The importance of agriculture cannot be overstated. More than 50 percent of the world''s labor force is employed in agriculture. The distribution in the early 1980s ranged from 67 percent of those employed in Africa to less than 5 percent in North America. In Western Europe, the figure was about 16 percent; in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, about 32 percent; and in Asia, about 68 percent.
Farm size varies widely from region to region. Recently the average for Canadian farms was about 186 ha (about 460 acres) per farm, and for U.S. farms, about 175 ha (about 432 acres). The average size of a single landholding in the Philippines, however, may be somewhat less than 3.6 ha (less than 9 acres), and in Indonesia, a little less than 1.2 ha (less than 3 acres).
Size also depends on the purpose of the farm. Commercial farming, or production for cash, is usually done on large holdings. The plantations of Latin America are large, privately owned estates worked by tenant labor. Single-crop plantations produce tea, rubber, cocoa. Wheat farms are most efficient when they comprise some thousands of hectares and can be worked by teams of people and machines. Australian sheep stations and other livestock farms must be large to provide grazing for thousands of animals.
Individual subsistence farms or small-family mixed-farm operations are decreasing in number in developed countries but are still numerous in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. A "back-to-the-land" movement in the U.S. reversed the decline of small farms in New England and Alaska in the decade from 1970 to 1980.
The conditions that determine what will be raised in an area include climate, water supply, and terrain.
Over the 10,000 years since agriculture began to be developed, peoples everywhere have discovered the food value of wild plants and animals and domesticated and bred them. The most important are cereals such as wheat, rice, barley, corn and rye.
Agricultural income is also derived from non-food crops such as rubber, fiber plants, tobacco, and oilseeds used in synthetic chemical compounds. Money is also derived from raising animals for pelt.
Much of the foreign exchange earned by a country may be derived from a single commodity; for example, Sri Lanka depends on tea, Denmark specializes in dairy products, Australia in wool, and New Zealand and Argentina in meat products. In the U.S., wheat has become a major foreign exchange commodity in recent years.
The importance of an individual country as an exporter of agricultural products depends on many variables. Among them is the possibility that the country is too little developed industrially to produce manufactured goods in sufficient quantity or technical sophistication. Such agricultural exporters include Ghana with cocoa, and Myanmar with rice. On the other hand, an exceptionally well-developed country may produce surpluses not needed by its own population; this has been true of the U.S., Canada, and some of the West European countries.
答案:
农业的重要性怎样强调都不为过。世界百分之五十以上的劳动力从事农业。二十世纪八十年代初，农业劳动力的比例在非洲高达百分之六十七，在北美洲则不足百分之五，在西欧约为百分之十六，在东欧和苏联约为百分之三十二，在亚洲则约为百分之六十八。
农场规模因地而异，差别很大。直到最近，加拿大农场的规模平均约为186公顷(约合460英亩)，美国农场的规模约为175公顷(约合432英亩)。但在菲律宾，私人农场的规模平均略少于3.6公顷(不足9英亩)，在印度尼西亚则略少于1.2公顷(不足3英亩)。
农场的规模还取决于其用途。大农场通常从事商业耕种，或者说为赚钱而生产。拉丁美洲的大庄园就是大片的私有土地，雇人劳动。单一作物的种植园生产茶叶、橡胶或可可。生产小麦的农场最有效益。它们拥有几千公顷土地，雇佣一群群工人，并使用机器。澳大利亚牧羊场和其它畜牧场的规模一定要大到足以能为成千的牲畜提供充足的饲料。
零散的维持生计的个体农场，或者说混合经营的小规模家庭农场，在发达国家已日渐减少，但在非洲和亚洲的发展中国家里仍大量存在。美国的“返回田地”运动扭转了l970至1980这十年间新英格兰和阿拉斯加小农场衰败的局面。
一个地区究竟生产什么取决于它的气候、供水、地形和其它条件。
自有农业以来的一万多年中，各地的人们发现了野生动植物的食用价值，于是将其加以驯化或栽培，最重要的是谷物，如小麦、稻子、大麦、玉米和黑麦。
农业收入还来自非粮食作物，如橡胶、纤维植物、烟草以及可用于生产化学合成品的油料作物。此外，还可通过饲养动物取其皮毛而获利。
一个国家赚取的外汇，很大一部分可能来自某种单一的商品。例如，斯里兰卡依靠茶叶，丹麦专门经营奶制品，澳大利亚出口羊毛，新西兰和阿根廷则出口肉类制品。在美国，近年来小麦已成为其赚取外汇的主要商品。
一个国家是否以出口农产品为主取决于许多可变因素。其中一个因素就是这个国家的工业可能很不发达，无法生产足够数量和技术先进的工业品。这类农产品出口国包括加纳，出口可可，还有缅甸，出口大米。另一方面，特别发达的国家可能生产过剩，大于本国人的需求，美国、加拿大和一部分西欧国家就是这种情况。
口译： 翻译资格考试二级口译模拟题
笔译： 翻译资格考试二级笔译模拟题
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