恐怕很多人都不知道，养鸡业每年要杀掉几十亿只刚孵出的小鸡。有人觉得这太残忍，所以科学家研究出了新技术，在这些鸡蛋还没有孵出小鸡时就把它们毁掉，这样更人道一些。
The 'no-kill' eggs
by Robin Shreeves
A German company recently started selling "no-kill" eggs. If you're scratching your head, you're not alone. Chickens aren't killed for their eggs, so how can an egg be marketed as "no-kill?"
scratch /skrætʃ/ v. 挠（scratch your head就是挠头，引申为很努力地思考）
chicken /ˈtʃɪkɪn/ n. 鸡
market /ˈmɑːkɪt/ v. 营销
The chickens that lay eggs aren't killed to meet our demand for eggs; it's the chickens that would never lay eggs – the male baby chicks – that often end up getting killed. It's a not-so-well-kept secret that most egg eaters would rather not think about too much.
lay /leɪ/ v. 下（蛋）
meet /miːt/ v. 满足
demand /dɪˈmɑːnd/ n. 需求、需要
chick /tʃɪk/ n. 小鸡、雏鸟
end up 以…而告终
eater /ˈiːtə(r)/ n. 吃某种东西的人（由eat加上表示人的后缀-er；egg eater就是吃鸡蛋的人）
would rather 宁愿、宁可（在代词后面常常缩写为'd rather，比如I'd rather, he'd rather等）
In the United States alone, each American consumes about 278.9 eggs a year. And the number continues to rise, which means we need more chickens to be born. The problem is that about half of the chickens born can't lay eggs because they're male. Those male chickens aren't desirable for meat, either, because they don't grow fast enough.
consume /kənˈsjuːm/ v. 吃掉
desirable /dɪˈzaɪərəb(ə)l/ adj. 让人想要的、称心如意的（由desire加后缀-able变成形容词）
What happens to all those male baby chicks? Many of them – about 4.6 billion around the world annually – are destroyed about a day after they are born. The process is called chick culling, and it's done by suffocating or sending live male baby chicks into a grinder（粉碎机）.
billion /ˈbɪljən/ n. 十亿
annually /ˈænjuəli/ adv. 每年地（由annual加后缀-ly变成副词）
destroy /dɪˈstrɔɪ/ v. 毁灭、杀死（动物）
process /ˈprəʊses/ n. 过程、工艺流程
cull /kʌl/ v. 选择性杀死（往往是为了控制某种动物的数量，而不是为了吃肉）
suffocate /ˈsʌfəkeɪt/ v. 使窒息、闷死
live /laɪv/ adj. 活着的
That's difficult to comprehend; it's no wonder we don't want to think about it. Thankfully, there are those who have thought about it – and they've found a solution.
comprehend /ˌkɒmprɪˈhend/ v. 完全理解
no wonder /ˈwʌndə(r)/ 不奇怪、难怪
thankfully /ˈθæŋkf(ə)li/ adv. 谢天谢地
That solution is the patented "Seleggt" process, in which the eggs that contain male embryos are identified nine days after fertilization（受精）. Those eggs can be destroyed once they are identified, roughly 12 days before they would hatch.
patent /ˈpeɪt(ə)nt/ v. 获得专利
embryo /ˈembriəʊ/ n. 胚胎
identify /aɪˈdentɪfaɪ/ v. 识别、辨认
roughly /ˈrʌfli/ adv. 大约
hatch /hætʃ/ v. 孵化、出壳
The process was created by Dr. Ludger Breloh, who worked with the German supermarket Rewe Group to make its market brand of eggs more sustainable. Scientists at the University of Leipzig had already created a chemical marker to detect the hormone that's present in female eggs. That chemical marker is accurate 98.5 percent of the time.
brand /brænd/ n. 品牌
sustainable /səˈsteɪnəb(ə)l/ adj. 可持续的、可持续发展的
chemical /ˈkemɪk(ə)l/ adj. 化学的
marker /ˈmɑːkə(r)/ n. 标记物（由mark加上表示人或物的后缀-er）
detect /dɪˈtekt/ v. 检测
hormone /ˈhɔːməʊn/ n. 荷尔蒙、激素
present /ˈprez(ə)nt/ adj. 在场的、存在的
accurate /ˈækjurət/ adj. 准确的
Breloh then worked with a Dutch technology company to create a way to quickly, efficiently and hygienically（卫生地） test all eggs after they are fertilized（受精） but before they hatched. Fluid is taken from each egg through a hole burned by a laser beam. The fluid is tested for the female hormone. Those without the hormone are destroyed.
Dutch /dʌtʃ/ adj. 荷兰的
efficiently /ɪˈfɪʃ(ə)ntli/ adv. 高效地（由efficient加后缀-ly变成副词）
fluid /ˈfluːɪd/ n. 流体、液体
laser /ˈleɪzə(r)/ n. 激光
beam /biːm/ n. 光线、光束
Last year, Seleggt started using this method and hatched flocks of only female baby chicks. The eggs from those hens showed up on supermarket shelves in November. Those eggs are the ones being marketed as "no-kill" and have a seal on them.
flock /flɒk/ n. 一群（羊或鸟）
hen /hen/ n. 母鸡
show up 出现
seal /siːl/ n. 印章、图章
Will this Seleggt process make its way to the United States? Sooner or later, it should, or we need at least some method of eliminating chick culling.
eliminate /ɪˈlɪmɪneɪt/ v. 去掉
（如果您使用的是火狐浏览器，可能会发现某些行的最后一个单词被分成两半了，这是简书系统的Bug，换成Chrome或其他浏览器就能正常显示了。）
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