the heave-ho.

    真菌可以用于消灭葛藤

    人们一直都说"葛藤吞噬了南方".葛藤长得很快，它能在几天内完全覆盖森林中的一座小木屋。这种侵略性的植物每年侵蚀超过15万亩的土地，控制葛藤对土地的侵蚀每年要耗费6百万美元。

    不过美国农业部农业研究局的植物病理学家们使用一种能在葛藤上快速生长的真菌控制葛藤的侵蚀，他们得到了很好的研究结果。这种真菌称为"疣孢漆斑真菌"（Myrothecium verrucaria）.在早期的测试中，这种真菌杀死了所有的葛藤种子，并且杀死了至少90%的老葛藤。最重要的是，"疣孢漆斑真菌"对通常被葛藤覆盖的植物的损害很少，或者没有损害，这些植物包括松树、橡树、雪松、美洲山核桃、山核桃、黑莓以及檫树。

    这里面有什么秘密呢？这种真菌产生称为单端孢霉烯的化学物质，这种化学物质对人类和动物有害。但是，研究者们发现，如果他们在发酵池中或者液体培养液中种植这种真菌的话，这种真菌所产生的毒素会大量下降。如果将来这种真菌能安全使用，那么它可能最终会把葛藤消灭掉。

    Vocabulary:

    Fungus:真菌

    Vine:藤蔓

    Kudzu:葛藤

    Cabin:小木屋

    Invasive:侵略的

    Pathologist:病理学家

    Seedling:种子

    Infest:感染

    Cedar:雪松

    Pecan:美洲山核桃

    Hickory:山核桃

    Blackberry:黑莓

    Sassafras:檫树

    Tricothecene:（化学术语）单端孢霉烯

    Precipitously:陡然地

    注释：

    短语Give somebody the heave-ho的意思是"与某人断绝关系";"解雇某人".