This crop has similar qualities to the ？

China’s non-GM crop has an ().中国的非转基因作物具有优势。

A、disadvantage

B、shotcoming

C、limit

D、edge

This crop does not do well in soils ___________ the one for which it has been specially developed.

A) outside B) other than C) beyond D) rather than

A.demand for corn is elastic

B.demand for corn is inelastic

C.demand for corn is unit elastic

D.corn has lots of substitutes

A、beyond

B、rather than

C、outside

D、other than

‍‍Traditionally, the American farmer has always been independent and hard-working. In the eighteenth century farmers were quite self-sufficient. The farm family grew and made almost nothing it needed. The surplus crop would be sold to buy a new __1__items in the local general store.‍‍

Thomas Malthus published his Essay on the Principle of Population

almost 200 years ago. Ever since then, forecasters have being warning 【M1】 ______

that worldwide famine was just around the next comer. The fast-growing

population's demand for food, they warned, would soon exceed their 【M2】 ______

supply, leading to widespread food shortages and starvation.

But in reality, the world's total grain harvest has risen steadily over the

years. Except for relative isolated trouble spots like present-day Somalia, 【M3】 ______

and occasional years of good harvests, the world's food crisis has remained 【M4】 ______

just around the comer. Most experts believe this can continue even as ff 【M5】 ______

the population doubles by the mid-21st century, although feeding l0 billion

people will not be easy for politics, economic and environmental reasons. 【M6】 ______

Optimists point to concrete examples of continued improvements in yield.

In Africa, by instance, improved seeds, more fertilizers and advanced 【M7】 ______

growing practices have more than double com and wheat yields in an 【M8】 ______

experiment. Elsewhere, rice experts in the Philippines are producing

a plant with few stems and more seeds. There is no guarantee that plant 【M9】 ______

breeders can continue to develop new, higher-yielding crop, but most 【M10】______

researchers see their success to date as reason for hope.

【M1】

Traditionally, the American farmer has always been independent and hard-working. In the eighteenth century farmers were quite self-sufficient. The farm family grew and made almost nothing it needed. The surplus crop would be sold to buy a new __1__items in the local general store.

In 1860, because some of the farm population had moved to __2__the city, yet eighty percent of the American population was still in the country. In the late nineteen century, farm work and life __3__were not much changed from that they had been in old days. The __4__farmer aroused at dawn or before and had much work to do, with __5__his own muscles like his chief source of power. He used axes, __6__spades and other complicated tools. In his house cooking was done __7__in wood-burning stoves, and the kerosene lamp was the only improvement on the candle. The family's recreation and social life chiefly consisted a drive in the wagon to the nearby small town or __8__village to transact some business as well as to chat with neighbors who had also come to town.

The children attended a small elementary school (often of just one room) to that they had to walk every day, possibly for a __9__few miles. The school term was short so that the children could not help on the farm. Although the whole family worked, and life __10__was not easy, farmers as a class were self-reliant and independent.

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

Some of the world's most sign significant problems hit headlines. One example comes from agriculture. Food riots and hunger make news. But the trend lying behind these matters is rarely talked about. This is the decline in the growth in yields of some of the world's major crops. A new study by the University of Minnesota and McGill University in Montreal looks at where, and how far, this decline is occurring.

The authors take a vast number of data points for the four most important crops: rice, wheat, corn and soyabeans(大豆). They find that on between 24% and 39% of all harvested areas, the improvement in yields that took place before the 1980s slowed down in the 1990s and 2000s.

There are two worrying features of the slowdown. One is that it has been particularly sharp in the world's most populous(人口多的)countries, India and China. Their ability to feed themselves has been an important source of relative stability both within the countries and on world food markets. That self-sufficiency cannot be taken for granted if yields continue to slow down or reverse.

Second,yield growth has been lower in wheat and rice than in corn and soyabeans. This is problematic because wheat and rice are more important as foods, accounting for around half of all calories consumed. Corn and soyabeans are more important as feed grains. The authors note that "we have preferentially focused our crop improvement efforts on feeding animals and cars rather than on crops that feed people and are the basis of food security in much of the world."

The report qualifies the more optimistic findings of another new paper which suggests that the world will not have to dig up a lot more land for farming in order to feed 9 billion people in 2050, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation has argued.

