A professor of environmental health and his students began studying the idea of rooftop gardening for cities. “I think vertical farming is an idea that can work in a big way,” said Despommier.

    Why would we want to build skyscrapers filled with vegetables when we’ve been farming on the ground for 10,000 years? Because as the world’s population grows—from 7 billion now to as much as 9 billion by 2050—we could run out of productive soil and water. Most of the population growth will occur in cities that can’t easily feed themselves. And the fact is that modern agriculture as well as everything associated with it – chemical fertilizers and transportation full of carbon—is a significant contributor to climate change, and suddenly vertical farming doesn’t seem so magic in the sky.

   “Vertical farming could allow food to be grown locally and sustainably,” says Glen Kertz, CEO of Valcent. The result saves space — vital in urban areas — and allows farmers to irrigate and fertilize with far less waste.

At Valcent’s El Paso lab, crops grow in rows on conveyor belts. Moving them gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients needed, letting them grow 15 times as much vegetable as on a normal farm with 5% of the water that traditional agriculture does.

Despommier plans to build a 30-story, city-block-size vertical farm that would have transparent walls to maximize sunlight and would produce enough food for 50, 000 people. But it would cost hundreds of millions to build a full-scale skyscraper farm. That’s the main drawback: construction and energy costs would probably make vertically raised food more costly than traditional crops.

Bestsellers for last week
A Special Relationship
This novel is about a woman whose entire life is turned upside down in a very foreign place despite the fact that people there speak her language. Sally Good child is a 37-year-old American who, after nearly two decades as a highly independent journalist, finds herself pregnant and in London. She married an English foreign correspondent, Tony Thompson, whom she met while they were both on assignment in Cairo. From the beginning, Sally’s relationship with both Tony and London is an uneasy one: She finds her husband and his city to be far more foreign than imagined. But her adjustment problems soon turn into a nightmare(噩梦). She discovers that everything can be taken down and used against you, especially by a spouse (配偶) who now considers you an unfit mother and wants to prevent you from ever seeing your child again.
Born in 1955, Douglas Kennedy is the bestselling author of romances such as “The Big Picture”. He is also the author of several praised travel books.
White Hot
Sayre Lynch decided never to return to her hometown Destiny, after she changed her last name and finally escaped from the influence of her controlling father, Huff Hoyle, who owns the iron foundry that the town is built around.
But when Danny, her younger brother, is found dead with a shotgun in his mouth, Sayre unwillingly goes back for his funeral and is annoyed when her father’s handsome lawyer, Beck Merchant, tries to please her.
When the young officer investigating(调查) the case notes that some of the evidence points to murder rather than suicide(自杀), Sayre finds herself unable to leave Destiny. She’s annoyed by Beck’s constant presence, and she is not sure if he’s trying to help or throw her off the trail. Nor does she trust her father or her older brother, Chris, who is as prime suspect in Danny’s murder.
As she tries to figure out how the handsome, charming Beck fits into the picture, she finds herself deeply attracted to him.]
Sandra Brown is the author of 51 New York Times top-five bestsellers. She began her writing career in 1981 and has since published 65 novels.
【小题1】From the brief introduction of “A Special Relationship” we can imagine _____.

Valentine’s Day is on Feb. 14, and Chinese call it “lovers day”. I don’t think the translation is an accurate one, since it doesn’t only belong to lovers. Valentine’s Day is for expressing affection of all sorts. But it is uniquely for the romantically involved who shine the brightest, who spend the most money, whose hearts are the most engaged.

When I was b boy, my mother would buy enough cheap cards with ugly drawings of butterflies and little rabbits and honeybees for me to give one to every kid in my class, about 20 or so. The cards came in bags, and each card had a few foolish words-“Be Mine” or “I like you” or “You’ve Got My Heart” or the uninteresting words, “Hi, Valentine!” I would sign my name on the cards quickly and the name of one of my classmates on each easily-broken envelope. I would lick （舔）each one shut, but they were so cheap that the envelopes rarely had enough glue. On Valentine’s Day, I would take the cards to school-everyone did. We would have a party in our classroom, with cupcakes（杯形蛋糕）and juice and tiny candy hearts, which also had Valentine messages printed on them-“You’re sweet” or “Cupid（爱神丘比特）”or “Love”.

