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1、 2022年公共英语四级阅读指导专项练习(1)To start with, it is important to remember that the nature of agriculture has changed markedly throughout history, and will continue to do so .medieval agriculture in northern Europe fed, clothed and sheltered a predominantly rural society with a much lower population density
2、than it is today. It had minimal effect on biodiversity, and any pollution it caused was typically localized. In terms of energy use and the nutrients captured in the product it was relatively inefficient.Contrast this with farming since the start of the industrial revolution. Competition from overs
3、eas led farmers to specialize and increase yields. Throughout this period food became cheaper, safe and more reliable. However, these changes have also led to habitat(栖息地)loss and to diminishing biodiversity.Whats more, demand for animal products in developing countries is growing so fast that meeti
4、ng it will require an extra 300 million tons of grain a year by 2050.yet the growth of cities and industry is reducing the amount of water available for agriculture in many regions.All this means that agriculture in the 21stcentury will have to be very different from how it was in the 20th.thiswill
5、require radical thinking. For example, we need to move away from the idea that traditional practices are inevitably more sustainable than new ones. We also need to abandon the notion that agriculture can be “zero impact”. The key will be to abandon the rather simple and static measures of sustainabi
6、lity, which centre on the need to maintain production without increasing damage.Instead we need a more dynamic interpretation, one that looks at the pros and cons(正反两方面)of all the various way land is used. There are many different ways to measure agricultural performance besides food yield: energy u
7、se, environmental costs, water purity, carbon footprint and biodiversity. It is clear, for example, that the carbon of transporting tomatoes from Spain to the UK is less than that of producing them in the UK with additional heating and lighting. But we do not know whether lower carbon footprints wil
8、l always be better for biodiversity.What is crucial is recognizing that sustainable agriculture is not just about sustainable food production.1. How do people often measure progress in agriculture?A) By its productivity C) By its impact on the environmentB) By its sustainability D) By its contributi
9、on to economic growth2. Specialisation and the effort to increase yields have resulted in_.A) Localised pollution C) competition from overseasB) the shrinking of farmland D) the decrease of biodiversity3. What does the author think of traditional farming practices?A) They have remained the same over
10、 the centuries B) They have not kept pace with population growthC) They are not necessarily sustainable D) They are environmentally friendly4. What will agriculture be like in the 21st centuryA) It will go through radical changes B) It will supply more animal productsC) It will abandon traditional f
11、arming practices D) It will cause zero damage to the environment5 What is the authors purpose in writing this passage?A) To remind people of the need of sustainable developmentB) To suggest ways of ensuring sustainable food productionC) To advance new criteria for measuring farming progressD) To urge people to rethink what sustainable agriculture is参考答案1. BDCAD
