考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:从毒品到良药，供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:从毒品到良药
The hemp plant has a storied history in China. It was probably twisted into the world’s first rope there around 2,800BC. In the West you find it in cigarette paper and Bible pages. In the East, it is woven into uniforms of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
麻类植物在中国有着悠久的历史。在大约公元前2800年，世界上第一根绳子便是用它拧成的。在西方，你可以在卷烟纸和《圣经》中找到它。在东方，人民解放军(PLA)的制服也是由它编织而成的。
Since its cooler sister, marijuana, became legal for recreational use in Canada and many American states last year, industrial-use hemp—a variety of cannabis that contains trivial amounts of weed’s mind-altering substance, THC—is flourishing in a country that until a few years ago banned its cultivation outright and where cannabis traffickers can face the death penalty.
自从去年娱乐用大麻(麻类植物中冷酷的一员)在加拿大和美国多个州合法化后，工业大麻(各种含有微量致幻成分四氢大麻酚的大麻)在一个国家得到了蓬勃的发展，而就在几年前这个国家还是完全禁止种植大麻的，并且贩卖大麻者还可能会被判处死刑。
China grows nearly half the world’s legal hemp. In 2018 sales, mostly of textile fibre made from the plant’s stalk, totalled $1.2bn. Now global demand for its seeds, leaves and flowers is surging. Packed with fulsome fatty acids, seeds go into snacks and oil.
如今世界上近一半的合法大麻产自中国。其2018年的销售额达12亿美元，其中大部分是由麻茎制成的纺织纤维所贡献的。如今，全球对大麻种子、叶子和花朵的需求正在剧增。大麻种子含有丰富的脂肪酸，可以制成零食或食用油。
Leaves and flowers contain cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating compound that reduces anxiety and inflammation. It is being added as a supplement to food, drinks and cosmetics across the West. In June America approved the first CBD medicine, for epilepsy.
叶子和花朵中含有无毒的大麻二酚，可以用来缓解焦虑和消除炎症。在西方，大麻二酚被作为补充制剂添加到食品、饮料和化妆品中。去年6月，美国批准了首个用于治疗癫痫的大麻二酚类药物。
China’s first licence to extract CBD went to Hanma Investment Group, owner of its largest hemp planter and processor, in January 2017. By next year, estimates New Frontier Data, a cannabis consultancy, Chinese sales of CBD will more than quadruple to $228m. Investors are rushing into the field.
2017年1月，汉麻投资集团(最大的大麻种植和加工企业)取得了中国首个提取大麻二酚的许可证。大麻咨询公司New Frontier Data估计，到2020年，中国的大麻二酚销售额将翻两番，达2.28亿美元。投资者纷纷涌入这一领域。
A Chinese hemp index tracked since 2018 by Wind Information, a data provider, has more than doubled in value this year. Shares in Shanghai Shunho New Materials Technology, a packaging firm, rose threefold after it received a licence to plant hemp in south-western Yunnan, the first province to lift a national ban in 2010.
万得资讯(一家数据供应商)自2018年开始追踪的中国大麻指数到今年已经增长了一倍多。上海顺灏新材料科技股份有限公司(一家包装公司)在获得了云南省(中国于2010年首个解除大麻种植禁令的省份)西南部种植大麻的许可证后，其股价上涨了三倍。
Shineco, a biotech company whose market capitalisation on New York’s Nasdaq exchange has nearly doubled to $25m since it unveiled a hemp subsidiary last month, plans China’s largest industrial-cannabis project in frosty Heilongjiang.
自从上个月天益嘉华(一家生物科技公司)公布了大麻子公司以来，其在纽约纳斯达克交易所的市值已经翻了一番至2500万元，该公司计划在严寒的黑龙江省建立中国最大的工业大麻项目。
That north-eastern province became the second to legalise hemp-growing in 2017, issuing a three-year plan to become the biggest cannabis base in the world by 2020. In its inaugural year, Heilongjiang harvested 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of hemp—nearly one-third the size of European and Canadian fields combined. Neighbouring Jilin province, too, will soon earn a licence.
黑龙江省(这个东北部省份于2017年成为了中国第二个大麻种植合法化的省份)发布了一项为期三年的计划，目标是到2020年成为全球最大的大麻基地。在计划的第一年，黑龙江省收获了3万公顷(约合7.4万英亩)的大麻——几乎是欧洲和加拿大大麻种植田地总面积的三分之一。与之相邻的吉林省也将很快获得大麻种植许可证。
Chinese growers are already setting their sights farther afield. In December America legalised industrial hemp nationwide for the first time since the second world war. Hanma ships more than half its domestic output there. Tan Xin, chairman of Hanma, says he will begin to grow and process hemp in Nevada later this year. American hemp has higher CBD levels than China permits.
中国的大麻种植者已经把目光投向更远的地方了。去年12月，美国自二战以来首次将工业大麻合法化。中国出口大麻有半数是由汉麻集团通过水路运输出去的。汉麻集团董事长谭昕表示，今年下半年，他将在美国内华达州种植和加工大麻。美国大麻所允许的大麻二酚含量要高于中国。
On March 27th the anti-drugs squad declared that China had never approved industrial cannabis as a medical or food additive; the hemp index briefly drooped. Mr Tan expects China’s government to tighten monitoring, while gradually allowing wider application of the plant’s by-products.
3月27日，中国禁毒委称，中国从未批准将工业大麻用于药物或食品添加剂;大麻指数一度下跌。谭昕希望，中国政府能够在加强监管的同时，逐步扩大大麻副产品的应用范围。
Factories in China are also closely monitored with CCTV cameras and workers are subjected to daily urine tests. But Hanma has teamed up with the PLA to develop a CBD-based drug to treat post-traumatic stress. That will be the next chapter in the plant’s long history in China.
中国的大麻工厂在闭路电视摄像头的密切监控下，工人们也每天都要接受尿检。但汉麻集团已经在与PLA合作开发一种基于大麻二酚的用于治疗创伤后应激的药物。这将为大麻在中国悠久历史上书写下一个篇章。
During the long years of the hemp ban Yunnan’s ethnic minorities continued in secret to harvest leaves, stalks and seeds. Today they can earn farmers 50,000 yuan ($7,400) per hectare, at least twice as much as corn.
在漫长的禁麻岁月中，云南少数民族的人们偷偷地种植收获着麻叶、麻茎和麻种。如今，每公顷大麻能够给农民带来5万元(约合7400美元)的收入，至少是种植谷物的两倍。
[重难点词汇]
recreational [,rɛkri'eʃənəl] adj. 娱乐的，消遣的;休养的
outright ['aʊtraɪt] adv. 全部地;立刻地;率直地;一直向前;痛快地 adj. 完全的，彻底的;直率的;总共的
compound [ˈkɑmˌpaʊnd] n. 化合物;混合物;复合词 adj. 复合的;混合的 v. 合成;混合;恶化，加重;和解，妥协
inflammation ['ɪnflə'meʃən] n. 炎症;发炎;燃烧;发火
inaugural [ɪ'nɔɡjərəl] adj. 开始的;开幕的;就任的，就职的 n. 就职演讲;开幕辞
additive ['ædətɪv] n. 添加剂，添加物 adj. 附加的;加法的
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