“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

1. 1.

   Why are people advised to eat local?

   1. A.
      Because it means convenience(方便) to people
   2. B.
      Because it can help people save a lot of money
   3. C.
      Because local food has more nutrition
   4. D.
      Because it is environmentally friendly
2. 2.

   Which is one of the vertical farm’s benefits when compared with ordinary farming?

   1. A.
      It produces healthier food
   2. B.
      It does less harm to the cities
   3. C.
      It needs less space of the city
   4. D.
      It requires less transport costs
3. 3.

   By saying “the sky is the limit in Manhattan”, Stringer means _____

   1. A.
      people can make full use of vertical space of Manhattan
   2. B.
      there is a limit for using empty land in Manhattan
   3. C.
      the height of buildings in Manhattan is limited
   4. D.
      Manhattan can spread as far as possible
4. 4.

   What can we learn about the vertical farming in the passage?

   1. A.
      No soil is needed to grow plants in a vertical farm
   2. B.
      It has solved the problem of the food shortage in a big way
   3. C.
      It is a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor
   4. D.
      Crops are mainly grown in the rainwater in a vertical farm

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious (明显的) to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don’t worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.

Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn’t really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech — “I Have a dream”, you may notice that he stumbles (结巴) his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don’t remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.

People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech–making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication (交流). They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performance. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.

As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely. 

The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ______.

A. be smarter than you           B. notice your mistakes

C. do better than you                       D. know what you are talking about

It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

A. giving a speech is like giving a performance

B. one or two mistakes in a speech may not be bad

C. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made

D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be

What would be the best title for the passage?

A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker

B. How to Make a Perfect Speech

C. Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech

D. Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don’t worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.

   Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn’t really matter .If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech — “ I have a dream”, you may notice that he stumbles（结巴）his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don’t remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making. People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.

   As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being imperfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.

The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ______ .

   A. be smarter than you        

B. notice your mistakes

   C. do better than you         

D. know what you are talking about

You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because ___________.

   A. your attention is on the content

   B. you don’t fully understand the speech

   C. you know what the speaker plans to say

   D. you find the way of speech-making more important

It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.

   A. giving a speech is like giving a performance

   B. one or two mistakes in a speech may not be bad

   C. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made

   D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be

What would be the best title of the passage? 

   A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker        

B. How to Make a Perfect Speech

   C. Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech       

D. Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech

Which of the following statements is true?

   A. If you are careful enough, you can make a perfect speech.

   B. Speech-making is a kind of performance.

   C. Listeners are not judges and they pay more attention to the message.

   D. Martin Luther King is not a good speaker.

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech.At some point in every speech,every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned.Fortunately,such moments are usually not obvious(明显的) to the listeners.Why?Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say.They hear only what the speaker does say.If you lose your place for a moment,wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences,or forget to pause at a certain point,no one will be any the wiser.When such moments occur,don’t worry about them.Just continue as if nothing happened.

Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech,that doesn’t really matter.If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech—“I Have a Dream”,you may notice that he stumbles(结巴) over his words twice during the speech.Most likely,however,you don’t remember.Why?Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.

People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication(交流).They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition.But,in fact,the listeners are not looking for a perfect performance.They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly.Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.

As you work on your speech,don’t worry about being perfect.Once you free your mind of this,you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.

The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will _______.

A.be smarter than you                                       B.notice your mistakes

C.do better than you                                         D.know what you are talking about

You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because _______.

A.your attention is on the content

B.you don’t fully understand the speech

C.you don’t know what the speaker plans to say

D.you find the way of speech-making more important

It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A.giving a speech is like giving a performance

B.one or two mistakes in a speech may not be bad

C.the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made

D.the more mistakes a speaker makes,the more attractive he will be

What would be the best title for the passage?

A.How to Be a Perfect Speaker

B.How to Make a Perfect Speech

C.Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech

D.Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech.At some point in every speech,every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned.Fortunately,such moments are usually not obvious(明显的) to the listeners.Why?Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say.They hear only what the speaker does say.If you lose your place for a moment,wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences,or forget to pause at a certain point,no one will be any the wiser.When such moments occur,don’t worry about them.Just continue as if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech,that doesn’t really matter.If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech—“I Have a Dream”,you may notice that he stumbles(结巴) over his words twice during the speech.Most likely,however,you don’t remember.Why?Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.
People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication(交流).They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition.But,in fact,the listeners are not looking for a perfect performance.They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly.Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.
As you work on your speech,don’t worry about being perfect.Once you free your mind of this,you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.
【小题1】The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will _______.