Instead, it says, thanks to slowing population growth, land currently ploughed up for crops might be able to revert(回返)to forest or wilderness. This could happen. The trouble is that the forecast assumes continued improvements in yields, which may not actually happen.

1.What does the author try to draw attention to？

A.Food riots and hunger in the world.

B.The decline of the grain yield growth.

C.News headlines in the leading media.

D.The food supply in populous countries.

2.Why does the author mention India and China in particular？

A.Their self-sufficiency is vital to the stability of world food markets.

B.Their food yields have begun to decrease sharply in recent years.

C.Their big populations are causing worldwide concerns.

D.Their food self-sufficiency has been taken for granted.

3.What does the new study by the two universities say about recent crop improvement efforts？

A.They fail to produce the same remarkable results as before the 1980s.

B.They contribute a lot to the improvement of human food production.

C.They play a major role in guaranteeing the food security of the world.

D.they focus more on the increase of animal feed than human food grains.

4.What does the Food and Agriculture Organisation say about world food production in the coming decades？

A.The growing population will greatly increase the pressure on world food supplies.

B.The optimistic prediction about food production should be viewed with caution.

C.The slowdown of the growth in yields of major food crops will be reversed.

D.The world will be able to feed its population without increasing farmland.

5.How does the author view the argument of the Food and Agriculture Organisation？

A.It is built on the findings of a new study.

B.It is based on a doubtful assumption.

C.It is backed by strong evidence.

D.It is open to further discussion.

选词填空：The method for making beer has changed over time. Hops (啤酒花)，for example, which many a modern beerits bitter flavor, are a 26 recent additions to the beverage. Thiswas mentioned in reference to brewing in the ninth century. Now, researchershave found a 27 ingredient in residue (残留物) from 5000-year-old beer brewingequipment. While excavating two pits at a site in thecentral plains of China, scientists discovered pottery fragments from pots,funnels, amphorae, and stoves (stove fragment pictured). The different shapesof the containers 28 theywere used to brew, filter, and store beer—they may be ancient “beer-making tools,” and the earliest 29 evidence of beer brewing in China, the researchers report online today in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.To30 thathypothesis, the team examined the yellowish, dried 31 insidethe vessels. The majority of the grains—about 80%—were from cereal cropslike barley (大麦), andabout 10% were bits of roots, 32 lily,which would have sweetened the brew, the scientists say. Barley was anunexpected find: The crop was domesticated in western Eurasia and didn’t becomea 33 food incentral China until about 2000 years ago, according to the researchers. basedon that timing, they suggest barley may have 34 in theregion not as food, but as 35 material forbeerbrewing.

A) arrived

B) consuming

C) direct

D) exclusively

E) including

F) inform

G) raw

H) reached

I) relatively

J) remains

K) resources

L) staple

M) suggest

N) surprising

O) test

Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.

The method for making beer has changed over time. Hops (啤酒花)，for example, which give many a modem beer its bitter flavor, are a (26)_______ recent addition to the beverage. This was first mentioned in reference to brewing in the ninth century. Now, researchers have found a (27)_______ingredient in residue (残留物)from 5,000-year-old beer brewing equipment. While digging two pits at a site in the central plains of China, scientists discovered fragments from pots and vessels. The different shapes of the containers (28)_______ they were used to brew, filter, and store beer. They may be ancient “beer-making tools,” and the earliest (29_______ evidence of beer brewing in China, the researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To (30)_______ that theory, the team examined the yellowish, dried (31)_______ inside the vessels. The majority of the grains, about 80%, were from cereal crops like barley (大麦),and about 10% were bits of roots, (32)_______lily,which would have made the beer sweeter, the scientists say. Barley was an unexpected find: the crop was domesticated in Western Eurasia and didn&39;t become a (33)_______food in central China until about 2,000 years ago, according to the researchers. Based on that timing, they indicate barley may have (34)_______ in the region not as food, but as (35)_______material for beer brewing.

A) Arrived

B) consuming

C) direct

D) exclusively

E) including

F) inform

G) raw

H) reached

I) relatively

J) remains

K)resources

L) staple

M) suggest

N) surprising

O) test