Ah, love! That’s the Valentine’s Day message: love. No one knows for certain the origin of the holiday. Several, Catholic victims were named Valentine, but it’s difficult to separate legend from fact. One story tells of a priest（牧师）named Valentine who was imprisoned and may have been stoned to death around 270 for performing marriages in going against the orders of the Roman Emperor Claudius II. But it’s hard today to find any religious connection.

From the first paragraph, why does the author say that we Chinese call Valentine’s Day “lovers’ day ”is not accurate?

       A．Because only lovers would spend it.

       B．Because it is only spent on Feb. 14.

       C．Because it doesn’t only belong to lovers.

       D．Because only those rich people could enjoy it.

A priest named Valentine was stoned to death for the sake of           .

       A．his not attending a ceremony on time.

       B．his stealing something from the church

       C．his rude words to Roman Emperor Claudius II

       D．his not obeying the orders by Roman Emperor Claudius II

According to the passage, we can know Valentine’s Day may be related to          .

       A．religion    B．sports       C．entertainment   D．art

Valentine’s Day is on Feb. 14, and Chinese call it “lovers day”. I don’t think the translation is an accurate one, since it doesn’t only belong to lovers. Valentine’s Day is for expressing affection of all sorts. But it is uniquely for the romantically involved who shine the brightest, who spend the most money, whose hearts are the most engaged.
When I was b boy, my mother would buy enough cheap cards with ugly drawings of butterflies and little rabbits and honeybees for me to give one to every kid in my class, about 20 or so. The cards came in bags, and each card had a few foolish words-“Be Mine” or “I like you” or “You’ve Got My Heart” or the uninteresting words, “Hi, Valentine!” I would sign my name on the cards quickly and the name of one of my classmates on each easily-broken envelope. I would lick （舔）each one shut, but they were so cheap that the envelopes rarely had enough glue. On Valentine’s Day, I would take the cards to school-everyone did. We would have a party in our classroom, with cupcakes（杯形蛋糕）and juice and tiny candy hearts, which also had Valentine messages printed on them-“You’re sweet” or “Cupid（爱神丘比特）”or “Love”.
Ah, love! That’s the Valentine’s Day message: love. No one knows for certain the origin of the holiday. Several, Catholic victims were named Valentine, but it’s difficult to separate legend from fact. One story tells of a priest（牧师）named Valentine who was imprisoned and may have been stoned to death around 270 for performing marriages in going against the orders of the Roman Emperor Claudius II. But it’s hard today to find any religious connection.
【小题1】From the first paragraph, why does the author say that we Chinese call Valentine’s Day “lovers’ day ”is not accurate?

Valentine’s Day is on Feb. 14, and Chinese call it “lovers day”. I don’t think the translation is an accurate one, since it doesn’t only belong to lovers. Valentine’s Day is for expressing affection of all sorts. But it is uniquely for the romantically involved who shine the brightest, who spend the most money, whose hearts are the most engaged.

When I was b boy, my mother would buy enough cheap cards with ugly drawings of butterflies and little rabbits and honeybees for me to give one to every kid in my class, about 20 or so. The cards came in bags, and each card had a few foolish words-“Be Mine” or “I like you” or “You’ve Got My Heart” or the uninteresting words, “Hi, Valentine!” I would sign my name on the cards quickly and the name of one of my classmates on each easily-broken envelope. I would lick （舔）each one shut, but they were so cheap that the envelopes rarely had enough glue. On Valentine’s Day, I would take the cards to school-everyone did. We would have a party in our classroom, with cupcakes（杯形蛋糕）and juice and tiny candy hearts, which also had Valentine messages printed on them-“You’re sweet” or “Cupid（爱神丘比特）”or “Love”.

Ah, love! That’s the Valentine’s Day message: love. No one knows for certain the origin of the holiday. Several, Catholic victims were named Valentine, but it’s difficult to separate legend from fact. One story tells of a priest（牧师）named Valentine who was imprisoned and may have been stoned to death around 270 for performing marriages in going against the orders of the Roman Emperor Claudius II. But it’s hard today to find any religious connection.

1.From the first paragraph, why does the author say that we Chinese call Valentine’s Day “lovers’ day ”is not accurate?

2.A priest named Valentine was stoned to death for the sake of          .

3.According to the passage, we can know Valentine’s Day may be related to         .