1. The author fails to consider and rule out other factors that might account for[1] proportional[2] decrease in spending on food.

出处：

结构：The author fails to consider and rule out other factors that might account for …

翻译：作者既未考虑，也不曾排除其他可能会导致花在食物上的开支同步减少的因素。

2. The author ignores/fails to take into account (consider/explain) other likely benefits[3] of agricultural technology that affect food pieces only indirectly or not at all.

出处：The author ignores/fails to take into account (consider/explain) other likely benefits of …

结构：

翻译：作者无视农业技术可能带来的好处，这些技术仅仅间接地或者根本没有影响食品价格。

[1] Account for: 导致，引起，其他类似的说法有：cause, lead to, result in, give rise to, contribute to … 当然，这里也可以把account for理解成“说明，解释”，相当于：explain, rationalize …

[2] Proportional: 成比例的，相称的，如：幸福未必总与美德相称(Happiness is not always proportional to virtue.)，用在Argument中，常表示“同步增长/减少”proportional increase/decrease

[3] Benefit：好处，如：A的一大好处是 … (One of A’s major benefits is …);也可作动词，如：本次改革将惠及低收入家庭(This reform will benefit low-income households/Low-income households will benefit from this reform.);形容词是beneficial，表示“有好处的”，A is beneficial to B