Sustainable development is applied to just about everything from energy to clean water and economic growth, and as a result it has become difficult to question either the basic assumptions behind it or the way the concept is put to use. This is especially true in agriculture, where sustainable development is often taken as the only measure of progress without a proper appreciation of historical and cultural perspectives.
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 popularly rural society with a much lower population density than it is today. It had smallest 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 overseas led farmers to specialize and increase yields. Throughout this period food became cheaper, safer and more reliable. However, these changes have also led to habitat loss and to decreasing biodiversity.
What’s more, demand for animal products in developing countries is growing so fast that meeting 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 21st century will have to be very different from how it was in the 20th. This will require complete thinking. For example, we need to move away from the idea that traditional practices are unavoidably more sustainable than new ones. We also need to abandon the idea that agriculture can be “zero impact”. The key will be to abandon the rather simple and unchangeable measures of sustainability, which centre on the need to maintain production without increasing damage.
Instead we need a more dynamic explanation, one that looks at the pros and cons of all the various way land is used. There are many different ways to measure agricultural performance besides food yield: energy use, 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 will always be better for biodiversity.
What is critical 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.
B．By its impact on the environment.
C．By its sustainability.
D．By its contribution to economic growth.
2.What does the author think of traditional farming practices?
A．They have remained the same over the centuries.
B．They have not kept pace with population growth.
C．They are not necessarily sustainable.
D．They are environmentally friendly.
3.What will agriculture be like in the 21st century?
A．It will go through thorough changes.
B．It will supply more animal products.
C．It will abandon traditional farming practices.
D．It will cause zero damage to the environment.
4.What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
A．To remind people of the need of sustainable development.
B．To suggest ways of ensuring sustainable food production.
C．To advance new criteria for measuring farming progress.
D．To urge people to rethink what sustainable agriculture is.
The market investigation is indispensable to sales promotion. They are as closely related as the lips and teeth, so to speak. What you produce is for sale on the market. It would be impossible to succeed in selling a product without first investigating the market.
In the international market, goods on sale coming from different countries and suppliers are always facing keen competition. Under such circumstances, they will try everything possible to familiarize themselves with the market conditions. In making investigations, we ought to get information about what similar items the competitors are offering on the market, what prices they are quoting（报价）, what features their products have, who are their regular customers, etc. Then, how can we obtain such information? There are many channels that we can make use of in doing this sort of work. The commercial counselor's offices of our embassies stationed abroad can help us in making market investigations. Nowadays, our import and export corporations send their trade groups abroad every now and then. One of their purposes is to make market surveys on the spot.
Certainly, face-to-face talks with foreign businessmen are also important channels to get market information. The Chinese Export Commodities Fairs and some other fairs of similar nature as well as visits of foreign businessmen provide us with such opportunities. Of course, there are some other ways of making market investigations.
1.In making market investigations, one should ______.
A. get enough information concerned B. advertise his products
C. produce high quality goods D. none of the above
2.The word "indispensable" in the first line means ______.
A. impossible B. necessary
C. advisable D. available
3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. The relationship between market investigation and sales promotion is just as that of the lips and
teeth.
B. It is impossible to succeed in selling a product without market investigation.
C. There are various ways of making market investigation.
D. Production goes before market investigation.
4.All the following are channels to get market information except ________.
A. to have commercial counsellor' s office of our embassies stationed abroad
B. to promote the quality of our own products
C. to send trade groups abroad every now and then
D. to have face-to-face talks with foreign businessmen
Baekeland and Hartmann report that the “short sleepers” had been more or less average in their sleep needs until the men were in their teens. But at about age 15 or so, the men voluntarily began cutting down their nightly sleep time because of pressures from school, work, and other activities. These men tended to view their nightly periods of unconsciousness as bothersome interruptions in their daily routines.
In general, these “short sleeps” appeared ambitious, active, energetic, cheerful, conformist(不动摇) in their opinions, and very sure about their career choices. They often held several jobs at once, or workers full-or part-time while going to school. And many of them had a strong urge to appear “normal” or “acceptable” to their friends and associates.
When asked to recall their dreams, the “short sleepers” did poorly. More than this, they seemed to prefer not remembering. In similar fashion, their usual way of dealing with psychological problems was to deny that the problem existed, and then to keep busy in the hope that the trouble would go away.
