The organic food has gained a lot of popularity as they are being considered healthier and tastier.A fair number of people advocate a large-scale shift to organic farming from conventional agriculture.But this might not seem well-founded.
Since the mid-19th century,conventional industrial agriculture has become incredibly efficient on a simple land to food basis.Conventional farming gets more and more crop per square foot of land,which can mean less wilderness needs to be transformed to farmland.
To make farming more efficient,conventional agriculture uses a significant amount of synthetic fertiliser(合成肥料) each year,and all that nitrogen(氮)enables much faster plant growth.However,the cost is paid in vast polluted dead zones at the months of many of the world's rivers,because much of the nitrogen ends up running off the soil and into the oceans.This also makes conventional farming one of the major threats to the environment.
To weaken the environmental impact of agriculture,improve soil quality as well as produce healthier foods,some farmers have turned to organic farming.Environmentalists have also welcomed organic food as better for the planet than the food produced by agricultural corporations.Organic practices-refusing artificial fertilisers and chemical pesticides-are considered far more sustainable.Sales of organic food rose 7.7% in 2010,up to $26.7 billion-and people are making those purchases for their moral senses as much as their tongues.
Yet a new meta-analysis in Nature does the math and comes to a hard conclusion:organic farming produces 25% fewer crops on average than conventional agriculture.
In the Nature analysis,scientists performed an analysis of 66 studies comparing conventional and organic methods across 34 different crop species,from fruits to grains.They found that organic farming delivered a lower output for every crop type,though the difference varied widely.For crops like fruit trees,organic farming trailed(落后于)conventional agriculture by just 5%.Yet for major grain crops and vegetables-all of which provide the world's main calories-conventional agriculture outperformed organic farming by more than 25%.
What that means is that while organic farming may be more sustainable than conventional agriculture,there are trade-offs(此消彼長) with each.So an ideal global agriculture system may borrow the best from both systems rather than upholding merely organic or conventional practices.
(1)What do we know about conventional farming? BB
A.It produces more crops with fewer fertilisers.
B.It achieves efficiency at a huge cost to the environment.
C.It offers a long-term solution to global demand for food.
D.It performs far better for each crop type than organic farming.
(2)What does the author most probably agree with? CC
A.Employing organic farming to plant rice.
B.Adopting organic practices to grow potatoes.
C.Using conventional methods to plant cabbages.
D.Applying conventional farming to grow apples.
(3)What's the author's purpose of writing the passage? DD
A.To compare two types of farming.
B.To criticise conventional agriculture.
C.To discuss the development of farming.
D.To argue for a realistic agriculture system.
【答案】B;C;D
【解答】
【點評】
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發(fā)布:2024/5/23 20:38:36組卷:15引用:1難度:0.5
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1.British children's writer Roald Dahl ate chocolates and sweets "pretty much every mealtime",remembers daughter Ophelia Dahl.
After dinner,whether dining alone or entertaining guests,Dahl would pass around a little red plastic box full of Mars Bars,Milky Ways,Maltesers,Kit Kats and much more.
He knew the history of all the sweets and could tell you exactly when they were invented.1937 was a big year when Kit Kats (his favorite),Rolos and Smarties (his dog,chopper's favorite) were invented.He wrote a history of chocolate,lecturing schoolchildren to commit such dates to memory(熟記),such as 1928 when "Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Bar popped up on the scene",saying. "Don't bother with the Kings and Queens of England.All of you should learn these dates instead.Perhaps the Headmistress(女校長)will see from now on that it becomes part of the major teaching in this school."
According to Dahl,the Golden Years of Chocolate were 1930-1937.In 1930,Roald Dahl was 14 years old.He was a student at Repton,a famous boys' boarding school in England.It was a tough environment:those in authority were more interested in controlling than educating the students.
