Question

A life decided to eat fruits and greens or one in which you enjoy juicy steak (牛排) and hamburgers, which do you prefer?

It is not a question of culture, it is not even a question of killing animals. Even a carrot dies when pulled out of the ground. It is a matter of the protection of the planet

because our meat eating habits might be stressing (给……压力) our ecological (生态

的) system.

It’s no longer ―might‖, we are destroying our planet.

Most of the meat that we eat comes from livestock, which is about 23 billion in population and causes the waste of our natural resources. Every second of every day one football field size rainforest is destroyed, and much of it is used to farm and raise livestock.

Raising the animals also requires huge quantities (量) of water, mostly to grow

the grains (谷物) fed to them. It takes over 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, which can be used for a seven-minute shower every day for a minimums (最小量) of four months. Take your pick: four months without a shower or a hamburger.

Meat has to be cut, cleaned and processed. One doesn’t just buy a cow and start eating it. According to David Pimentel from Cornell University, it takes 20 times more energy to produce beef than tofu, and both have the same good sources of protein (蛋 白质).

The waste from the animals is one of the main causes of water and air pollution. The animal waste cannot be used in the fields because it can spread diseases to humans. In 1995, 25 million gallons of animal waste flowed into the New River in North Carolina, killing 10 million fish and destroying 364,000 acres of coastal (沿海 的) wetlands.

Animal farming also produces larger quantities of greenhouse (温室) gases, such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). If your next Christmas is unusually hot or especially cold, blame the steak you ate the night before.

I am not saying that everybody needs to stop eating meat right this minute. I don’t think we can produce enough corns, fruits, and vegetables. I am just saying we need to

cut our meat consumption (消费), 70 grams per day is okay if we want normal weather,

clean air and drinking water.

1.According to the passage, our meat eating habits are a question of .

A.showing the culture B. killing the animals

C. harming the plants D. protecting the planet

2.What does the word ―livestock‖ in Paragraph 4 probably mean .

A.the animals we feed B. the farm growing the grains

C. the supermarket near us D. the factory producing meat

3.From the passage, we can learn that .

A.animal waste should be used for planting

B.we’re destroying the farm to raise animals

C.animal farming produces greenhouse gases

D.we use the same energy to produce beef and tofu

4.According to the passage, the writer thinks we should .

A.try our best to eat less meat every day

B.only eat steak for our health next Christmas

C.eat less vegetables for the clean air and water

D.feed animals instead of planting enough plants

Answer 1