The sleep patterns of the “short sleepers” were similar to, but less extreme than, sleep patterns shown by many mental patients categorized as manic(疯人).
The “long sleepers” were quite different indeed. Baekeland and Hartmann report that these young men had been lengthy sleeps since childhood. They seemed to enjoy their sleep, protected it, and were quite concerned when they were occasionally robbed of their desired 9 hours of nightly bed rest. They tended to recall their dreams much better than did the “short sleepers.”
Many of the “long sleepers” were shy, anxious, introverted (内向), inhibited (压抑), passive, mildly depressed, and unsure of themselves (particularly in social situations). Several openly states that sleep was an escape from their daily problems.
1. According to the report,______.
A. many short sleepers need less sleep by nature
B. many short sleepers are forced to reduce their nightly sleep time because they are busy
with their work
C. long sleepers sleep a longer period of time during the day
D. many long sleepers preserve their sleeping habit formed during their childhood
2. Many “short sleepers” are likely to hold the view that _____.
A. sleep is a withdrawal from the reality
B. sleep interferes with their sound judgment
C. sleep is the least expensive item on their routine program
D. sleep is the best way to deal with psychological troubles
3.It is stated in the third paragraph that short sleepers _____.
A. are ideally vigorous even under the pressures of life
B. often neglect the consequences of inadequate sleep
C. do not know how to relax properly
D. are more unlikely to run into mental problems
4. When sometimes they cannot enjoy adequate sleep, the long sleepers might ____.
A. appear disturbed B. become energetic
C. feel dissatisfied D. be extremely depressed
Our quarrel with efficiency is not that it gets things done, but that it is a thief of time when it leaves us no leisure to enjoy ourselves, and that it strains our nerves when we try to get things done perfectly. In building bridges, American engineers calculate so finely and exactly as to make the two ends come together within one-tenth of an inch. But when two Chinese begin to dig a tunnel from both sides of a mountain both come out on the other side. --The Chinese’s firm belief is that it doesn’t matter so long as a tunnel is dug through, and if we have two instead of one, why, we have a double track to boot.
The pace of modern industrial life forbids this kind of glorious and magnificent idling. But, worse than that, it imposes upon us a different conception of time as measured by the clock and eventually turns the human being into a clock himself. (This sort of thing is bound to come to China, as is evident, for instance, in the case of a factory of twenty thousand workers. The luxurious prospect of twenty thousand workers coming in at their own sweet pleasure at all hours is, of course, somewhat terrifying.)Nevertheless, such efficiency is what makes life so hard and full of excitement. A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o’clock has the whole afternoon from one to five ruined for him already. Every American adult is arranging his time on the pattern of the schoolboy - three o’clock for this, five o’clock for that, six-thirty for change of dress, six-fifty for entering the taxi, and seven o’clock for arriving at the destination. It just makes life not worth living.
1.The writer objects to efficiency mainly on the grounds that it ____.
A. gives us rights to have too much leisure time
B. urges us to get things done punctually
C. robs us of leisure time
D. imposes on us a perfect concept of time
2. In the eyes of the author, the introduction of industrial life gives rise to ____.
A. the excitement of life
B. magnificent idling of time
C. more emphasis on efficiency
D. terrifying schoolboy
3.The passage tells us ____.
