“催熟剂”英语怎么说

摘要;记者连日来在山东、安徽、江苏等地调查发现，这些蔬菜不少是在还没有成熟时被抹上“催熟剂”，提前上市，进入百姓餐桌的。你知道怎么用英语表达吗?

A chemical that ripens fruits and vegetables does no harm to human health, experts said following recent reports about a ripener used in several provinces.

"There is no problem with using ethephon to ripen fruits. This plant growth regulator is completely the same as hormones produced by plants themselves when they get ripe," Luo Yunbo, dean of the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering under China Agricultural University and an expert of plant physiology, told China Daily on Monday.

针对近期多省使用催熟剂的报道，专家称这种催熟果蔬的物质对人体没有伤害。

中国农业大学食品科学与营养研究院院长同时也是植物生理学方面的专家罗云波称“使用乙烯利催熟水果没有什么问题。植物生长调节剂和植物自身生长成熟的激素是一样的。”

【讲解】

文中的“ripener”就是“催熟剂”的意思，“ethephon”(乙烯利)是一种植物生长调节剂(plant growth regulator)。“ripen”是动词“催熟”的意思，如：We must try every means to ripen the late crops more rapidly.我们必须想方设法使晚庄稼成熟得更快些。“ripe”是形容词“成熟的”，如：ripe peaches 成熟的桃子。