Question

【题目】 Late blight (晚疫病) is a common disease of plants such as tomatoes and potatoes, capable of wiping out entire crops on commercial-sized fields. If conditions are favorable, it can quickly spread to other plants through wet soil and wind.

In history, late blight caused over 1 million deaths in Ireland. Today it still causes more than 6.7 billion dollars in annual losses worldwide. Small farms and growers are often the hardest hit, many stating losing almost two-thirds of their yearly production, because usually they don’t have money to identify and treat the disease.

But farmers may have a new weapon now. The technology, designed by researchers at North Carolina State University can recognize sick plants early by employing a piece of test paper that plugs into (接入) a reader on a smartphone.

Plants produce signaling chemicals from their leaves. “If a plant is diseased, the type and concentration of these chemicals changes,” said Wei Qingshan, an engineer at North Carolina State University. If the farmer suspects a late blight infection is underway, he can remove a leaf from a living plant and place it in a small, covered glass jar. After the leaf’s volatile (挥发性的) chemicals have accumulated for 15 minutes or so, the cap is removed and the air is pumped from the jar into a reader attached to the back of a smartphone. Inside the smartphone reader is a piece of paper specially treated with dyes (染料) by the researchers. Upon interacting (相互作用) with the plant’s volatile chemicals, the paper changes color to indicate the presence or absence of the late blight.

The researchers hope to tailor the technology for other crop diseases, which continue to appear as climate change and global trade increase the stress on agricultural systems. “This is an important step in the improvement of global food security,” Wei Qingshan said.

【1】What are the statistics in Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A.The damage caused by late blight.

B.The money put into late blight treatment.

C.The number of crops in a commercial-sized field.

D.The yearly production of small farms and growers.

【2】According to Wei Qingshan, how would a farmer find out if a plant was infected?

A.By treating the plant with special dyes.

B.By putting volatile chemicals on the plant.

C.By testing the air in the jar with a leaf inside.

D.By examining the land with a smartphone reader.

【3】What do the researchers expect of their new technology?

A.It’ll reach farmers soon.

B.It’ll get rid of late blight.

C.It’ll be beneficial to the climate.

D.It’ll be able to detect more crop diseases.

【4】What is the purpose of this passage?

A.To introduce a test method of late blight.

B.To explain the causes of late blight.

C.To discuss the effects of late blight.

D.To tell the history of late blight.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】C

【3】D

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。介绍了晚疫病及其危害，以及识别植物是否得晚疫病的一种检测方法。

【1】推理判断题。由第二段“In history, late blight caused over 1 million deaths in Ireland. Today it still causes more than 6.7 billion dollars in annual losses worldwide.”可知，晚疫病曾造成爱尔兰100万植物死亡。如今，世界每年因晚疫病损失67亿多美元。由此判断出这些数据都在说明晚疫病造成的危害。故选A项。

【2】细节理解题。由第四段内容“If the farmer suspects a late blight infection is underway, he can remove a leaf from a living plant and place it in a small, covered glass jar. After the leaf’s volatile (挥发性的) chemicals have accumulated for 15 minutes or so, the cap is removed and the air is pumped from the jar into a reader attached to the back of a smartphone. Inside the smartphone reader is a piece of paper specially treated with dyes (染料) by the researchers. Upon interacting (相互作用) with the plant’s volatile chemicals, the paper changes color to indicate the presence or absence of the late blight.”可知，农民想判断植物有没有得晚疫病，只需要将植物的一片叶子放在盖着的玻璃罐子里。叶子上的化学物质在瓶子里聚集15分钟以后，将盖子移除，将罐子中的空气抽出来注入阅读器中。通过观察阅读器中纸张颜色的变化来判断植物有没有得病。所以最终是通过测试罐子里有叶子的空气来判断是否得晚疫病的。故选C项。

【3】细节理解题。由最后一段“The researchers hope to tailor the technology for other crop diseases, which continue to appear as climate change and global trade increase the stress on agricultural systems.”可知，科学家希望这门新技术可以运用到其他的植物病上面，可以帮助农民识别更多的植物病。故选D项。

【4】推理判断题。文章第一段引出晚疫病，第二段介绍了它的危害。从第三段开始到结尾大篇幅着重介绍了识别晚疫病的新技术以及这种技术的运用方法和前景。所以说作者写这篇文章的主要目的是介绍一种晚疫病的检测方法。故选A项。