Farming is moving indoors, where the sun never shines, where rainfall is irrelevant (无关的) and where the climate is always right. The perfect crop field could be inside a windowless building with controlled light, temperature，humidity，air quality and nutrition. It could be in a New York high- rise or a complex （建筑群） in the Saudi desert. It may be an answer to the world’s food problems.
The world already is having trouble feeding itself. Half the people on Earth live in cities, and nearly half of those – about 3 billion – are hungry or ill–fed. Food prices, currently increasing, are badly affected by dryness, floods and the cost of energy required to plant, harvest and transport it. And prices will only get more unstable. Climate change makes long-term crop planning uncertain. Farmers in many parts of the world already are using water available to the last drop. And the world is getting more crowded: by mid-century, the global population will grow from 6.8 billion to 9 billion.
To feed so many people may require expanding farmland at the expense of forests and wilderness, or finding ways to greatly increase crop output.
Gertjan Meeuws and three other Dutch bioengineers grow vegetables and house plants in closed and regulated environments. In their research station, water flows into the pans when needed, and the temperature is kept constant. Lights go on and off, creating “day” and “night”, but according to the rhythm of the plant.
Meeuws says a building of 100 square meters and layers of plants could provide a daily diet of 200 grams of fresh fruit and vegetables for the entire population of Ken Bosch, about 140,000 people. Their idea isn’t to grow foods that require much space, like corn or potatoes.
Sunlight is not only unnecessary but can be harmful. Plants need only specific wavelengths of light to grow. Their growth rate is three times faster than under greenhouse conditions. They use about 90 percent less water than outdoor agriculture. And city farming means producing food near the consumer, so there’s on need to transport it long distances.
【小题1】According to the text, Gertjan Meeuws’ farming _______.
| A．can be used for corn production |
| B．is much like greenhouse farming |
| C．is adaptable to any environment |
| D．uses more water than outdoor farming |
| A．The effect of climate | B．The hungry people in cities. |
| C．The world’s food problem. | D．The world’s increasing population. |
| A．To compare traditional and indoor farming. |
| B．To discuss the influence of climate change. |
| C．To explain the world’s food problem. |
| D．To introduce a new model of farming. |
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit（因纽特人）families going off on snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea of mud. There are also reports of sea ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change may still be a rather abstract（抽象的）idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is already having great effect—if summertime ice continues to shrink at its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become almost ice-free in summer. The knock-on effects（连锁反应）are likely to include more warming, cloudier skies and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly eager to find out what’s going on in the Arctic.
For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in unsteady balance with one of the toughest environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct danger to their way of life. Nobody knows the Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back and let outsider experts tell them what’s happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people are trying hard to guard their hard-won autonomy（自治权）in the country’s newest land, Nunavut, they believe their best hope of survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral (祖先的) knowledge with the best of modern science. This is a challenge in itself.
The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that’s covered with snow for most of the year. Adventure into this area and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is out of the question and nature offers few pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500 years ago, surviving by taking advantage of sea first. The environment tested them to the limits: sometimes the settlers were successful; sometimes they failed and disappeared. But around a thousand years ago, one group appeared that was uniquely well adapted to deal with the Arctic environment. These Thule people moved in from Alaska, bringing dogs, iron tools and the like. They are the ancestors of today’s Inuit people.
Which of the following is likely to be the effect of climate change?
A. Shorter and shorter summertime. B. Ice-free summer around the Arctic.
C. Lower sea levels. D. More rainy skies.
The Inuit people believe the solution to the climate change problem is ________.
A. to change their way of life
B. to do as their ancestors
C. to try to protect the environment from now on
D. to use their ancestral knowledge and modern science
It can be concluded from the last paragraph that ________.
A. the first settlers in the Arctic survived there quite easily
B. it’s hard to farm in the Arctic due to climate change
C. the ancestors of Inuit people stood out among the settlers
D. the Thule people from Alaska invented iron tools
Which of the following is the best title for this text?
A. Climate Change and the Inuit
B. Climate Change around the Arctic
C. Global Warming around the World
D. The Inuit and Their Ancestors around the World
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科目：高中英语 来源：广东省华南师大附中2010届高三下学期综合测试三 题型：阅读理解
B
You're in a bit of a dilemma standing in front of the produce section of your local supermarket. In one hand, you're holding a conventionally grown Granny Smith apple.In your other hand, you have one that's been organically grown. Both apples are firm,shiny and green. Both provide vitamins and fiber, and both are free of fat, sodium and cholesterol.
