11、The first Stone Age plant breeders/ cultivated these sterile freaks /by replanting cuttings from their stems.
cultivated these sterile freaks 培育了这些不育的“怪胎”
cultivate adj.耕种的；人工栽培的；有教养的
by replanting cuttings from their stems通过重新种植它们的茎切段cuttings 译为“切段”或“吸芽”
12、 And the descendants（后代） of those original cuttings are /the bananas we still eat today.
13、 Each is a virtual clone, almost devoid of genetic diversity.
a virtual clone :一个事实上的克隆体
“virtual” 译为“事实上的”或“实质上的”，比“虚拟的”更准确。
devoid of :完全没有，语气强烈。
14、And that uniformity(一致性、统一) /makes it ripe for disease /like no other crop on Earth.
ripe for disease意译为“更容易招来病害”或保留比喻“熟透的果实”，以传达其被动和必然性。
15、Traditional varieties of sexually reproducing crops /have always had a much broader genetic base, and the genes will recombine/ in new arrangements /in each generation.
sexually reproducing adj. 有性繁殖的
genetic base n. 遗传基础
recombine v. 重组
in new arrangements 以新的排列组合
have always had 一直拥有
这里的 varieties 指的是“红富士、青苹果、蛇果”等具体的类别
16、This gives them much greater flexibility /in evolving（进化） responses to disease - and far more genetic resources to /draw on /in the face of an attack.
draw on：这个动词短语非常形象。把“遗传基础”比作一个“资源库/银行账户”，当需要时（面对病害），种群可以“支取”其中的资源（有用的基因）。
17、But that advantage is fading fast, as growers increasingly plant the same few, high-yielding varieties.
the same few 相同的那几个（强调数量极少且重复）
are increasingly planting (现在进行时，表示“越来越多地种植”)
high-yielding 高产的（农业核心目标）
fading fast：这个搭配非常有力。fade常指颜色褪去、声音渐弱，形象地描绘了“优势”像夕阳一样正在迅速消逝，有一种不可避免的衰退感。
18、Plant breeders/ work feverishly/ to maintain resistance /in these standardised crops.
work feverishly:拼命工作（feverishly是关键副词，暗示紧迫、高强度、像救火一样）
maintain resistance:维持抗性（指让作物对病害保持抵抗力，这是一个动态的、持续的斗争过程）
19、Should these efforts falter, yields of /even the most productive crop /could swiftly crash.
Should (如果……发生)；falter (失败、动摇)；swiftly (迅速地)；crash (崩溃、暴跌)
20、When some pest or disease comes along, severe epidemics can occur.
severe epidemics：严重的流行病/大流行。Epidemics:流行病、传染病大流行,特指在种群中快速传播的传染病。Severe：严重的、剧烈的；强调程度，暗示毁灭性后果。
21、The banana is an excellent case in point。
case in point。这是一个固定搭配，意为“恰当的例证”或“很好的例子”。in point意思是“相关的，切题的”。
22、Until the 1950s, one variety, the GrosMichel, dominated the world's commercial banana business.
dominatev. 主导，支配
23、the Gros Michel /was by all accounts /a fine banana, richer and sweeter than today's standard banana /and without the latter's bitter aftertaste when green.
by all accounts据大家所说、普遍认为。
richer and sweeter（风味更佳）
richer（风味）更浓郁、更醇厚。不仅指甜，还包含口感上的饱满度。
bitter aftertaste苦涩的余味/回味。aftertaste特指吃完后嘴里留下的味道。
the former 前者、the latter后者
24、But it was vulnerable to a soil fungus /that produced a wilt known as Panama disease.
vulnerable to对…脆弱/易感。
soil fungus土壤真菌。
wilt枯萎病。
known as 被称为。
produced 这里的意思是 “引起，导致，引发”。强调病原体作为“生产者”，生成/带来了疾病这种结果。
25、There is nothing farmers can do.
不存在任何（农民能做的事） → 农民们束手无策。
There is nothing (that) ... can do固定句型，表示“…无能为力”、“…无计可施”。
26、So plantation owners/ played a running game, abandoning infested fields /and moving to "clean" land - until they ran out of clean land/ in the 1950s and had to abandon the Gros Michel.
27、Its successor, and still the reigning commercial king, is the Cavendish banana, a 19th-century British discovery from southern China.
Its successor 它的继任者。
the reigning commercial king现任的商业之王。reigning强调“正在统治的”，比喻其当前市场垄断地位。
28、The Cavendish is resistant to Panama disease and, as a result, it literally saved the international banana industry.
resistant to对...有抵抗力。
literally saved确实拯救了。literally在此处起强调作用，表示“毫不夸张地、真实地”。
as a result因此。
29、But even so, it is a minority in the world's banana crop.
a minority 少数 或 少数派
