Question

Over the years new technology have changed farming. Change in a general direction is a trend. Yet people often recognize trends only when they consider the past. Today we look back at some trends in American agriculture. We began with the change from animal power to mechanical power.

       In 1920, America had more than 25 million horses and mules （骡子）. Most were used for farm work. Around the same time, a competitor began to appear in large numbers. Tractors could turn soil, pull loads and speed harvests and they could do it better.

       More tractors meant fewer horses and mules. By the 1960s, the numbers of these work animals settle to where they remain today. That is about one-tenth the levels in 1920. Yet even the demand for tractors had its limits. Tractors reached their highest numbers around 1982. The numbers have been slowly decreasing. Experts say farmers can do more with less now because of new technologies. So tractors replaced horses and mules. As a result, farmers no longer needed to raise crops to feed work animals.

       Oats （燕麦） have long been food for horses and mules. In 1954, American farmers planted over 16 million hectares of oats. By 2000, that was down to less than one million hectares. So, what did the farmers do with the extra land? More and more farmers began to plant a new crop around the same time that the tractor became popular. It was the soybean. The soybean is one of the oldest plants harvested. Yet it was not planted widely in the United States until the 1920s. By the year 2000, close to 30 million hectares were planted with soybeans. It is the nation’s most important crop for high protein animal feed and for vegetable oil. In fact, soybeans are the second most valuable crop grown by American farmers after corn. Much of the soybean production goes to exports.

1．The best title for this text might be ______________．

       A．Technology Have Changed Farming      

       B．The Tractors Have Replaced Horses

       C．The Tractors Are More Advanced Than Horses                                               D．Soybeans Have Replaced Oats

2．By the 1960s, how many work horses and mules had still remained in America?

       A．About 25 000 000.                               B．About 2 500 000.

       C．About 250 000 000.                             D．About 30 000 000

3．Which of the following statements is false according to the text?

       A．Changing from animal power to mechanical power is the start of the change in American

       agriculture．

       B．Tractors changed the way of farming in America during the early 20^th century．

       C．Tractors reached their highest numbers over half a century from its beginning

       D．Soybean was planted widely in the United States owing to animal-powered agriculture．

4．What isn’t the advantage of using tractors in America?

       A．The using of tractors led to the trend of change in agriculture．

       B．Farmers can do more farming work with less labor in agriculture．

       C．More land was used to plant economic agriculture products．

       D．Using tractors increases the growth of the economy in agriculture．

Answer 1

ABDA