The conventionally grown apple costs less and is a proven family favorite. But the organic apple has a label that says "USDA Organic". Does that mean it's better? Safer? More nutritious? Several differences between organic and non-organic foods exist. Become a better informed consumer for your next trip to the supermarket.
The word "organic" refers to the way farmers grow and process agricultural products, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat. Organic farming practices are designed to encourage soil and water conservation and reduce pollution.Farmers who grow organic produce and meat don't use conventional methods to fertilize, control weeds or prevent livestock disease.
Here are other differences between conventional fanning and organic farming:
* Organic or not? Check the label.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established an organic certification program that requires all organic foods to meet strict government standards. These standards regulate how such foods are grown, handled and processed.Any farmer or food manufacturer who labels and sells a product as organic must be USDA certified as meeting these standards. Only producers who sell less than $5,000 a year in organic foods are exempt (免除) from this certification.
If a food bears a USDA Organic label, it means it's produced and processed according to the USDA standards. The seal is voluntary, but many organic producers
use it.
46. The main purpose of the passage is_________.
A. to promote the sales of organic food
B. to inform people organic food is better for their health
C. to persuade people to become informed consumers
D. to compare conventional and organic foods
47. According to the passage, organic farming is intended to_________.
A. improve the quality of the soil and water
B. take the place of the traditional agriculture entirely
C. adopt eco-friendly methods to grow plants and feed animals
D. prevent livestock from getting disease more effectively
48. According to the passage, the conventionally grown apple_________.
A. costs less but tastes worse than an organic one
B. doesn't look the same as an organic one
C. has proven itself acceptable by the family
D. contains more fat, sodium and cholesterol
49. Which of the following methods belongs to organic farming?
A. Using chemicals to kill insects and prevent disease.
B. Using rotted plants as fertilizer to promote plant growth.
C. Using growth hormones to speed up animals' growth.
D. Using pests to reduce insects and disease.
50. From the passage we know the organic certification program________.
A. is not meant for all producers of produce
B. makes it compulsory to attach a USDA Organic label
C. sets restrictions on the sales of organic produce
D. requires all foods to satisfy the strict government standards
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科目：高中英语 来源：2011-2012学年湖北省武穴中学高一实验班3月月考英语试卷（带解析） 题型：阅读理解
“Eat local.” It’s one way to reduce human effect on the planet. Eating local means to try to buy and consume foods that are grown in places close to home. However, most of the food sold at supermarkets is not locally grown or produced. Trucks and planes deliver these foods from hundreds or thousands of miles away. During the transportation, greenhouse(温室)gases are produced, causing global warming. So the shorter the distance your foods must travel, the less the harm is done to the environment.
But how do you get local food if you live in a large city, hundreds of miles away from farms？Environmental health scientist Dickson Despommier and his students came up with the idea of a “vertical(垂直的)farm”. 
A vertical farm is a glass-walled structure that could be built as tall as a skyscraper(摩天大楼). Since the garden is built upwards, rather than outwards, it requires much less space than an ordinary farm. The world is quickly running out of room for ordinary farming. Vertical farms could be a key to this situation. Despommier imagines a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor. The walls of the building would be clear, to allow crops to get as much sunlight as possible. Depending on a city’s water resources, Despommier thinks hydroponic(水培的) farming is another method for the vertical farm which needs no soil to grow plants.
Despommier says the hydroponic greenhouses would use a system that would use a city’s waste water and fill it with nutritions to make the crops grow. If this method works, it would provide food to a city and save millions of tons of water.
The idea of a vertical farm has attracted the attention of government officials around the world. Scott Stringer, a government official from New York City, thinks the city is suitable for the vertical farming. “Obviously we don’t have much land left for us,” Stringer said. “But the sky is the limit in Manhattan. ”
Despommier admits that there is still a lot of work to do to make vertical farms a reality. “But I think vertical farming is an idea that can work in a big way,” he says.