Ironically(諷刺地),it was at this difficult period that chocolate became Dahl's passion.Near Repton was a Cadbury chocolate factory.Every so often,Cadbury would send each schoolboy a sampler(樣品)box of new chocolates to taste and grade.They were using the students---"the greatest chocolate bar experts in the world to test out their new inventions.
This was when Dahl's imagination took flight.He pictured factories with inventing rooms with pots of chocolate and fudge(軟糖)and "all sorts of other delicious fillings bubbling away on the stoves".
"It was lovely dreaming those dreams…when I was looking for a plot for my second book for children.I remembered those little cardboard boxes(紙盒)and the newly invented chocolates inside them,and I began to write a book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
For the record,Roald Dahl did not like chocolate cake or chocolate ice cream.He said, "I prefer my chocolate straight."
(1)What's the purpose of the first paragraph?
A.To introduce the main topic---Roald Dahl.
B.To introduce Dahl's love for chocolate.
C.To introduce main character's daily life.
D.To introduce some important characters.
(2)What can we infer from the passage about Roald Dahl?
A.He treated himself with various chocolate after dinner secretly.
B.He has a good knowledge of chocolate,especially its history.
C.He used to lecture schoolchildren of a boys' boarding school.
D.He only wrote some books related to the history of chocolate.
(3)What happened during the Golden Years of Chocolate?
A.It was a great time for children to get educated.
B.Those years stopped Dahl's interest in chocolate.
C.Students could become chocolate experts then.
D.Roald Dahl's passion for chocolate was lit up then.
(4)
A.the dream about chocolates.
B.Factories with chocolate and fudge.
C.Those boxes with chocolate.
D.Chocolate cakes and ice cream發(fā)布:2025/1/30 8:0:1組卷:0引用:1難度:0.5 -
2.Recently,a film star has been giving away free books on the London Underground.If you're a bookworm,a Harry Potter fan and a London Underground user,then it's been an exciting month for you.
Emma Watson,who starred in films based on the novels about a fictional schoolboy wizard,has been hiding books on the Tube for passengers to read through.
It's part of he Book On The Underground movement,which has a simple aim:to get more people burying themselves in literature.Books are left on trains for passengers to pick up,dip into and then leave for another lucky reader to skim.
The movement started in 2012 and drops off about 150 books a week in stations across London.Talking about Watson's participation in the project,the manager of Books On The Under ground,Cornelia Oxley,said, "The reaction has been great.It must be a mixture of how much everyone admires Emma,and how exciting it is to find something as wonderful as a new book on your journey."
The 100 or so books Watson left for passengers to read were even more special because she left a hand-written inscription(題詞).The books were Kaya Angelou's Mom & Me & Mom.
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(1)What does Books On The Underground aim to do?
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D.To get more people to read.
(2)Which of the following statements is NOT true?
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(3)What's the author's attitude towards Emma Watson's leaving books on the train?
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B.indifferent
C.supportive
D.pessimistic發(fā)布:2025/1/30 8:0:1組卷:0引用:1難度:0.5 -
3.It can be really hard to learn a new language.I had always enjoyed learning languages in school,but only recently did I start learning German.I found that I could understand and learn individual words easily,but when it came to literature,I really struggled.That was when my tutor at university suggested reading some children's books printed in the target language.
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(1)What makes it hard for the author to learn German?
A.The author had a poor memory.
B.The author had no interest in it.
C.The author had no one to ask for help.
D.The author couldn't read books fluently.
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A.Interesting.
B.Stupid.
C.Helpful.
D.Boring.
(3)What does the author try to express mainly in Paragraph 3?
A.How to deal with new words while reading.
B.Why it is helpful to read children's book at first.
C.How to choose a proper book to match your level.
D.How to form the habit of reading in the target language.
(4)Why does the author write this text?
A.To give tips on how to learn a new language.
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C.To stress the importance of reading in language learning.
D.To share the author's stories of learning a new language.發(fā)布:2025/1/30 8:0:1組卷:5引用:1難度:0.5