Question

Today, the world’s diversity (多样性) of food crops is quickly decreasing. But scientists around the world are taking action. They are building seed banks. At seed banks, scientists store the seeds of many different crops.

There are now 1,400 seed banks around the world. However, some banks are in warm countries. If the electricity fails, the seeds will get too hot and die. Other seed banks are in countries troubled by war. Sometimes people damage the seed banks. If this happens, valuable seeds can be lost forever!

The organization Global Crop Diversity Trust decided they wanted to deal with this problem. So, they decided to build a global seed bank. This seed bank would contain a back-up, or extra copy, of all the world’s seeds. Smaller seed banks would still collect and keep local seeds. But they would also send copies of their seeds to the global bank.

Scientists from the Global Crop Diversity Trust chose the cold, snowy mountains of Svalbard, Norway to build the global seed bank — the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (斯瓦尔巴全球种子库). Organizations, farmers, or local seed banks store their extra seeds there. And the people who place their seeds in the vault are the only people who can take them out. They pay to ship their seeds to Norway, but it does not cost them any money to store their seeds. The Global Crop Diversity Trust pays for this.

Cary Fowler is a scientist who heads the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He said, “If the Seed Vault simply supplies seed banks with copies of seeds that those banks lost by accident, the Seed Vault will be worth more than it cost.”

1.Seed banks are built to ______.

A. research on seeds B. produce new seeds

C. protect crop diversity D. increase the number of seeds

2.Compared with other seed banks, the global seed bank ______.

A. was built by the government

B. is more welcomed by farmers

C. is mainly used by great scientists

D. can provide a good environment for seeds

3.What can we learn about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

A. It helps to pay the shipping cost.

B. No one can take seeds out of there.

C. There are no fees to store seeds there.

D. It mainly receives seeds from farmers.

4.What is Cary Fowler’s attitude towards the Seed Vault?

A. He feels it is very important. B. He is surprised at it.

C. He thinks it costs too much. D. He is uncertain about it.

Answer 1