【小题1】Why are people advised to eat local?
| A．Because it means convenience(方便) to people. |
| B．Because it can help people save a lot of money. |
| C．Because local food has more nutrition. |
| D．Because it is environmentally friendly. |
| A．It produces healthier food. |
| B．It does less harm to the cities. |
| C．It needs less space of the city. |
| D．It requires less transport costs. |
| A．people can make full use of vertical space of Manhattan |
| B．there is a limit for using empty land in Manhattan |
| C．the height of buildings in Manhattan is limited |
| D．Manhattan can spread as far as possible |
| A．No soil is needed to grow plants in a vertical farm. |
| B．It has solved the problem of the food shortage in a big way. |
| C．It is a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor. |
| D．Crops are mainly grown in the rainwater in a vertical farm. |
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科目：高中英语 来源：2015届河北省高二上学期期中考试英语试卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
In the 18th century, New York was smaller than Philadelphia and Boston. Today it is the largest city in America. How can the change in its size and importance be explained?
To answer this question we must consider certain facts about geography, history, and economics. Together these three will explain the huge growth of America’s most famous city.
The map of the Northeast shows that the four areas with the largest populations in this region are around seaports. At these points materials from across the sea enter the United States, and the products of the land are sent there for export across the sea.
We know that places where transportation lines meet are good places for making raw materials into finished goods. That is why seaports often have cities nearby. But cities like New York needed more than their geographical location in order to become great industrial centers. Their development did not happen simply by chance.www.zxxk.com
About 1815, when many Americans from the east had already moved toward the west, transportation routes from the seaports to the central regions of the country began to be a serious problem. The slow wagons of that time, usually drawn by horses, were too expensive for moving heavy freight (货物) very far. In New York State a canal seemed the best answer to the transportation problem. From the eastern end of Lake Erie all the way across the state to the Hudson River there is a long strip of low land. Here the Erie Canal was built, and after several years of work it was completed in 1825.
The canal produced an immediate effect. Freight costs were cut to about one tenth of what they had been. New York City, which had been smaller than Philadelphia and Boston, quickly became the leading city of the coast. In the years that followed, transportation routes on the Great Lakes were joined to routes on the Mississippi River. Then New York City became the end point of a great inland shipping system that started from the Atlantic Ocean far up the western branches of the Mississippi.
1.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. The Development of Transportation in New York
B. Export and Import of New York
C. How New York Became America's Largest City
D. How New York Exchanged with Europe
2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The Erie Canal connected Lake Erie with the Hudson River.
B. Economists are of the opinion that places where farming is done are good for making raw materials into finished goods.
C. Wagons drawn by horses and oxen soon proved to be better and cheaper than canal transportation.
D. The seaports usually have less population but more business.
3.Freight costs were reduced to 10% of what they had been because of ________.
A. cheap and fast wagons B. the new sea routes
C. the construction of the Erie Canal D. the development of industry
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科目：高中英语 来源：辽宁省本溪县2009-2010学年高二下学期第二次月考试题（英语） 题型：阅读理解
第三节：阅读（满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Tug-of –war is not only popular in China, but in many other countries. Their tug-of-war match is a little different from ours. They have eight men for each team, while we may have the match between two sides with equal men or women players. Of course, they are usually tall, strong and heavy.
For a tug-of-war match, we need a long thick rope. Each team stands at one end of the rope, holding it. Then they try to pull the center of the rope, marked in the ground towards each of their own sides. The team which succeeds in pulling the center of the rope away through a certain distance is the winner.
Many foreign sports experts think we don’t have to be tall, heavy and strong to play tug-of-war. We don’t have endless energy, for a match lasts only a few minutes. The secret is good hands. The players must have big strong, hard hands. Before they start the match they put mixture of oil and petrol on their hands so they can hold the rope better.
Many foreign experts say the best hand for tug-of-war belong to the sons of farmers. This is because they have to work hard when they are still very young. Farming is a good practice for this sport!
1．In our country tug-of-war ______.
A．is not very popular B．is not so popular as in foreign countries
C．is only a men’s game D．is not only played by men but also by women
2．In foreign countries a tug-of-war team __________.
A．has eight men or women players
B．has men players equal in number to the other side
C．has eight men players
D．is formed in the same way as in our country
3．Tug-of-war is a match in which who __________ are winners.
A．pulled the rope to their side farther
B．made the center near to their own side
C．succeeded in pulling the center of the rope in their direction
D．made the center of the rope pass through a certain length nearer to their side
4．The foreign experts think a good tug-of-war player must _________.
A．have lasting energy B．have big, strong and hard hands
C．do farm work D．be tall, heavy and strong
5．Which of the following is not true?
A．In foreign countries women take part in tug-of-war.
B．In foreign countries a tug-of-war match has 16 players.
C．In order to hold the rope better, many players put a mixture of oil and petrol on their hands.
D．The sons of farmers are thought to be the best tug-of-war players.
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