A. Chinese workers come to work when it is convenient
B. all Americans are forced to be efficient against their will
C. Chinese engineers are on better terms with the management
D. Americans ought not to work so hard for efficiency
4. The author believes that relaxing the rule of punctuality in factories would lead to ____.
A. great trouble B. increased production
C. a hard and exciting life D. successful completion of a tunnel
Taiwan will finalize a plan by the end of June to open up the island to tourists from mainland China, though no date has been fixed for formal implementation（执行）, an official at the Mainland Affairs Council（MAC）said on Monday．
The official said the reports in the local press on Monday that the MAC has decided to postpone its plan to announce the implementation of the new plan on July 1 were inaccurate．
The official said cooperation between different organizations was still underway．The United Daily news quoted the director of the MAC’s legal affairs department, Liu Thehsun, as saying the plan to open up to mainland tourists would not be implemented as scheduled due to a lack of cross-strait communication．
Although relevant authorities, including the Bureau of Immigration and the Tourism Bureau, have complete reports on how to deal with visitors from mainland China, the decision has been taken not to press, ahead with announcement of the plan’s implementation on the first of July, Liu was quoted as saying．
The report also said that while no restrictions would be imposed on the mainland visitors in terms of age or residence in China, the visitors would need to hold a steady job or have more than 50,000RMB（about 6,000, U．S．dollars）in bank savings before they would be eligible（有资格的）to visit Taiwan．
In addition, Taiwan bound mainland tourists would have to come as part of a tour group and would be allowed to stay a maximum of 10 days each time．
The number of mainland tourists allowed to enter the island would also initially be limited to 1,000 people a day．
Although most people from Taiwan are free to travel to China, only a small number of mainland Chinese have been able to visit the island due to restrictions imposed by both sides of the Taiwan Strait after the end of a civil war in 1949．
1.At the moment, according to the passage, ___________．
A．no mainland Chinese can visit Taiwan now
B．any mainland Chinese can visit Taiwan now
C．many mainland Chinese have ever visited Taiwan since 1949
D．a few mainland Chinese have ever visited Taiwan since 1949
2.When Taiwan opens up the island to tourists from mainland China,_____________．
A．there will be no restrictions to mainland visitors
B．mainland visitors who want to travel in Taiwan must have at least ￥50,000 in the bank savings account
C．there will be no age restrictions to the mainland visitors
D．mainland visitors will be free to travel to Taiwan
3.We can infer from the passage that ______get（s）involved in the implementation of the plan．
A．MAC B．United Daily
C．several organizations D．Bureau of Immigration
4.Which of the following statement is TRUE?
A．The implementation of the plan has not been fixed．
B．It was originally fixed on July 1 to announce the plan’s implementation．
C．For lack of cross-strait communication, the plan will not be officially completed until July．
D．When the plan is finalized, it will be announced immediately．
完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21-40各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
One student took a box of chicken to class．Another carried on a cell-phone 21 ,and still another whistled loudly every time the 22 turned his back．
Reform school? No．College．
More and more, professors say, they are coming across 23 students in their classrooms．Many of today’s young scholars arrive late, leave 24 , talk loud or take care of personal 25 such as paying bills during class．
Why are the students behaving 26 _? “Because they can,” said a student of University of North Texas．“A lot of the time, the professors let them get away with it．”
Some educators say it is time to bring politeness back to their classrooms—and even 27 taking some of the blame for bad behavior．They say that rude students are by no means the majority but that one of them can ruin an entire 28 ．
People are 29 __when they learn that impolite behavior is becoming more and more common in 30 _ education, says Dr．Gerald Amanda, a counselor at City College of San Francisco．They 31 some high school students to misbehave, but think those who get to 32__ will behave more politely．
Dr．Amanda believes that society in 33 has become more tolerant of rude behavior and
34 ___ people in power, including professors, no longer 35 ___standards for 36 __．That leads to a growing imprudence（轻率行为） 37 some college students．“There’s a great 38 of bad behavior in the world around them, and young people see it and 39 _disrespect,” said Dr．Amanda, 40 ___that sometimes students “have no idea that they are being rude．”
1.A．line B．conversation C．message D．picture
2.A．professor B．student C．president D．classmate
3.A．hardworking B．cheating C．rude D．selfish
4.A．late B．early C．noisily D．quietly
5.A．felling B．interest C．computer D．business
6.A．badly B．well C．politely D．oneself
7.A．enjoy B．hate C．start D．avoid
8.A．school B．company C．society D．class
9.A．delighted B．surprised C．interested D．encouraged
10.A．better B．more C．higher D．younger
11.．A．expect B．hope C．forbid D．wish
12.A．work B．college C．learning D．knowledge
13.A．all B．time C．charge D．general
14.A．why B．how C．whether D．that
15.A．change B．break C．set D．reach
16.A．teaching B．politeness C．thinking D．progress
17.A．about B．for C．behind D．among
18.A．deal B．number C．many D．sum
19.A．prepare B．grow C．develop D．improve
20.A．speaking B．adding C．warning D．wishing
